The MFT core competencies and latest COAMFTE accreditation standards usher in a new paradigm for MFT education. This transition necessitates not only measuring student mastery of competencies but also, more importantly, adopting a contemporary pedagogical model. This article provides an overview of the changes, a review of parallel trends in other…

Family therapy educators listed most critical/basic skills/competencies of beginning family therapists with transgenerational orientation. Self-selected respondents then rated items according to importance for beginning therapists. Found transgenerational family therapy skills founded in theory and identifiable behaviorally. Most important skills…

Surveyed literature in family therapy, social work, and psychology to determine most important characteristics of beginning marriage and family therapist. Found that no set of skills could be derived empirically. Surveyed experienced counselor educators (N=372) to determine characteristics they found important. Found approximately one-half of the…

This paper presents an empirical approach to supervision and training of marriage and family therapists. Advantages from the use of the empirical approach include a systematic investigation of the skills and competencies of the therapists, and establishing the basis for the scientific study of supervision. Two case studies are given. (Author)

Reports data from study of AAMFT approved supervisors. Identifies relationships between these data and supervisory attitudes and procedures, and presents a demographic profile of supervisors with analysis of supervisory models and resources, professional activities, and the issue of adjunctive personal psychotherapy for students in clinical…

Compared responses of 132 training directors and 79 clinical members of American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy regarding current specified standards for accreditation of Marriage and Family Therapy training programs. Results about preferred criteria for accreditation, training requirements, and attitudes toward major professional…

This paper presents a brief description of the development of education and training in marriage and family therapy, with special attention, historically, to the marriage counseling/marital therapy branch of the field. The outcome of decades of experience is reflected in a core curriculum. (Author)

Details the structure and content of an introductory family therapy course offered in an academic department. The parallel processes between teaching and therapy are used as a metaphor for the presentation of the course. Joining, restructuring, and consolidation are defined as the three stages of the course. (Author)