Clinical & Academic Training

MSMFT Training and Clinical Research
Community Outreach Opportunities
Program Accreditation & Licensure
Career Opportunities
Theoretical & Clinical Approach
Clinical Experience & Supervision
Convenient Facilities
About The Family Institute
Privacy Policy

An accredited program leading to a wide range of career paths:

1. Become licensed in marriage and family therapy
2. Practice individual, couple, family and group therapy
3. Work in a range of agencies or a private practice

Invest in an outstanding graduate education at a premiere clinical training center. The Master of Science in Marital and Family Therapy (MSMFT) is an innovative program that combines the academic excellence of Northwestern University with the extensive clinical expertise of The Family Institute, an affiliate center renowned for service, research, and training in marital and family therapy.

The MSMFT Program offers state-of-the-art training in one of the fastest growing mental health disciplines. The Program’s 24-course curriculum provides a comprehensive education in marital and family therapy that may be completed in two years and leads to an MSMFT from The Graduate School of Northwestern University.

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Clinical & Academic Training

Extensive clinical training, combined with a multi-faceted academic curriculum, gives students an unparalleled opportunity to explore the field. The curriculum covers a broad spectrum of knowledge regarding individual, relational and family development, micro and macro level interventions, and research and policy issues. Students also receive extensive training in the clinical skills necessary for the practice of individual, couple, family and group therapy through intensive supervised clinical experiences at The Family Institute.

The Program provides comprehensive training and supervision with an emphasis on helping you achieve your professional goals in a collegial atmosphere. In addition to professional training, special emphasis is given to developing a sense of community. This is fostered through relatively intimate class size, low student-to-faculty/supervisor ratio, and weekly participation in small group supervision. The ability to work effectively with colleagues enhances the training experience and establishes a beneficial pattern for the development of future professional relationships.

Practicing clinicians with a rich understanding of marital and family therapy provide instruction throughout the MSMFT Program. Clinical courses are taught by recognized scholars with extensive clinical experience who are applying the most current theories and techniques, as well as empirically informed and time-tested interventions, in their own clinical practices. Program faculty members have diverse backgrounds in systems theory, human development, personality theory and models of therapy.

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MSMFT Training & Clinical Research

The MSMFT Program is dedicated to intervention – making a difference in the lives of families, couples and individuals from all walks of life. Through research, we scientifically investigate our interventions to better understand the therapeutic process and to develop improved treatments. As one of the leading centers for marriage and family therapy, with a large and diverse client population, The Family Institute and the MSMFT program is uniquely positioned to pursue path-breaking research on families and relationships.

The MSMFT program's clinical research and training activities are focused on the process and determinants of how people change in psychotherapy via the use of the Systemic Therapy Inventory of Change (STIC).  

We believe that the field of couple and family therapy lacks empirical understanding of how people change during therapy. If the field of couple and family therapy is ever to be based on a scientific foundation, we must develop an empirically grounded theory of how couples change that can guide and improve our interventions. Thus, the Family Institute’s Psychotherapy Change Project was created to address this need. Students and supervisors in the MSMFT program are helping to advance the development of effective, empirically informed psychotherapy by the clinical use of the STIC in training.

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Community Outreach Opportunities

Local cultural diversity adds a broad spectrum of learning experiences that enhance professional competency. The diverse cultural fabric of the Chicago metropolitan area presents students of the MSMFT Program with increasingly varied opportunities for learning. Through innovative community outreach programs and alliances with local schools and community organizations, The Family Institute and its students continue to examine the evolving definition of family in many different contexts and in all its permutations.

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Program Accreditation & Licensure

The MSMFT Program is accredited and approved, expediting career opportunities for graduates:

1. The Program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), 112 South Alfred Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-3061. Graduates of the Program meet the educational requirements for clinical membership in the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy.  This distinction is recognized across the United States and internationally (See www.aamft.org).
2. The Program is also an Approved Program of the Illinois Department of Professional Regulation.
3. Graduates are academically prepared, and, with the requisite post-masters supervised clinical work experience, are eligible to sit for licensing exams in marital and family therapy in each of the 48 states, including Illinois, which currently have MFT licensure. Program graduates are also well-positioned for further graduate training.

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Career Opportunities

With expanding horizons and growing possibilities, marriage and family therapists are in demand. Graduates of the Program work in community mental health agencies, hospitals, clinics, residential treatment centers, schools and private practice treating individuals, couples, families and groups with a wide range of psychological, behavioral and emotional difficulties.

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The Family Institute Theoretical and Clinical Approach

Build your future on a solid theoretical and clinical approach. Systemic, integrative family therapy, pioneered at The Family Institute, addresses emotional, behavioral and relational problems in the context of both familial and extra-familial relationships. The influences of biology, psychodynamics, gender, socioeconomic status, culture and life cycle are used to help clients understand and address their problems.  For further review of The Family Institute approaches, see Pinsof (1995) Integrative problem centered therapy and Breunlin, Schwartz, and MacKune-Karrer (2001) Metaframeworks.

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Clinical Experience & Supervision

Hands-on clinical experience and intensive individual and group supervision provide preparation for a rewarding career. Clinical experience is provided through the various Family Institute clinic and community sites that offer students the opportunity to work with a variety of client populations. An integral part of The Family Institute, the Bette D. Harris Family and Child Clinic is committed to offering top quality, affordable treatment to individuals, couples and families regardless of their ability to pay.

1. Students gain hands-on clinical experience under the close supervision of highly experienced marriage and family therapists.
2. Students begin seeing clients in November of their first year and continue seeing clients until they graduate, accumulating a minimum of 500 hours of face-to-face contact with clients, including at least 250 hours with couples and families.  Students will obtain more than 250 hours of group and individual supervision over the 2 years.
3. Supervision is conducted weekly, both on an individual basis and in small groups. Faculty supervision methods include direct observation and videotape/audiotape recordings of students’ therapy sessions.

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Convenient and Centralized Facilities

The Program is based at The Family Institute’s headquarters, the Bette D. Harris Center, built in 1994 at 618 Library Place on the Evanston campus of Northwestern University. The Family Institute facilities contain staff offices, classrooms, student workrooms and a training clinic that includes seven observation suites for supervision. The Family Institute has a library dedicated to marital and family therapy and students have access to the Northwestern University library system.

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About The Family Institute at Northwestern University

Founded in 1968, The Family Institute is the Midwest’s oldest and largest organization devoted to marital and family therapy, education and research. Much like a teaching hospital in the medical arena, The Family Institute is a center for direct care, for academic learning and new discovery.

The mission of The Family Institute is to strengthen and heal families across all social, economic and cultural contexts. And, in nearly four decades of remarkable achievement, The Family Institute has brought hope and healing to more than 25,000 families and – in the process – helped change the face of mental health care. Through pioneering development of family-based psychotherapy... groundbreaking methods of professional education...unprecedented outreach to poor and under served communities...and a unique academic partnership with Northwestern University, The Family Institute has forged creative, proactive responses to the changing needs of families...and helped tens of thousands lead happier, healthier, more satisfying lives.

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Privacy Policy for Students and Applicants

All personal student and applicant information is handled with confidentiality. Application information and essays are contained in the education office in a secured cabinet. The information that applicants disclose in their essays is reviewed by core faculty and administrative personnel only. The transcript contents and GRE scores may be discussed with the Graduate School in order to consult on appropriateness. The materials are not released to anyone without the applicant’s permission unless mandated by a court order.
Student’s grades are submitted to and stored by the Office of the Registrar. Grades and transcripts are confidential and can only be released with the student’s permission.

The application files are kept until the student enters the program, or is denied entry. Application files for students who were denied are destroyed after two (2) years. For the students accepted into the program, a student file is created upon their admission. The student file includes a transcript, documentation of the basis for admission and documentation of the student's progress (including the number of client contact and supervision hours accrued). This file is securely stored in the program manager’s office. The student is allowed access to this file at any time. No information from this file is released without the student’s permission unless mandated by a court order.

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