Marriage and Family Therapist

Marriage and family therapists help couples and families manage relationship-related and mental health challenges together. Learn what they do and how to become one.

What Is a Marriage and Family Therapist?

Marriage and family therapists are mental health care providers, such as psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurses or other professionals licensed to provide counseling or mental health treatment.

Marriage and family counselors have received specialized training in psychotherapy and family dynamics. These therapists work with multiple family members together to resolve conflicts and help spouses and family members relate and interact with each other in positive ways.

They also help manage the mental health conditions of individual family members. Family members of people with mental health conditions are also given strategies on how to cope with or manage such mental disorders in their relatives.

Marriage and Family Therapy Overview

Marriage and family therapy is one type of psychotherapy, or talk therapy. It focuses on the relationships between all members of a family. A family could be a couple in a romantic relationship, married adults with children or even extended families.

Therapy addresses sources of conflict between family members and helps the whole family cope with specific issues affecting one or more members, such as a drug or alcohol addiction or a mental health condition.

How to Become a Marriage and Family Therapist

There is not one strict path to becoming a marriage and family therapist. However, aspiring therapists will need an advanced degree and specific training in family counseling. They will also need to be licensed in the state they intend to practice in.

Educational Requirements

The first requirement is to get either a master’s or a doctoral degree in marriage and family therapy. Graduate degree programs should be accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education.

If someone already has a graduate degree in a different subject, they can complete a post-graduate clinical training program in marriage and family therapy which lasts around three to four years.

Training

Once schooling is complete, at least two years of clinical training in marriage and family therapy are needed before becoming licensed. Usually, students attain initial clinical experience as a part of their degree program, but they still need a set number of hours of post-graduate experience before applying for licensure, which is usually in the form of both shadowing other therapists and working directly with patients under the supervision of a therapist.

Certifications Required

Each state has its own requirements for marriage and family therapist licensure and certification. Therapists need to pass an exam and obtain a license to practice from the licensure board of the state they intend to practice in.

A certificate is not required, and certification does not permit someone to practice on their own, but it can be helpful for preparing for licensure. It can also add to therapy credentials and expand career opportunities.

Necessary Skills

Marriage and family therapists need a specific skillset. They especially need strong interpersonal skill and experience relating well with others. People who want to practice marriage and family therapy will need to develop these skills during their education or training.

Major skills that marriage and family therapists need include:

• Communication
• Interpersonal skills
• Listening skills
• Conflict resolution
• Negotiation
• Critical thinking
• Empathy
• Boundary setting
• Leadership
• Instruction or teaching
• Time management
• Social perception (reading social cues)
• Business management (if going into private practice)

Average Salary

The average salary for marriage and family therapists varies by several factors, such as:

• Level of education
• State and city they practice in
• Amount of experience
• Specialty
• Type of practice (public or private practice)

According to the latest data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual salary for a marriage and family therapist is about $50,090. However, the pay range runs from $31,850 to $82,240 per year.

Treatments a Marriage and Family Therapist Can Provide

Depending on their specific qualifications and licensing, there is a wide range of services that a marriage and family therapist can provide. Most involve psychotherapy, or talk therapy, for individuals and groups.

Couples Counseling

Couples counseling is sometimes called marriage counseling, as it often (but not always) involves romantic partners in a legal partnership. It applies to both heterosexual and homosexual couples. Often it is short-term, helping resolve a particular issue that the couple is facing. A marriage and family therapist helps the couple reconcile differences, work through sources of resentment or other conflicts and strengthen their intimacy.

Sometimes couples will attend couples counseling during a longer-term therapy regimen. One or both individuals in the relationship often start and continue attending psychotherapy on their own.

Premarital Counseling

Couples considering getting married often include premarital counseling as a part of their wedding preparations. Therapists can help couples discuss their values and make a plan for merging lifestyles. They can also teach couples skills, like conflict resolution, that will be important for entering a long-term partnership.

Family Therapy

Family therapy works with multiple members of a family together, and often includes parents and children, but can involve other relatives as well.

Often, family therapy helps the whole family deal with a specific mental or physical condition that one family member is facing. This condition may be a mental illness, a substance use disorder or a chronic physical illness.

In addition to the person coping with the disease, family members often need help coping with the stressful situation and navigating changes in their relative’s emotional state. Family therapy may be especially helpful for caregivers of people with long-term disabilities.

Mediation

Sometimes, families are faced with legal challenges. During these times, family members can find it difficult to come to a resolution among themselves. In these situations, marriage and family therapists can provide unbiased advice and assistance for coming to a solution out of court.

Such cases may involve making a child custody plan in the event of a divorce or settling an estate among relatives of someone recently deceased. Hiring a therapist as a mediator can also help improve family relationships after the process.

How to Find Online Marriage and Family Counseling Jobs

Many online organizations directly hire or provide a platform for teletherapy, including BetterHelp, Talkspace, DotCom Therapy and Smart IOP. They can also search job boards or inquire with local hospitals, clinics, rehab facilities and mental health organizations about potential telehealth job openings.