Family Therapy, MS (Online)
**If you are applying to the online version of a program, please be aware that your start term should be summer (e.g. Summer 2012). If you put start term fall (e.g. Fall 2012), you will be taking summer courses as a non-degree student which means you will not be eligible for financial aid until the fall semester. The starting term and program cannot be changed once you submit the application. Thank you.
UMB Master’s of Science Degree in Family Therapy Online Program Description
Introduction
The program of Family Therapy in the Department of Counseling and School Psychology is committed to a vision of strengthening health in families by preparing ethical and qualified professionals who embrace an inclusive perspective of interconnected systems. The program’s curriculum is comprised of basic professional counseling content and theory, and provides comprehensive framework for learning family therapy. The courses lead students to view families as entities within larger social systems and promote collaborative, inclusive, and integrative systems approaches.
The curriculum offers students in the family therapy program an optimal perspective for supporting individuals, families, and communities in urban environments, and provides them with a framework for developing skills to facilitate dialogue with marginalized individuals, families, and communities.
The Family Therapy program is one of the five programs (Family Therapy, Mental Health Counseling, Rehabilitation Counseling, School Counseling, and School Psychology) within the Department of Counseling and School Psychology, which is housed in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Massachusetts Boston.
The overall goal of the UMASS Boston Family Therapy Program is to prepare competent family therapists who can obtain licensure with the Board of Allied Mental Health and Human Services Professions in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and to be concordant with the College of Education and Human Development educational outcomes and the urban mission of the university. In order to meet this overall goals,
• We educate family therapists who are informed by relational and strength-based theories.
• We prepare students who advocate for equity and social justice
• We ensure that these professionals fulfill professional ethical standards and are reflective.
In order to achieve this broad goal, the UMB-FT offers learning opportunities that include: (i) counseling and family therapy courses that cover the family therapy knowledge content; (ii) experiential exercises in classroom settings that mirror real family therapy situations; (iii) a three semester internship placement at a community agency that serves families in an urban setting; (iv) the integration of theory and practice in a culminating capstone/portfolio product.
Note: COAMFTE has just begun to accept applications for accreditation of online family therapy programs; we intend to submit our application in the 2012-2013 academic year. The online program is designed for students who cannot readily access the Boston campus. The admissions committee will assess this criterion. Those applicants who can reach the campus are encouraged to apply to the on-campus program, which is COAMFTE accredited. The online program is regionally accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.
PLAN OF STUDY:
First Option:
Year 1
Summer- 621
Fall-622, 601, 620
Spring-617*, 653, 672,
Year 2
Summer- 616, 625
Fall-606, 608, 626
Spring-624, 627, 628
Year 3
Summer 698
Fall 698
Spring 698
Second Option
Year 1
Summer-621
Fall-622, 601
Spring- 653, 672, 617*
Year 2
Summer 616, 625
Fall- 606, 608, 626
Spring- 624,627,628
Year 3
Summer- 698
Fall- 698
Spring 698
*-Pending approval from governance
Class Descriptions
COUNSL 620 Human Development: Research, Theory, and Practice
This course provides students with a comprehensive view of life span development from childhood through adulthood from several perspectives: 1) the interaction of age with factors as gender, cultural background, disabilities, and other significant issues which may be encountered at particular stages of life; 2) how individuals at specific stages of cognitive development process information and experience, 3) a structural approach to ego development; and 4) a psychoanalytic concept of self psychology. (Note: With the consent of your advisor, if you have taken an upper division human development course and received a grade of “B” or better, you may take COU 617 Child & Adolescent Therapy) 3 Lecture Hours, 3 Credits
Prerequisite for admission to the Program or can be completed the first year in addition to the required 60 credits**
COUFAM 621 Introduction to Family Therapy
This introductory course investigates the concepts of family therapy and systems theory. Besides attending a potentially different client population, family therapy contributes a variety of new lenses with which to approach human problems. The course introduces the paradigmatic shift that has developed from communicational, systemic, and cybernetic theories. The course distinguishes similarities and differences between family therapy ideas and other counseling paradigms; and addresses the challenges family therapists face in the changing delivery of human services care systems. Students use family systems ideas to analyze and develop innovative approaches in their work with individuals, families, and communities.
Prerequisites: None. 3 Lecture Hours, 3 credits
COUNSL 616 Group Counseling and Group Dynamics
An introduction to group dynamics which uses the group process of the class to provide experience of group membership and data for interpretation. Participation as a group member is required. Readings and lectures build a cognitive base for evaluating the experiential learning.
Prerequisites: None. 3 Lecture Hours, 3 Credits
COUNSL 601 Research and Evaluation in Psychology
The purpose of this course is to provide the student with knowledge of fundamental rationales and methodologies of various research and evaluation strategies. The purpose in learning about various research methodologies is to provide the student with the skills necessary to effectively evaluate the efficacy of particular research methods in the fields of Family Therapy, Mental
Health, Rehabilitation, School Counseling, and School Psychology. Students will be taught strategies to effectively evaluate specific components of research articles such as the introduction, hypotheses, the literature review, the methods section, the results section, and the discussion section. Additionally, students will be exposed to program evaluation strategies and qualitative research methods.
Prerequisites: None. 3 Lecture Hours, 3 Credits
COUNSL 653 Diversity in Counseling
This course examines the interplay between the cultural contexts of race, ethnicity, class and the psychological experience of the participants (counselor and client) in the counseling process. Relevant theoretical and socio-historical perspectives will be reviewed in order to understand how culturally determined variables such as, values, expectations, and immigration experience influence, (1) individual and family identity, roles, and psychological development and, (2) the therapeutic encounter. Societal processes of stereotyping, discrimination, prejudice, racism, and marginalization will be integrated into course content. Each student will have an opportunity to explore the contribution his or her socio-cultural history has in the counseling process. Several prevalent racial-ethnic groups in the Greater Boston area will be focused upon in order to enhance students' multicultural awareness. Learning methods will include lectures, classroom discussion, experiential exercises, role-play and in vivo experiences.
Prerequisites: COU 621, COU 616**. 3 Lecture Hours, 3 Credits
COUNSL 617 Child and Adolescent Counseling
This course focuses on facilitating the unique development and emotional growth of children through the counseling process. The course is designed to enhance students‘ theoretical and practical understanding of the major schools of child psychotherapy. Emphasis is given to a multidimensional view of intervention, with attention to developmental, cognitive, behavioral, educational, multicultural, and environmental issues. Through lectures, videotapes, and structured exercises, students learn a distinct group of interventions, including play and communication skills, as integral components of the therapeutic process.
Prerequisites: TBA. Lecture Hours, 3 credits
COUNSL 606 Ethical Standards and Professional Issues in Counseling
The purpose of this course is to create awareness among counselors and other educational professionals of the ethical issues and ethical decision-making processes in the counseling relationship(s). Development of skills to be a thoughtful and responsive practitioner will be accomplished through learnings centering around commitments to upholding ethical behaviors and dedicating oneself to serve others; understandings of pedagogical knowledge particularly related to ethical theories and ethical codes; and practices which demonstrate collaborating effectively with others and promoting social justice. The course will include discussions of both Western and Eastern perspectives of ethical theories. Students will be required to use the research literature to incorporate current knowledge into practice. Specific knowledge and skills addressed include foundations for an ethical perspective; models for ethical decision making; ethical codes of counselor responsibilities; ethical concerns in multicultural counseling and with special client populations; ethical issues in the use of technology, and ethical issues in specific modalities (e.g. group, couple and family therapy, consultation, etc). Additionally, students will be exposed to ethical theories and ethical decision-making, which addresses inequities in life circumstances.
Prerequisites: COU 621. 3 Lecture Hours, 3 Credits.
COUNSL 608 Abnormal Psychology
This course is designed to provide students with information relevant to the diagnosis, etiology, and treatment of mental illness. Students are asked to identify your own ideological, personal, and theoretical assumptions as they relate to the field of abnormal psychology. Because this is a very ambitious project, the course focuses on three main questions: 1) What kind of assumptions, values, and beliefs ground our biopsychiatric discourse (i.e., the medical model of mental illness)? 2) How can the DSM be utilized as a tool rather than as an end in itself? 3) How might a constructive critique of positivism inform psychology as both a theory and practice? In other words, what kind of conceptual framework will help us develop structural as well as individually oriented change strategies? What kind of theoretical tools will help us appreciate the fact that resilience, coping, and competence are always present--no matter how severe the emotional distress? This course includes readings and discussions that encourage both critical and reflective thinking and commitments to upholding ethical behavior. Thus, together the course identifies the epistemological assumptions that ground traditional theories of psychopathology and diagnostic systems such as the DSM-IV-TR. Specific knowledge and skills that are addressed in this course include assessment of ‘mental disorders‘ (as defined by the DSM), developing the skills necessary to become a critical psychologist (i.e., one who is dedicated to social justice issues), and ethical issues in the use of distance technology for the treatment of emotional distress.
Prerequisites: None. 3 Lecture Hours, 3 Credits.
COUNSL 622 Theories of Family Therapy
The primary focus of this graduate level course is on the theory of therapeutic interventions from a systems perspective. General concepts of systems theory provide a didactic framework for major family theories and a cognitive basis for students to develop techniques and methods for family therapy interventions. The systems theory focus is balanced with contemporary developments that highlight the ways in which culture, race, social class, and gender frame our personal and family identities. Experiential exercises as well as videotapes are used to clarify theoretical issues and to review the ways therapists think about families in therapeutic contexts.
Prerequisite: COU 616**, COU 621. 3 Lecture Hours, 3 Credits.
COU 672 Substance Abuse and the Family
The content of this graduate level course brings together substance abuse studies and family systems approaches. Students are presented with a knowledge base that includes content-information of addiction, methods for assessing and the skills for treating addictive systems, and approaches for collaborating with other mental health professionals who treat addictions. This course provides a brief overview of models used as understandings for identifying addictive behavior and its etiology. Students are encouraged to reflect upon the theoretical frameworks that have been developed to understand and to create interventions for alcoholic and substance abusing family systems. The course identifies the addictive and intergenerational patterns within families. Relational clinical models like the developmental, systemic, solution-focused, and narrative are reviewed and evaluated. The course also examines the history and methods of various treatment models and embraces critically the self-help movement. Systemic approaches that pay less emphasis in pathology and substance abuse as a disease are also extensively reviewed. In addition, issues of social justice are emphasized in a review of the effects of socio-cultural and social policy that influence family behaviors and treatment approaches.
Prerequisite: COU 621. 3 Lecture Hours, 3 Credits
COUFAM 624 Sexuality and Intimacy in Families & Family Therapy
Sexuality and intimacy are major issues for couples and families in therapy. This course explores various approaches to understanding sexual functioning and intimacy and family therapy clinical interventions. Students analyze and critique historical approaches to sex and marital therapy. The course examines an array of family therapy models including object relations, intergenerational, purposive, solution, and narrative, and larger systems approaches. Within a multicultural framework, specific topics related to issues of sexual diversity, gender identity, sexual offending, and victimization are studied. The primary learning methods include literature review, lectures and discussions, experiential exercises (sexual genogram construction), and role-plays.
Prerequisite: COU 616**, 621, plus any other COU course. 3 Lecture Hours, 3 Credits.
COUFAM 625 Family Therapy Assessment and Intervention
Family therapy has historically incorporated novel theories and struggled with the impact of race, ethnicity, and social dimensions in therapy. Family therapy founders, from the beginning, had a passion for themes associated to change and therapeutic effectiveness, the person of the therapist, opening the therapeutic process to witnesses and observers, therapy as a team effort, and a focus on systems rather than isolated individuals. The original major models in family therapy contributed a tremendous amount of assessment and intervention procedures. This course evaluates their status and reviews the most useful systemic techniques as demonstrated by research and clinical practice. An ecosystemic approach to the practice of family therapy guides the practice of assessment and intervention skills, as well as clinical and ethical decision-making. Family systems concepts are examined in order to provide the basis for constructing family therapy interventions since a theoretically grounded clinician is more capable developing sound therapeutic interventions. This graduate level course focuses on the practice of systemic and ecosystemic family therapy techniques to assess and intervene.
Prerequisites: COU 622. 3 Lecture Hours, 3 Credits.
COUFAM 626 Collaborative Consultation with Larger Systems
Family therapy has evolved at a fast pace in the last decade and its aims and conceptual ideas have expanded into new territories. Systemic therapists carry out innovative clinical work in less traditional clinical practices as they respond to changing demographics and diverse communities. Their practices are often located where families live, work, learn, or heal. Relational practitioners are also engaging in collaborative and team-focused projects with other professionals in mental health, education, medicine, forensics, etc. Books and journal articles, research, and conferences report approaches like outreach family therapy, mandated therapy, collaborative health care, multi-systemic school interventions, social justice oriented approaches, participatory research and narrative inquiry, organizational coaching, mediation, among other transformations of the family therapy profession. This course will explore these dimensions and will aim at developing a framework that is coherent with the larger urban mission of our university. Students will not only read and analyze what is available, but will also engage in projects that recreate and create knowledge about a family therapy committed to an urban social context.
Prerequisite: COU 622. 3 Lecture Hours, 3 Credits.
COUFAM 627 Therapy with Couples
This course focuses on the theory and practice of marital and couples counseling. It explores several major theoretical perspectives on the understanding and treatment of couples; uses these as a basis for assessment, formulation and treatment planning; and employs experiential exercises and case material to apply them. It also explores several special topics relevant to the treatment of couples.
Prerequisites: COU 625. 3 Lecture Hours, 3 Credits.
COUFAM 628 Contemporary Family Therapy Theories
This is an advanced seminar to review current trends in family therapy and the postmodern psychotherapies as they are applied to the resolution of human systems dilemmas in counseling, school, and larger systems. The challenges therapists face in the changing human services care systems are impacting the way clinicians construct clinical practices and the options we have. In response to these changes, the focus of this course is learning about having conversations with clients rather than on or about them.
Prerequisites: COU 625. 3 Lecture Hours, 3 Credits.
COUFAM 698 Internship in Family Therapy
Students are placed in community agencies or public institutions as interns under the direct supervision of an AAMFT Approved Supervisor or an Approved Supervisor. In addition, students meet weekly with a faculty member in a three-hour seminar.
Prerequisites: a minimum of 18 credits COUNSL 608, COUNSL 616, COUFAM 621, COUFAM 622, and COUNSL 620 or 617, and a course of your choice from the family therapy curriculum at the time of applying to the internship. In addition, COUNSL 606 and COUFAM 625 must be taken prior to the start of the internship. In addition, students must have an average of 3.00, no more than one outstanding incomplete. Your advisor must give approval before application for placement in an internship site. 6 Credits per semester for a total of 18 credits
How to Apply
The deadline for applications is January 2. Applications must be made to the University Graduate Admissions Office, and can be done online. Go to http://www.umb.edu/admissions/grad/ for links to information about applications, tuition and fees, and other information. Please email Kiran Arora, Admissions Coordinator for the Family Therapy Program (Kiran.Arora@umb.edu), or Alisa Beaver, Coordinator of the Online Family Therapy Program (Alisa.Beaver@umb.edu) to let us know that you are applying. We will then be more able to facilitate the process for you, including scheduling an interview, and can also answer questions you might have.
The key components of your application include the following:
• Completed Application Form
• Official GRE test results (not the Miller Analogy Test)
• Foreign students must take the TOFEL
• 3 Recommendations (preferably from primarily academic sources)
• Personal Statement explaining your reasons for applying to the program, demonstrating your preparation, knowledge of the field, and specific interests for practice in family therapy
• Interview
VERY IMPORTANT! All applicants to the ONLINE PROGRAM must clearly state on their application forms that they are applying to begin SUMMER SESSION. The online program begins in the summer following admission decisions in the Spring.
