Marriage and Family Therapist

Marriage and Family Therapist A marriage and family therapist (MFT) is someone who helps the married couple or family members who are in mental and emotional disorder whether behavioral, affective or a mental process of knowing, including aspects such as awareness, perception, reasoning, and judgment. They help the married couple and families work through various emotional issues and crisis. They help to resolve the problems within marriage or families. They diagnose and treat individuals, couples, and families who need professional help in solving conflicts, improving communication or changing behavior.

A marriage and family therapist needs to acquire the necessary education, which is a master’s degree and needs usually 2 years to complete. Passing a state license is also required to start independent practicing or getting a job.

The Marriage and family Therapists must have excellent communication skills. By facilitating commination they resolve conflicts, to accomplish this they need to be attentive, tactful, and at times critical too. They apply psychotherapeutic and family systems theories and techniques in the delivery of professional services to individuals, couples, and families. A successful marriage and family therapist is a highly trained mental health professional. Couples considering divorce, families facing severe mental illness, sexual abuse victims, and children in foster care are some of the individuals in crisis with whom the marriage and family therapist works with. They counsel the individuals, couples, or families by asking tactful questions to help them identify feelings and behaviors. They also work with schools, social workers, doctors, law enforcement and the court system.

When crisis like death or divorce arises in a family, they guide their client to overcome such crisis. They guide their client’s dysfunctional behavior by redirecting them with constructive actions and if necessary they also refer their clients to a psychologist or medical doctor for additional treatment. Marriage and family therapists usually work in the mental health clinics, hospitals, institutions, social outreach agencies, and also they may have private practice.

The rates of divorce or child abuse are increasing day by day, and the demand for marriage and family therapists is increasing. No one should neglect the conflicts in a family or behavioral changes in them thinking that it will pass with time, or end a marriage without even giving it a try. For a better life if these kinds of crisis happen in any body’s life, one should visit the marriage and family therapist at the earliest.