The Master of Arts in Family Counseling program is an Approved  Comprehensive Program in Marriage and Family Therapy, as regulated by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulations, and an Illinois Board of Higher Education approved masters degree program.  Students graduating from this program are eligible for a temporary license as a Associate Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (ALMFT) upon graduation without taking a test, as well as being eligible for the Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC), upon taking the National Counselor Exam.  If you are interested in training in Family Counseling from Northeastern Illinois University's Department of Counselor Education, please e-mail Dr. Schwarzbaum.

Key Faculty for the Sequence -

Jeffrey K. Edwards, Ed.D., LMFT - Clinical Experiences Coordinator
            Email:   J-Edwards1@neiu.edu
            Web Site:  http://www.neiu.edu/~jkedward

James Fruehling, Ph.D. - Department Chair
               Email:   j-fruehling@neiu.edu

Sara Schwarzbaum, Ed.D., - Program Coordinator - For all questions about the program please call 773-442-5553, or e-mail
          Email: S-Schwarzbaum@neiu.edu

Anita Jones Thomas, Ph.D. -
            Email:   a-thomas7@neiu.edu
            Website:   http://www.neiu.edu/~athomas
 

The Family Counseling Degree

        The 60 hour masters degree in Family Counseling extends the present course of counselor education study twelve hours above the current program in Community Counseling. The sequence is open to anyone from within the program, and may be elected at time of application to the Counselor Education Program, or through the usual channels of sequence changing, with recommendation of a sequence advisor or director of the Family Counseling program, and the Dean of the Graduate School. Students who have graduated from our 48 hour program, who wish to complete the additional training will be admitted on a case by case basis, and their educational endeavors will permit them to sit for Illinois License without the granting of an additional degree.

 How Family Therapists Compare To Other Disciplines

        Marriage and family therapists (MFTs) comprise 11 percent of the clinically trained mental health personnel in the United States, according to a recent report from the U.S. Public Health Service's Center for Mental Health Services. Counseling and  psychology are at comparable rates (14 % and 16 %,  respectively). Social work and psychosocial rehabilitation comprise the highest rates of 22 %, each, while the lowest rates are shared among psychiatry (8 %), school psychology (5 %) and psychiatric nursing (2 %).
 Why study Marriage (Couple) and Family Therapy?  Recent meta studies by Pinsof and Wynne (1995) have demonstrated that this form of treatment is more efficacious than standard and/or individual treatments for the following patients, disorders, and problems: adult schizophrenia; depressed outpatient women in distressed marriages; marital distress; adult alcoholism and drug abuse; adolescent conduct disorders; adolescent drug abuse; anorexia in young adolescent females; childhood autism; and various chronic physical illnesses in adults and children (p. 604). There is also some evidence that Marriage and Family therapy is more cost effective (Pinsof & Wynne, 1995). We believe this will enhance our students skills and practice, and prepare them for better jobs.
        There are two paths to accreditation or licensure in Marriage and Family Therapy in Illinois.  The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) was the forerunner of MFT accreditation and education in this country, with an association that goes back to the early 1960's.  The American Counseling Association, of which our department is affiliated with through our national accreditation through the Counsel for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), also produced the International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors.  In Illinois, there is also a licensure standard produced by the Illinois Department of Professional Regulations, whose licensing act encompasses the requirements of both groups.  In fact, the recent amendments of the Illinois Marriage and Family Therapy Licensing Act allows for programs such as our to be an Approved Comprehensive Program of Study in Marriage and Family Therapy (Illinois Department of Professional Regulations, Amendments for part 1283, April 29, 1998.  Graduates of such programs will have met the educational criteria of the LMFT, and will only need to complete  the additional post graduate clinical requirements.

    Marriage and Family Therapy Programs in Illinois

        In Illinois there are several existing programs of Marital and Family Therapy studies.  According to Isham, Pistorio and Edwards, (1994; 1996) there are three AAMFT accredited programs   in Illinois; at Northern Illinois University, the Family Care Network, and at the Family Institute at Northwestern University.  There are also "three CACREP accredited programs with a specialty track in MFT in Illinois; at (A) Governor's State University, (B) Western Illinois University, and (C)  Southern Illinois University" (Isham, Pistorio, and Edwards, 1996, pp. 2-3).
        Our course of study will allow our students to sit for both the Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (LCPC) exam, and the Licensed Marriage and Family Therapy (LMFT) exam, thus placing them in what we believe to be a better employment situation, as well as preparing better trained clinicians.  Our program will be the only low-cost masters degree program in the surrounding geographical area.  In addition, there has been a long standing debate between the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and both MFT programs and Counseling programs in Illinois with regards to the DCFS's  practices of hiring only Licensed Clinical Social Workers (LCSW) for Agency Supervisors, both within the department, and in Purchase of Service organizations who are contracted with the DCFS to provide clinical services for the child welfare clients within the DCFS's purview.  This practice has recently been expanded to include LMFT's (Personal communication, Jesse McDonald, Director of IDCFS and Dr. E. Maurlea Babb, Executive Director of the Illinois Association for Marriage and Family Therapy).  This opens up a great deal of job opportunities that our students were barred from previously.

Courses for CACREP Specialty Track in Family Counseling

        Course work is for a 60 hour masters degree, (twelve hours beyond the existing 48 hour masters degree), and fits the requirements of state licensing, CACREP Specialty Track, National Academy for Certified Family Therapists, Inc, and American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Clinical Membership. Although most accrediting bodies use the words "Marriage and Family" to describe their specialty, we have elected to use the words "Couples and Family" in order to represent what we believe to be a better description of the practice standards.

Courses already required for the 48 hour Community Counseling program that will apply:

COUN 401 The Counseling Profession
COUN 402 Developmental Counseling
COUN 403 Frameworks for Counseling
COUN 404 Evaluation Techniques
COUN 405 Individual Counseling Skills
COUN 406 Group Counseling
COUN 407 Community Counseling
COUN 408 Research Seminar
COUN 413 Adult Career Development
COUN 427 Diagnostic Systems for Counseling
One elective

I. Family Counseling Courses - 3 courses required

Coun 420 - Introduction to Family Counseling/Therapy
        An introduction to systems and Couples/Marriage and Family Counseling theories and models. Ideas of systems, including first and second order cybernetics, normative based family development, and a historical study of the field, including psychoanalytic, behavioral, communications, experiential, structural, strategic, Milan, solution focused, and narrative models will be included. Ethics of Couples/Marriage and Family Counseling work is discussed. Course work includes an interview with a family and a case history write up and producing a genogram of student's family of origin.

Coun 421 - Advanced Couple/Marital  and Family Counseling/Therapy
        A study and practice of couple and family counseling techniques, including actual practice utilizing the team concept, with either families brought in by students from the outside, dedicated to a wellness clinic with at least a three appointment commitment for each family, or from an association with area schools in a Community of Learning Program.  Bowenian, structural/strategic, solution focused and strength-based models are stressed.  Ethics of a brief model and managed care concepts are incorporated, and methods of evaluation are presented.  This is a pre-practica class where a strength based model is utilized.

Coun 445 - Couple/Marital & Family Counseling Practicum I  - Group Supervision
        Using case material gleaned from Coun 455 Practicum II, this course reiterates family systems theory, and applies it to cases.  This is the group and individual supervision course where 48 hours of group, and 8 hours of individual supervision with the university supervisor are mandatory.

II. Family Systems Courses - 3 course are required

Coun 430  - Multicultural Counseling: Worldview and Systems Orientation
        Family Systems Counseling addressing work within a pluralistic society and an emphasis on cross cultural work will broaden clinicians abilities and world view. Students will prepare a Multicultural genogram of their family of origin.

Coun 431 - Couple and Family Systems Studies
        Basic and advanced systems concepts, the family life cycle, and an exploration of the American family as it is today. Comparison of a systemic view and a traditional medically modeled DSM IV view will be addressed while studying varying current family life styles. Basic assessment and treatment of substance abuse, domestic violence, and sexual disorders from a systemic view will be addressed.  Family assessment tools are introduced, and students will interview two families, one that is of a different cultural or  nontraditional, and one of their choice.

Coun 415 - Children, Youth and their Systems
        A study of children and youth and their systems. Assessment and  Counseling techniques will be addressed.  A comparison between the medically modeled view and the systemic view will be presented.  Students will interview a child and their family as well as an older youth and their family.

III. Clinical Experiences - Required

        The two practica (Coun 445 & 455) and two internship classes (465 & 475) comprise one full year of clinical experience and are written to parallel the practica/internship classes in the other sequences within the department.

Coun 455 - Family Counseling Practicum II  - Clinical Experience -
        Field Experience to be taken concurrent with Coun 445. On site 100 hours in Couple, Family, group and individual of which 50 hours are face to face counseling, and 16 hours of on-site supervision are required.

Coun 465 -Family Counseling Internship I - Group Supervision
        Three hundred on-site hours, of which at least 125 hours are face to face couple, family, group, and individual counseling, with 16 hours of on-site supervision. Also required is a university based seminar of 48 hours of group supervision, and 8 hours of individual supervision by a university faculty.

Coun 475 -Family Counseling Internship II -  Clinical Experience
        Three hundred on-site hours, of which at least 125 hours are face to face couple, family, group, and individual counseling, with 16 hours of on-site supervision. Also required is a university based seminar of 48 hours of group supervision, and 8 hours of individual supervision by a university faculty.

FIELD EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS RECAP
        Seven hundred hours of documented field related activities, to be  achieved during Practicum and the two Internships, of which a cumulative 300 hours of face-to-face counseling is required, half of which are with an  individual, and half are conjoint or family . State licensing requirements indicate that "experience in the practice of marriage and family therapy may be gained by providing treatment that includes, but is not limited to:  1) marriage and family therapy: 2) counseling; 3) psychotherapy, including behavioral family therapy; 4) Behavior modification; 5) Consultation; 6) Crisis intervention; 7) Testing and evaluation; 8) Group therapy; 9) Multi-family therapy; and 10) Informing and educating clients. Treatment shall include, face to face contact with individuals, couples, and families for the purpose of assessment, diagnosis and treatment.
 

                                                                        References

        Illinois Department of Professional Regulation. (April 29, 1998).  Proposed Amendments for Part 1283,  Marriage and Family Therapy Licensing Act.

        Isham, J. Pistorio, C., and Edwards, J.K. (1994). MFT  education and training in Illinois.  The Illinois Family Therapist, 15(4), 4-5.

        Isham, J. Pistorio, C., and Edwards, J.K. (1996). An initial survey of marriage and family therapy education and training in Illinois.  Illinois Counseling Quarterly, 140, 2-10.

        Pinsof, W.M., & Wynne, L.C. (1995) The efficacy of marital and family therapy: An empirical overview, conclusions and recommendations. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy,  Special Issue -- The effectiveness of marital and family therapy,  William  Pinsof and Lyman Wynne, (Eds), 21, 585-613.
 
 
 

last updated 10/20/99