Family and Marriage Therapists are mental health professionals licensed to diagnose and treat mental and emotional issues in marriage, couples, and family systems.

They have the training and credentials necessary to handle a wide range of complex marital, family, and couple problems. They provide therapy in various settings, including premarital, relationship, child-parent, separation, and divorce, demonstrating the therapists’ multidisciplinary character.

Along with the duties above, they spend significant time getting to know their customer. To begin the entire study procedure, they set up several research procedures, including self-reports, interviews, observations, discussions, and assessments. Based on the findings, they identify the customer’s issues. The most prevalent ones are marital stress, drug misuse, rage, anxiety, depression, childhood autism, etc.

How to Become a Certified LMFT?

The question of how to embark on the path of making this profession your permanent career now arises. The rewarding chance to get certification or licensure as a marriage or family therapist has arisen due to an increase in contemporary challenges across the globe. Luckily, this career field offers vast opportunities to fresh college graduates keen to jump into the pool of endless options in the field of counseling. To become a certified LMFT, the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education COAMFTE accredited programs provide the opportunity to evaluate family and marriage therapy programs. This program provides the most flexibility possible because it may be completed physically and virtually to fit the schedule of motivated people who want to make this their profession.

The blog will help you to decide whether to learn more and look for reputable online MFT programs. Even if you go for a Master’s, there is a plethora of options offered for on-the-campus and online courses for the students. These include child and adolescent psychology, clinical counseling techniques, cross-cultural communication, developmental science, family systems, human sexuality, and trauma dealing techniques.

What are some of the prerequisites needed to become a certified MFT?

• Interpersonal communication skills

 You must listen well and have outstanding detail-noticing skills to provide useful suggestions or feedback based on your client’s response. When a client feels heard or noticed, it helps to boost their self-esteem.

• Emotional and Professional Boundaries

Becoming a licensed marriage and family therapist means drawing ethical boundaries before starting therapy sessions. It should be taken care not to allow the client’s problems to undermine the therapist’s morality and sense of tranquility. They must also practice the art of keeping things professional with the client to practice ethical therapy.

Why should you become a Licensed MFT?

• Growing Career Opportunities and Financial Security

After the global pandemic, there has been a rapid growth in the need for family and marriage therapists. The financial prospects of the therapists have significantly increased. It means a counselor has the option to earn a six-digit income along with the benefit of feeling fulfilled and satisfied after making a difference in a person’s life. Additionally, the bright career opportunities can ensure financial security for a practicing therapist if one decides to progress their career by opening a private clinic and therapy group. Moreover, a therapist’s job is not limited to the grounds of a clinic only, as they can get employed as a psychology or family department professor at a renowned educational institute.

• Fosters Feelings of Self-Fulfilment and Gratitude

Besides the adaptability and financial security it provides, what matters most is the mental peace you have when assisting someone experiencing mental health issues. Studies have shown that nearly 90 percent of the patients have improved their emotional health after seeking help from a professional therapist.

Why does becoming an LMFT might have its downsides?

• Emotionally Exhausting

Due to the therapist’s intense emotional involvement in the client’s family issues, working as a family therapist may be both demanding and thrilling. To resolve family disputes, one must be mentally stable. Suppose therapists cannot draw a clear line between their personal and professional lives. In that case, it will eventually become emotionally taxing for them.

• Professional Certification Takes a Lifetime

Yes, you heard it right! It does take centuries to become a professional therapist. To practice the licensed certificate, a person must attain Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from a renowned institution.

The hassle doesn’t stop even after graduation, as to work at an affiliated institution; a potential therapist must fulfill 3,000 clinical hours to complete their licensing requirements.

Is the job market expanding or contracting for an LMFT?

This occupation’s employment growth has been steadily increasing; by 2030, it is not anticipated to slow down. It has become a common concept in the west to resolve family and marital issues by going to a certified MFTs, which opens a vast pool of opportunities for fresh graduates.

Moreover, along with being a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, the job rotation can also entail being a Certified School Counselor. They essentially work toward prioritizing psychological needs. Their main goals include interacting with the student and recognizing their needs to provide them emotional and mental support. It can also work by designing counseling curriculums that improve a child’s mental health. Thus, an experience in Marriage and Family Therapy can hugely aid the process of evaluating the psychological needs of a child with informational support of family history in the background.

Lastly, after gaining adequate experience as a practicing therapist, they can also get promoted to Clinical Director. Here their primary tasks would be to handle the day-to-day tasks of a clinical department. The clinical director would mainly be responsible for handling the administrative activities and recruiting and appraising an adequate amount of staff, ensuring top-quality patient care. They would also be in charge of a clinic’s financial activities, which include preparing budgets and evaluating financial reports to deliver a cost-effective financial plan.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the contribution of a therapist through their healing aura comforts multiple struggling souls. However, it is necessary to remember that, as a human, it is okay to feel all different emotions, no matter how qualified and professional we are. Striking a balance between work-life and not letting professional life invade your private life is the art of being a Professional Family and Marriage Therapist.