General Marriage and Family Therapy Post-Master’s Certificate

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Post-Master’s Certificate

Description of Program

Each Post-Master’s Certificate program in MFT comprises 6 courses (18 credit hours). Students must complete the program as listed below and may not substitute alternative courses (with the exception of the General Marriage and Family Therapy Certificate as described below). Students must complete all six NCU courses with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better in order to receive a certificate.

Basis of Admission

Admission to the Post-Master’s Certificate program requires a conferred master’s level or higher degree from a regionally or nationally accredited academic institution.

Scope

Six NCU Courses (18 Credit hours) must be completed to earn a certificate. Courses taken as part of a NCU master’s program cannot be applied towards a Post-Master’s Certificate program.

Post-Master’s Certificate Transfer into a Doctoral Program

Post-Master’s Certificate program courses may be used to satisfy doctoral degree requirements if the certificate course is required by the doctoral program in which the student is enrolled.

Coursework completed as part of an earned doctoral degree cannot be applied towards a Post-Master’s Certificate program. However, a Post-Master’s Certificate can be completed as part of doctoral coursework, if the student officially applies for a Post-Master’s Certificate prior to completing the fourth course in a Post-Master’s Certificate series.

Time to Completion

Normal time to completion for this program is 19 months.

Time to completion varies depending upon the pace in which a student completes courses and the number of transfer credits accepted. As most NCU students are working adults balancing educational, professional, and personal commitments, our academic and finance advisors will work with you to develop a program schedule that works best for your needs.

The normal time disclosed above reflects the experience of students who may have entered under different program requirements. In the quest for continuous improvement, academic leadership has revised the program to optimize curriculum and pace, facilitate student learning, and improve chances for success. Therefore, the program is now designed for students enrolling today to take advantage of these revised course structures, lengths, and schedules.

New students following the preferred schedule designed by the Dean for this program, and applying no transfer credits, can expect to finish in as little as 13 months.

NCU allows two years to complete a Post-Master’s Certificate.

Students who are unable to complete a Post-Master’s Certificate within the stated time limit are dismissed. Students who believe they have extenuating circumstances may document the circumstances in a request for special consideration to their respective School Dean or designee. Exceptions to this policy are determined on a case-by-case basis and are granted only once.

NOTE: NCU does not guarantee that Post-Master’s Certificate courses taken in one NCU School will transfer to another NCU School. The Dean or designee of the School to which the student wishes to transfer will review the Post-Master’s Certificate courses and make a final determination. The outcome will be documented in the student’s file. The student will be notified by e-mail of the requirements to obtain the doctoral degree.

General Marriage and Family Therapy

Many who have earned a master’s degree in a clinical field find that they need additional expertise in specific areas and/or they need courses to meet state-specific educational requirements for MFT licensure. This certificate allows students to select courses from a broad range of electives to fit their personal and professional goals. Completion of this certificate will assist individuals in pursuing a variety of career opportunities in the field of Marriage and Family Therapy in various settings such as schools, hospitals, clinics, research centers, private practice, and academia. Additionally, it can assist in meeting the requirements for licensure (students are encouraged to verify with state licensure divisions or boards that the courses they select will meet the state requirements before enrolling in this certificate program).

Students can select any six (6) doctoral level MFT courses (excluding the first course in the program and dissertation courses) to meet the requirements of the General Marriage and Family Therapy certificate program. Based on approval from the Dean or designee, courses from the Department of Psychology can be included in the General Marriage and Family Therapy specialization.

In order to be eligible for clinical work (if needed), General Family Therapy (GFT) Certificate students need to demonstrate passing grades in all pre-requisite (or equivalent) courses from an accredited university. The six content areas for pre-requisite coursework include: one course in theoretical foundations, one course in professional ethics, one course in clinical assessment, one course in diagnosis/psychopathology, and two courses in treatment methods/models of therapy/counseling. GFT Certificate students will need to provide a copy of their transcripts to confirm successful completion (passing grades) of these pre-requisite courses.