General Family Therapy Post-Baccalaureate Certificate

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Post-Baccalaureate Certificate

Description of Program

The Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in MFT program is designed for students who have completed their bachelor’s degree and are seeking academic expertise or to meet state-level requirements for licensure through a graduate level certificate program. In order to earn a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate, students must complete four courses (a total of 12 credit hours) within the chosen Post-Baccalaureate Certificate program. There are four recommended courses for this certificate program, however, students can customize this certificate program as described below. Students must complete all four NCU courses with a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or better in order to receive the certificate.

Basis of Admissions

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

Post-Baccalaureate Transfer into a Master’s Degree Sequence

Coursework completed within a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate program may be applied towards the master’s program.
Applying Post-Baccalaureate coursework towards a master’s degree is contingent upon coursework and degree relevance under the most current master’s degree program version.

Specialization coursework completed as part of a master’s degree, where a degree was conferred, cannot be applied towards a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate program. However, a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate can be completed as part of master’s coursework, assuming the student officially applies for the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate prior to completing the fourth course in the Post Baccalaureate Certificate series.

Time to Completion

Normal time to completion for this program is 12 months.

Time to completion varies depending upon the pace at which a student completes courses and the number of transfer credits accepted. As most Northcentral students are working adults balancing educational, professional, and personal commitments, our academic 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 9 months.

Northcentral allows 2 years to complete all Post-Baccalaureate Certificate programs.

Students who are unable to complete a degree program within the stated time limits are dismissed. If a student believes they have extenuating circumstances, they may document the circumstances and send a request for consideration to their respective Dean or designee. Exceptions to the policy are determined on a case-by-case basis and are granted only once.

NOTE: If a student wants to enroll in a master’s program in a school other than the school from which the student obtained the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate, the university does not guarantee that any of the courses will be transferable to a program of another Northcentral University School.

EXAMPLE: Student obtains a Post-Baccalaureate Certificate through the Department of Marriage and Family Sciences, but wants to obtain a master’s degree through the Department of Psychology. In these cases, the Dean (from the department in which the student wants to obtain the master’s degree) will review the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate courses and provide the 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 master’s degree.

General Family Therapy

The General Family Therapy certificate program is designed for mental health professionals and others that are interested in learning about individual, couple, and family therapy from a systems theory perspective. It is designed to assist in developing greater expertise in MFT or to meet specific licensure requirements. Students may complete the recommended courses listed below or they may select any four master’s level courses (with the exception of MFT -5101 ).

Note: Students who have made application for licensure are encouraged to verify with state licensure divisions or boards that the courses they select will meet the specific state requirements before enrolling in this certificate program.

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.

Specialization Courses – 12 Credit Hours

Recommended courses for a foundation in MFT principles and concepts (for those not needing specific courses for licensure). If the student needs the course work for licensure, she or he will determine the courses during an interview with a program administrative faculty member.