Program: Marriage Family Therapy Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - National University

Description of Program

The Post-Baccalaureate Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy is designed for students who have completed at least 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. 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.

In order to be eligible for clinical work (if needed), students in this certificate 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. Certificate students will need to provide a copy of their transcripts to confirm successful completion (passing grades) of these pre-requisite courses.

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.

*Note: The Marriage and Family Sciences Trauma Studies Post-Baccalaureate certificate requires completion of 18 credit hours.

Click here for potential career opportunities using the Post-Baccalaureate Certificate.

Basis for 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. An interview with an administrative faculty member is available for any applicant to the certificate program but is required for those using the certificate to be qualified for licensure (for those who will be doing clinical courses as a part of the certificate, a background check is also required).

Post-Baccalaureate Certificate 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 version of the master’s degree.

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

NCU allows 2 years to complete all certificate programs.

The median time to completion for this program is 12 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.

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 10 months.

Students who choose to complete the post-baccalaureate certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy can select any four courses from those listed below. As can be seen, these courses are focused in particular specialization areas and can be grouped accordingly or taken as four distinct courses.

Areas of Emphasis and Specific Courses - 12 credit hours

Students can select any four courses from all the courses listed below or they can select a group of courses based on an area of specialization.

Child and Adolescent Family Therapy

Couple Therapy

General Family Therapy

Note: Students may complete the recommended courses listed above or they may select any four MFT master’s level courses (with the exception of MFT-5101).

LGBTQ couple and Family Therapy

Medical Family Therapy

Military Family Therapy