Continuing Education in Medical Family Therapy: Integrating Relational Care into Healthcare
The healthcare landscape is evolving, with integrated health care teams becoming increasingly prevalent in medical settings. These teams address the multifaceted needs of patients, encompassing their physical, emotional, spiritual, and relational well-being. Medical Family Therapy (MDFT) is emerging as a vital component of this integrated approach, offering specialized skills to support individuals and families facing the challenges of illness.
The Rise of Medical Family Therapy
Medical family therapists (MedFTs) play a crucial role in fostering collaboration and communication among healthcare staff. They strive to reduce health disparities stemming from race, age, class, gender, and sexual identity. By addressing the psychosocial and spiritual dimensions of health, MedFTs contribute to a more holistic and patient-centered approach to care.
Comprehensive Training Programs
Several institutions are now offering specialized training in MDFT to meet the growing demand for these professionals. Seattle Pacific University (SPU), for example, offers a Medical Family Therapy (MDFT) certificate program, uniquely positioned on the West Coast to train biomedical, psychosocial, and spiritual providers for integrated healthcare teams. These programs equip professionals with the knowledge and skills necessary to provide effective medical family therapy in various settings, including:
- Out-patient medical clinics
- In-patient hospital and hospice settings
- Other clinics where health care is provided
Who Can Benefit from MDFT Training?
MDFT training is valuable for a wide range of professionals, including:
- State-certified/licensed psychologists
- Marriage and family therapists
- Mental health counselors
- Social workers
- Physicians
- Nurses
- Other health care professionals
- Clergy
Physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals gain the ability to understand and effectively intervene in the psychological and spiritual implications of illness. Clergy are equipped to provide medical family therapy as spiritual providers when working with families facing illness.
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Curriculum and Coursework
MDFT programs typically involve a combination of academic coursework and clinical training. SPU's program, for instance, requires professionals with a degree in Marriage and Family Therapy to complete all core MDFT courses (16 credits) to receive the certificate. Individuals with graduate training in social work, behavioral science, theology, nursing, or medicine may need to review their prior classes to determine if additional credits are required. The certificate can often be completed over a two-year period.
The Family Therapy Training Institute (FTTI) emphasizes real-world learning and best-practice approaches that are trauma-informed and culturally humble. They use a competency-based approach to teach relational or systemic models to facilitate change, drawing from the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy’s (AAMFT) Core Competencies.
A typical MDFT curriculum covers a range of essential topics, including:
- Systemic Family Therapy: Introduction to the central theoretical underpinnings, providing a basic framework for assessment and intervention.
- Legal and Ethical Issues: Exploration of legal issues and areas of family law in the practice of Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT), including confidentiality, duty to protect, malpractice, and expert testimony, and the understanding of the AAMFT Code of Ethics and state requirements regarding ethical practice.
- Clinical Practice: Introduction to the basic administrative and clinical aspects of conducting systemic therapy.
- Methods in Systems Therapy: Introduction to a range of methods used in systems therapy.
- Individual and Family Development: Understanding individual, relational, and family development across the lifespan and the dynamic interactions within families.
- Cultural Sensitivity: Sensitizing students to the influence of race, class, culture, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, religion, nationality, and ability on lived experience and the practice of marriage and family therapy.
- Intimate Relations: Focuses on sequences of interaction, affective intensity and subtlety of communication.
- Major Treatment Models: Examination of the major treatment models that have emerged through the development and history of systemic therapy.
- Group Therapy: Learning the theoretical basis of group therapy and developing a framework for group work.
- Working with Children and Adolescents: Providing theoretical and practical knowledge in working with families that present with Children and Adolescents.
- Transgenerational Models: Offers an in-depth understanding of transgenerational models including a system perspective on the development of intrapsychic structure and function.
- Addiction Treatment: Reviews distinctions of disease model vs. systemic views of addiction and treatment, discusses the markers of abuse and dependence, illuminates various therapeutic approaches, and explores the efficacy of family therapy approaches.
- Working with Specific Populations: Providing the concepts and develop the skills necessary for working with particular client-lived experiences and problems, such as BIPOC community; chosen, divorced and blended families; LGBTQIA clients/families; client and families living with severe mental and/or physical disorders; and more.
- Systemic Treatment of Families: Raises awareness of issues related to the systemic treatment of families navigating complex constraints.
- Sexual Difficulty: A multidimensional, biophysical approach to the diagnosis and treatment of sexual difficulty in individuals and couples.
Clinical Internships and Practical Experience
A crucial component of MDFT training is the clinical internship, providing students with hands-on experience in medical settings. For example, SPU places students in a yearlong internship for 10 hours a week in an outpatient medical clinic. These clinics often specialize in areas such as family medicine, oncology, rheumatology, and women's health.
During the internship, students work alongside physicians, nurses, and staff, providing on-site psychosocial care. They are actively involved in charting, consulting with the medical team, program development, and clinical treatment.
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Students gain practical experience in providing systemic, integrative assessment and treatment for clients. Clinical faculty provide group and individual supervision on a weekly basis through case discussion as well as direct observation and videotape/audiotape recordings of students' therapy sessions.
Continuing Education Credits
Professionals seeking to stay current with the latest advancements in medical family therapy can often register for MDFT classes as seminars for continuing education credits. These seminars provide an opportunity to engage in discussions and earn CEU credit per course.
Relias LLC, for example, is an approved provider for various boards and organizations, offering continuing education credits for nurses, social workers, counselors, and other healthcare professionals.
Capstone Projects and Research Opportunities
Many MDFT programs culminate in a capstone project, allowing students to synthesize and apply their knowledge and skills. The MSMFT Capstone, for instance, involves the completion of a case study process, a case presentation and a paper that demonstrates the student's acquisition of clinical competence, as well as the ability to integrate relevant knowledge and skill within the framework of Integrative Systemic Therapy and apply this integration to their clinical work.
Some programs also offer research opportunities for students interested in pursuing doctoral programs or research careers. Students in research labs commit to working a set number of hours a week in their lab.
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Accreditation and Program Quality
When choosing an MDFT program, it is essential to consider accreditation and program quality. The Family Therapy Training Institute is accredited by the Council on Accreditation in Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE), ensuring a high standard of education and training.
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