Marriage and family therapists (MFTs) provide therapeutic services to help their clients overcome a wide range of mental, emotional, and behavioral issues. MFTs view their clients in the context of relationships—assuming that every individual influences and is influenced by people in his/her life in a systemic fashion.

Marriage and family therapists may work with individuals, couples, or families who are coping with a wide range of problems including depression, anxiety, marital and relationship problems, child-parent conflict, and more. They assist their clients in better understanding how their personal behavior patterns may be influencing the behaviors of those around them. MFTs help their clients find new ways of thinking about and interacting with others—and ultimately lead more harmonious, fulfilling lives.

Marital and family therapy is one of the fastest growing disciplines in the mental health field and MFTs apply their skills in many different work settings, including private practice, social service agencies, inpatient psychiatric facilities, hospitals, community mental health centers, schools, and even courts and prisons.

• M.A. in Marital and Family Therapy
  • Offered in Pasadena.
  • May be completed in as little as 2 1/2 years when starting in the spring semester, or 3 years, when starting in fall.
  • Curriculum adheres to the guidelines and meets the requirements of the California Board of Behavioral Sciences—preparing graduates to sit for the California MFT licensing exam.
  • Program provides a solid foundation in a vast spectrum of mental health theory and practice, including theories of human development, personality, and marriage and family therapy; the impact of society and culture on families; assessment , diagnosis, and intervention with adults, children, families, couples, or groups; cross-cultural competence; and the legal and ethical issues relevant to clinical practice.
  • Students may select our specializations in African American Family Studies or Latina/o Family Studies, to gain marketable expertise and cultural competence in these critical and underserved areas.
  • 100% of students secure clinical training placements within community agencies—enabling students to complete the pre-graduate portion of the 3,000 supervised hours required for the California licensing exam in Marriage and Family Therapy.
  • Students complete 36 hours of personal therapy with a licensed mental health professional—20 hours before and 16 hours during their clinical training placements.
  • Students complete a Masters Thesis Project over the course of three consecutive semester classes, conducting qualitative research such as interviewing participants from the community regarding an issue of relevance to mental health theory and practice, and then comparing and contrasting the information gathered with established research literature on the topic.
  • Program is unique among other MFT programs in the following ways:
    Prepares graduates to consider issues of social justice within family systems and to explore how those factors directly impact family dynamics and the mental health of each family member.
    Takes an integrative, interdisciplinary focus, exposing students to the range of mental health professions, though placing central emphasis on the profession of Marital and Family Therapy. Program emphasizes what is common and complementary in the various mental health disciplines, rather than what is different and separate or exclusive.
    Provides an egalitarian academic environment, where each student and each instructor is both teacher and learner.
    Offers a deeply relational approach to teaching and learning. Just as research has demonstrated that the quality of the therapeutic relationship is the single critical factor in producing positive healing outcomes, Pacific Oaks believes that the quality of the academic relationships among students and instructors is the cornerstone of a transformative academic learning experience.
• M.A. in Marital and Family Therapy: Latina/Latino Family Studies Specialization (Comadre-Compadre Cohort)
  • Offered at our main campus in Pasadena. Beginning as early as fall 2010, classes will also be offered at an instructional site in Visalia, California.
  • Classes meet six weekends per semester (Friday through Sunday)
  • An intensive three-year program consisting of 56 semester units.
  • A “cohort” model in which all students progress through the program together at the same pace—creating a growing trust, intimacy and bonding among students within the specialization.
  • The only master’s program of its kind in California, equipping graduates with broad preparation in Marital and Family Therapy as well as a special educational emphasis on the diverse mental health needs of Latina/Latino children and families.
  • Open to all students who are passionate about serving Latina/o families and studying MFT theories in context with the issues that impact the Latina/o population, such as: immigration, acculturation, trauma, culture, history, liberation psychology, and advocacy.
  • Faculty consists of diverse professionals who represent varied mental health disciplines and extensive academic and community-based experience.
  • The educational experience of the Comadre-Compadre Cohort model is an intensely dynamic, intellectually relevant process. Faculty and students comprise a community that uniquely challenges both the personal and professional development of all its participants.
• M.A. in Marital and Family Therapy: African American Family Studies Specialization – AAFS
  • Offered in Pasadena
  • Classes meet every other weekend on Saturday and Sunday.
  • An intensive three-year program consisting of 56 semester units.
  • A “cohort” model in which all students progress through the program together at the same pace—creating a growing trust, intimacy and bonding among students within the specialization.
  • Equips graduates with broad preparation in Marital and Family Therapy as well as a special educational emphasis on the diverse mental health needs of African American children and families.
  • Curriculum explores mental health theory and practice from a deeply culture-centered perspective, informed by the UJIMA model of collective work and responsibility—with the goal of developing marriage and family therapists who are highly competent in serving and advocating for the mental health needs of African American families.
  • Students complete their clinical training hours in community agencies serving African American families, and are supervised and mentored, when possible, by licensed African American mental health professionals.
  • Students complete a Masters Thesis Project focusing in an area of relevance to the mental health needs of African American families. .
  • Program is open to all people who are interested in specializing in serving the mental health needs of African American families and communities. The student body consists primarily, but not exclusively, of self-identified African American students, and the faculty consists primarily, but not exclusively, of mental health specialists and academics with intimate knowledge and experience of the African American community’s mental health needs.
• Marital & Family Therapy Course Descriptions
• California Board of Behavioral Science (BBS) MFT License Exam Pass Rates