The Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) has accredited Antioch University Seattle’s master’s program in Couple and Family Therapy.
The Seattle campus received the announcement March 13 from the director of professional and public affairs at AAMFT. The Association’s letter explains that the Antioch Seattle program is “within the first three to five years of accreditation,” and, as such, is in what COAMFTE calls “candidacy status.” The letter then adds that “programs in candidacy status are accredited programs.”
Paul David, core faculty in the School of Applied Psychology at Antioch Seattle, also has been notified by the executive director for health professions quality assurance at the Washington State Department of Health that, pursuant to this notification from COAMFTE, graduates of Antioch Seattle’s Couple and Family Therapy (CFT ) program “may be credited with 500 hours of direct client contact and 100 of formal meetings with an approved supervisor.”
In addition to the national recognition of this accreditation, David says there are essentially two other important benefits:
- Graduates have greater ease in completing the supervised clinical experience hours required for eligibility to take the MFT licensing exam.
- Graduates have greater acceptability and portability of their degrees when making application for licensure in Washington and in other states.
The ruling shortens significantly the time and effort required for graduates of the Antioch Seattle program to qualify for Washington licensure in Marriage and Family Therapy.
“Instead of having to complete the regularly required 1,000 hours of client contact and 200 hours of supervision,” David explains, “graduates from accredited marriage and family therapy programs only have to complete 50% of these particular post-master’s requirements. This 50% reduction is of particular significance because it enables Antioch Seattle graduates of the CFT program to complete their two years of post-master’s experience with more ease and, most importantly, makes it much more likely that they will be able to take the Washington MFT licensing exam right at the end of the two-year period after their graduation.”
These benefits, according to David, are available to those CFT alumni, current or future students whose graduation was/is after July 2005.
Antioch Seattle’s Academic Dean Ormond Smythe, upon hearing the news, noted, “Congratulations and thanks are due to all concerned, and especially to Paul David. Anyone who has been following the prodigious effort that has gone into pursuit of this accreditation over the past several years is well aware that the greatest part of that effort by far has come from him.”
Smythe said credit also goes to Psychology Dean Catherine Koverola as well as Paul David’s colleagues and staff affiliated with the Couple and Family Therapy program.
“In the end, in guiding the program’s accreditation through the Washington Department of Health, the support of many program alumni and students played a very important role,” Smythe said.
Learn more about our Couple and Family Therapy program.
