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Who are Marriage and Family Therapists?
Marriage and family therapists (MFTs) are trained in a distinct relational perspective to provide services to families, couples and individuals. They can evaluate and treat relationship issues as well as mental and emotional disorders and behavioral problems. They believe that people and their problems exist within larger contexts, of which the family is the most important. MFTs are recognized by the federal government as one of the five core mental health professionals, along with social workers, psychiatrists, psychologists and psychiatric nurses.
Marriage and family therapy is one of the fastest growing mental health disciplines. This growth has been spurred by the increasing complexities families encounter. These difficulties not only affect families, but impact larger systems such as community safety, criminal justice costs, stability of the community, health care systems and health care costs. We know that a larger portion of incarcerated youth and adults also have diagnosed mental disorders. Persons with untreated mental health illnesses consume twice as much medical care as the average individual. Marriage and family therapists can work not only with families, but also with larger public policy systems which impact their communities.
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