The goal of the Psychology program at UWest is to reduce suffering and increase happiness in the world through the application of mental health practices. The 63-unit Master of Arts in Psychology – Marriage and Family Therapy prepares students to meet requirements for California licensure to provide psychotherapy as Marriage and Family Therapists (MFT). The program focuses on the intersection between Buddhist psychology and Western multicultural and recovery-oriented evidence-based practice in helping individuals, couples, families, and groups.

In addition to mastering the standard MFT competencies, UWest graduates are:

• Grounded in Recovery-Oriented Practice, putting clients at the heart of treatment, focusing upon co-creating a life worth living
• Well-practiced at making ethical decisions from the overlapping lenses of multiculturalism, Buddhist psychology, and biomedical/behavioral health law and ethics
• Clinically and personally skilled in contemplative practice
• Versed in effective practices that borrow heavily from Buddhist psychology, such as Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Compassion Focused Therapy, and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy Skills Training;
• Trained in the fundamentals of Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples; and
• Experienced in the applications of Interpersonal Neurobiology from the inside out.

The university takes pride in offering small teacher-student ratio, diversity, and individual attention in the classroom as the faculty nurtures all aspects of the therapist’s personhood, particularly intrapersonal awareness, interpersonal and multicultural knowledge, and the skills to turn this awareness and knowledge into helpful interactions with others.

The program is aligned to the requirements of California Business and Professions Code Section 4980.37, as regulated by the California Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS). Coursework prepares students for the California MFT license examinations, and to meet best practices outlined by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists.

In 2015, our MA-MFT was ranked as the 9th most affordable graduate psychology program in the United States.