The Miracle Question

Suppose tonight, after you go to bed and fall asleep, while you are sleeping, a miracle happens.  The miracle is that the problem or problems you are struggling with are solved!  Just like that!  Since you are sleeping, however, you don't know that the miracle happened.  You sleep right through the whole event.  When you wake up tomorrow morning, what would be some of the first things that you would notice that would be different and that would tell you that the miracle has happened and that your problem is solved?

State MFT Licensure Requirements

I found a very useful chart of all the requirements for MFT licensure by state from the mftprogress blog that I follow.  He linked this pdf with the information (it's on page 258).  It is several years old, however.  But offers the best state to state comparison that I've come across.  If I get really ambitious I might type it out so it's more easily accessible.

Update:  I found myself in a very productive mood yesterday and this morning, so I transferred the data from the pictures into the following chart.  If you click on link that is the name of the state it will take you to that state's licensing webpage.  While this is proving to be a very time consuming task, I like the resource of seeing the comparison between states of the hours required for a Marriage and Family Therapy license.  I'm not really satisfied with the education requirements as listed on the chart, so I plan to update it...someday.  I know California has quite a few additional courses that are not included in the COAMFTE coursework.  I believe there is a psychopharmacology class among others.  I believe Idaho also required two courses in diagnosis.

State	Education	Direct Client Contact Hours	Direct Hours that must be MFT	Indirect or Other Hours	Supervision	Post Graduate Years of Experience	Other Requirements	Specified Master's degree Credit Hours	Practicum
Alabama	COAMFTE Master's degree or equivalent	1000	250		200 (1:5 ratio) at least 100 hours must be individual	2 years experience post master's degree	Good Moral Character		500
Alaska	Graduate degree in MFT or allied field	1500	1500		200 (100 individual and 100 group)	4 years	Training in domestic violence		One year
Arizona	COAMFTE Master's degree or equivalent	1600	1000		200 hours	2 years			300 hours
Arkansas	COAMFTE Master's or equivalent	3 years with 1000 hours of client contact per years			Year 1=1000 hour with 100 supervision hours; Year 2=1000/50; Year3=1000/25	3 years 30 post master's credit hours may be substituted for one year	Oral exam after passing written exam. Approval of therapy tape. Criminal background check.	60 hour Master's degree	500 hours
California	Master's degree in MFT or equivalent	1700	500	1300	1 to 10 ratio for the duration of supervised post master's experience (1 to 5 during graduate program)	2-6 years	Additional training- Check website for specifics	48 hour Master's degree	500 hours
Colorado	COAMFTE Master's degree or equivalent	1500		500 (0 if a Ph.D)	100, 50 must be individual, 75/37.5 if a Ph.D	2 years for Masters degree, 1 year Ph.D	Jurispreudence Exam	45 hour Master's degree	300 hours
Connecticut		1000 in at least 12 months			100 hours, 50 must be individual	1 year		45 hour Master's degree	500 hours completed in 1-2 years
Delaware	COAMFTE Master's or equivalent	1600	500		100 hours 60 must be individual	2 years			Not specified
District of Columbia	COAMFTE Master's or equivalent	1500	1500		300 (1 to 5 ratio) at least 100 must be individual	2 years	Good Moral Character	60 hours Master's degree	Not Specified
Florida	MFT Master's degree					2 years supervised experience	8 hour law & rules course, 2 hour prevention of medical errors course		PDF of requirements
Georgia	COAMFTE Master's or equivalent	2000	2000		200, 100 with an approved supervisor, 50 must be individual	2-5 years	Criminal Background check		1 year, 500 hours
Hawaii	MFT Master's degree	1000	1000		200 hours	2 years			1 year 300 hours
Idaho	COAMFTE CACREP Master's or equivalent	2000	1000		200 hours, 100 hours must be individual	2 years		60 hour Master's degree	1 year 300 hours 150 MFT hours
Illinois	COAMFTE Master's degree or equivalent	2000	1000		200 (1 to 5 ratio) at least 100 must be individual	2 years	Good Moral Character	48 hour Master's degree	300 hours
Indiana	COAMFTE Master's degree or equivalent	1000	500		200 (1 to 5 ratio)	3 years	Good Moral Character		500 hours
Iowa	COAMFTE Master's or equivalent	1000	1000		200 hours 100 must be individual, 1 hour per week must be face to face individual	2 years		45 hour Master's degree	300 hours
Kansas	COAMFTE Master's degree or equivalent	4000			1 to 15 ratio				500 hours
Kentucky	COAMFTE Master's degree or equivalent	1000	1000		200 hours	2 years	N/A		300 hours
Louisiana	COAMFTE Master's or equivalent, CACREP Master's with MFT coursework	3000, 2000 must be direct client contact		1000	200 hours 100 must be individual face to face (100 if graduate of COAMFTE program)	2 years	Good Moral Character	48 hour Master's degree	500, 250 must be with couples and families
Maryland	MFT Master's or equivalent from an accredited university	1000			100 at least 50 must be face to face individual	2 years	N/A	60 hour Master's degree	300 hours
Massachusetts	COAMFTE Master's degree or equivalent	1000	500		200 at least 100 must be face to face individual	2 years	N/A	60 hour Master's degree	300 hours
Michigan	COAMFTE Master's degree or equivalent	1000	1000		200(1 to 5 ratio) at least 100 hours individual	Not specified	Good Moral Character		300 hours
Minnesota	COAMFTE Master's degree or equivalent	1000	500		200 at least 100 must be individual face to face	2 years	Good Moral Character		300 hours
Mississippi	COAMFTE Master's degree	1000 hours			200 at least 100 must be individual face to face	2 years	N/A		500 hours
Missouri	COAMFTE Master's degree or equivalent	1500	1500		200 face to face supervision hours	2 years (no more than 4 years)	N/A	45 hours Master's degree	500 hours
Montana
Nebraska (Licensed Mental Health provider)	COAMFTE Master's degree or equivalent	1500		1500	2 face to face hours per 15 hours of direct client contact	2-5 years	N/A		300
Nevada	MFT Master's degree or equivalent	1500		A maximum of 300 hours as a group facilitator, a maximum of 150 of personal therapy, a maximum of 200 hours of psychoeducation, a maximum of 50 hours of trainings, and a maximum of 500 hours of direct client contact hours from a graduate program.	300 hours, 160 must be provided by an approved supervisor other can be by secondary supervisor	Not specified	N/A	45 hour Master's degree	Not specified
New Hampshire	COAMFTE Master's degree or equivalent	1000	1000		200 hours face-to-face supervision	2 years	N/A		Not specified
New Jersey	COAMFTE Master's degree or equivalent	Full time practice for 5 years, at least 20 hours of client contact per week		11 hours per week for 5 years	5 years, 2 of which must be in supervised MFT practice. 4 hours of supervision per week, 2 must be face-to-face (1 to 5 ratio)	5 years	Good Moral Character		3 credit hour practicum
New Mexico	MFT Master's degree from a regionally accredited university		1000		200 (100 must be individual face-to-face)	2 years		45 hours Master's degree	300
New York	Accredited MFT Master's degree or equivalent	1500			1 hour per week	Not Specified	Good Moral Character, complete training in child abuse reporting	45 hour Master's degree	300 hours
North Carolina	MFT Master's degree or equivalent	1500 hours	1500		200 hours	3 years	Good Moral Character	45 hour Master's degree	500 hours
North Dakota
Ohio	MFT master's degree or related master's with required coursework	1000	1000		200 (1 to 5 ratio) at least 100 hours individual	2 years	Good Moral Character	60 hour Master's degree	300 hours
Oklahoma	MFT Master's degree or equivalent	1000			150 face to face (75 may be group). Supervisor must ovserve live or on tape 2 times ever 6 months	2 years	Criminal background check		300 hours
Oregon	COAMFTE Master's degree or equivalent	2000	1000		At least 2 hours per month for every 45 client contact hours. 3 hours per month when 46 or more client client contact hours.	3 years	Law and rules examination	48 hour Master's degree	Not Specified
Pennsylvania	COAMFTE Master's degree or equivalent	1800		1800	2 hours for every 40 of the 3600	3 years	Good Moral Character	48 hour master's degree or 60 hours of graduate credit in a planned program	300 hours
Rhode Island	COAMFTE Master's degree or equivalent	2000			100 hours of supervision spread across 2 years	2 years	Good Moral Character	60 hour Master's degree	12 semester hours of practicum and internship
South Carolina	MFT Master's degree or equivalent	1500			150 hours, 100 must be individual face-to-face	5 years of practice, 2 of the 5 years must be under the supervision of an MFT supervision		48 hours Master's degree	300 hours
South Dakota	COAMFTE or CACREP Master's degree or equivalent	1700			200	3 years		48 hours Master's degree	1 year
Tennessee	MFT Master's degree or equivalent	1000			200	2 years	Criminal background check, good moral character		300 hours
Texas	MFT Master's degree or equivalent	1500	750		200, 100 must be face-to-face individual	2 years	Jurisprudence exam	45 hour Master's degree	12 months 9 credit hours
Utah	COAMFTE Master's degree or equivalent	4000 hours must include 1000 hours of mental health therapy	500		100 individual face-to-face hours	2 years			500 hours
Vermont	MFT Master's degree or equivalent	2 years experience under the supervision of a licensed MFT				2 years
Virginia	CACREP or COAMFTE degree or equivalent	2000/w 4000 hours experience	1000		200 (1 to 5 ratio) at least 100 individual	2 years	Good Moral Character	60 hour Master's degree	600 hours
Washington	COAMFTE Master's degree or equivalent	3000, 1000 must be direct contact with clients	500		200, 100 must be face-to-face	2 years	AIDS Education and Training		1 year 9 credit hours
West Virginia
Wisconsin	COAMFTE Master's degree or equivalent	1000 w/3000 hours experience			Not Specified	2 years	N/A		Not Specified
Wyoming	MFT Master's degree or equivalent	3000			100 hours face-to-face supervision

Functional Family Therapy

In my first couples case, my supervisor recommended switching the model of treatment to Functional Family Therapy.  Being another model that we have not covered in our program, I have been struggling to develop a method of approaching treatment with this model.

The concept that I like the most, and have since implemented it almost every couples case, is that there are three outcomes from any interaction between couples.  An action can either create distance between partners, maintain the relationship as is, or bring the couple closer together.  While there is no hard-fast rule of what actions fall into these categories the theorists of Functional Family Therapy have provided some standard examples.

Distancing

Work (especially working another job on the side)

School (especially when only one partner is attending)

A teen learning to drive.

Arguing

Perhaps the most insightful concept of distancing is the consideration of working, learning to drive, or going to school as distancing activities.  It is common to think of only *bad* or *negative* activities, such as arguing, as distancing, but any time spent apart creates a distance.  Working and going to school, or learning to drive, certainly are *good* and many times necessary to have in a relationship.  However, they each create experiences that are not shared between couples.  I'm sure any graduate student that is in a committed relationship would be willing to testify of this truth.  I know it is the case with me and my wife, and all the people in committed relationships in my cohort.  The amount of time spent studying and at school, as well as the rethinking of our own relationships, certainly brings a large amount of stress to our relationships.  It really was an interesting perspective to realize that my work and school (which are both good) created strains on our relationships.

Regulating

Group date outings

Going to a movie (my wife and I find this a little more intimate than regulation, but we do both acknowledge that the movie itself is more regulation.  We enjoy cuddling during the movie and talking about the movie, which are both creating intimacy)

Eating together

Coming closer (creating intimacy)

Sexual intimacy (I am hesitant to just write it as sex, because not all sexual encounters even between loving couples are intimate)

Having deep conversations

After being able to identify, and explicitly doing so, a couple is (hopefully) better able to increase the number of regulation and intimacy activities to balance the distancing ones.