Couple Therapy

Program Overview

The Doctor of Marriage and Family Therapy in Couple Therapy is built for practitioners who want to know not just one model but the field: which approaches help which couples, what the outcome research actually shows, and how to decide what to do with the particular couple in the room. Relationship distress is among the most common reasons people seek help, and couple therapy is one of the most thoroughly studied forms of psychotherapy. Students study the major evidence-based models side by side: John and Julie Gottman's research on the Four Horsemen, physiological flooding, and the Sound Relationship House; Sue Johnson's emotionally focused therapy; the integrative behavioral couple therapy of Jacobson and Christensen, which pairs change with acceptance; cognitive-behavioral couple therapy; and the prevention tradition of PREP. Specialized presentations receive their own attention: infidelity and the stages of recovery after an affair, sexual difficulties, intimate partner violence and the screening that must precede conjoint work, couples in which one partner is leaning out of the marriage — the territory of discernment counseling — and couples facing illness, addiction, or loss. The common factors of change and the work of holding an alliance with two clients at once run through the whole curriculum. The Christian vision of marriage as a covenant gives the work its horizon without excusing it from evidence, and students learn to serve couples who share that vision and couples who do not. The doctoral project tests a couple intervention, training model, or church-based program in the student's own setting. Graduates direct couple and marriage ministries, practise and supervise couple therapy, and train others. The program provides academic formation and does not, on its own, satisfy any licensure requirement.

Core Courses

• CPT 801 — Foundations of Couple Therapy and Relationship Science (6 credits)
• CPT 812 — The Gottman Method and Emotionally Focused Therapy (6 credits)
• CPT 824 — Behavioral, Cognitive, and Integrative Approaches (6 credits)
• CPT 836 — Infidelity, Sexuality, and Complex Presentations (6 credits)
• CPT 848 — Assessment, Safety, and Discernment (5 credits)
• CPT 860 — Applied Research Design in Couple Therapy (4 credits)
• CPT 899 — Doctoral Project in Couple Therapy (24 credits)

Admission Requirements

• Master's degree in marriage and family therapy, counseling, psychology, social work, ministry, or a related field
• Experience in counseling, family ministry, chaplaincy, or human services
• Statement of purpose describing the families you serve and the question you want to pursue
• Current resume or professional profile
• Official transcripts from prior institutions when available
• Signed acknowledgment that the degree does not by itself confer a license to practise therapy in any jurisdiction