Practicum
All students participate in various forms of practicum. You will begin your studies with a pre-practicum course which will address basic interviewing skills as well as evaluate your clinical readiness (see Student Evaluations and Assessment for Clinical Readiness). Upon approval, you will advance to basic or practicum I course. During this time, you will provide therapy at the UT Health and Counseling Center. You will continually be evaluated at the end of each semester in order to move on to the next practicum. With approval, during the Fall or Spring semester of the first year, students may tour potential advanced practicum sites. In the Spring semester, students— in consultation with MFT faculty—decide which sites they wish to apply. Advanced practicum therapy hours typically begin during the summer and continue until April of your second year. Sites that have AAMFT- or program-approved supervisors will provide supervision to meet program requirements. UT faculty will provide program-required supervision for students at sites that do not have AAMFT or program-approved supervisors. All sites may require additional clinical and/or administrative supervision. Supervision at each site must meet the clinical and supervision requirements. That is, 50% of the client contact must be relational; 50% of supervision must be based on raw data; and supervision must occur at a ratio of one supervision hour for every five client contact hours. Students are responsible for making sure they receive the appropriate amount of supervision from each site. Hours will be returned to the MFT program and recorded each week.

• Students are expected to attend weekly supervision with an approved site supervisor and to attend all hours of their weekly practicum classes.
• Students may only accrue hours at clinical sites approved by the UT MFT Program Director.
• Students are expected to follow all processes for maintaining client confidentiality and for protecting client health information, including adherence to HIPAA standards and local, state and federal laws.
• Students are expected to follow the standard of care recommended by their site supervisor when treating clients
• Students are expected to make their site supervisor aware of the full breadth and depth of all cases, which includes every client the student is treating at their site.
• Students are expected to follow site emergency procedures when they have any reasonable belief that the client is in danger. Any situation where clients or the public are in danger must be immediately reported to the site supervisor, practicum supervisor, and/or Program Director.
• Students are expected to bring any non-emergency ethical issues and questions regarding cases to the attention of their site supervisor and practicum instructor in the next scheduled meeting with each.

Cultural Competency Requirement
Cultural competency is an important element of good therapy. The MFT Program uses the following definition of cultural competency: Cultural competency has come to represent the ability of health care providers to interact with patients who are different from themselves. This difference implies ethnicity but from a broader perspective encompasses differences that include gender, race, age, religion, culture, language, education, and socioeconomic status….

 

Health care providers must be able to shift from a problem or disease-focused perspective to the human and contextual perspective of the patients who they represent (Nunez & Roberston, 2006, p. 371).

 

Thesis Topics (MS Students only)
Your thesis may be on any topic of your choosing with any of the CHaSS faculty as your major professor and approval from your Thesis Committee. Your thesis topic should be related to Marriage and Family Therapy.

 

Pilot studies are acceptable as thesis projects as are empirical studies related to your Theory of Change. We have a database of information from the assessment instruments that we use in the clinic. In addition, faculty members are working on their own projects, and you may be able to assist one of them as part of your thesis project. You may opt to do original research however, you must have approval from the Program Director.

 

Program Attendance Expectations
It is expected that you will attend all of your classes. If you miss more than two classes for any given course, a failing grade may be given which will result in, at a minimum, an extension of the program.

 

Students must attend the Theory of Change presentations and monthly MFT Staff Meetings along with scheduled MFT Brown Bag presentations. Students are expected to attend Colloquia or other presentations sponsored by the MFT Program and CHaSS Departments. Attendance is noted toward citizenship, professionalism, and professional development. Students are encouraged to attend the AAMFT and UAMFT Annual Conferences. Conference fees at these conferences are typically waived for volunteer student members, but students will be responsible for any costs associated with attending these conferences, including travel, food and lodging.

 

Student Evaluations and Assessment for Clinical Readiness
It is important that students receive regular evaluation and appraisal of their clinical work in addition to evaluation of their overall coursework in the program. You can expect to be evaluated by your clinical supervisors (both MFT faculty, Practicum Supervisors and Advanced Practicum site supervisors) at least once each semester. These evaluations will include assessment of strength areas as well as areas that need work. You will also learn how to evaluate your own work and to identify areas that you think need particular attention. Students are asked to fairly evaluate their supervisors and to give feedback so that we can continue to improve the program and students’ educations.

 

Before you may begin seeing clients in clinical interviews, you must be approved by the faculty. During your first semester, you will take MFT 6390, Pre-Practicum. This course includes activities that prepare you for clinical work. Examples include role-play, volunteer family interviews, and observation of therapy in the clinic, as designated by the practicum supervisor. At the end of the semester, the Pre-Practicum Supervisor evaluates you on your readiness to conduct clinical interviews. Concerns with the evaluation should be taken to the Pre-Practicum Supervisor or Program Director.

 

The data from these evaluations are discussed with you and the instructor of the Practicum I. You are allowed to begin clinical work when the Program Director and Practicum Supervisor assesses that you are ready. Students with deficiencies are provided remediation. Severe deficiency is discussed among the four clinical faculty and then with the student to determine appropriateness for continuing in the program or remediation.

Student Governance
Students have an important role in the governance of the program. In addition to informal feedback provided by students, we have implemented four formal procedures for soliciting student feedback.

 

First, students provide feedback at the end of each semester. As their practicum supervisor meets with them to discuss their academic and clinical progress, s/he asks what the faculty and program can do to better meet their needs.

 

Second, students provide anonymous feedback at the end of each semester. In this survey, students report on their overall experience and provide written suggestions of how to improve the program.

 

Third, students provide feedback annually to the Program Director, during an exit interview at the end of each Spring Semester. During this interview, students are asked about positive aspects of the program as well as things that could be improved.

 

Fourth, one student representative from each cohort is elected/chosen each year to regularly gather information and feedback from students to present to faculty in our monthly MFT Staff Meetings, which are attended by all MFT faculty, staff, and students. Students may discuss issues with student representatives, or they can bring up issues directly during this meeting.

 

Student Privacy
The MFT program follows the rules and regulations of the Family Educational and Rights Privacy Act (FERPA). This Act requires that we maintain the confidentiality and privacy of student records.

 

The MFT faculty as a group maintain confidences that students bring to them. Material shared during supervision and otherwise is confidential and private unless (a) the student decides to share the information with others, or (b) the faculty members believe that, unless shared with others, some harm could come to you, other students, the faculty, clients, or the program. All efforts will be made to discuss this with you. Information or concerns that students bring to one faculty member about another faculty member will not be held in confidence if doing so would be harmful to the student, other students, the faculty, clients, or the program.

 

Discrimination
The UT MFT Program and UT Health and Counseling Center do not discriminate based on race, ethnicity, gender, marital status, religious affiliation, sexual orientation, or socio-economic condition. We are committed to providing an environment free from harassment and other forms of discrimination based on race, age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, relationship status, gender identity, socioeconomic status, disability, health status, religion, spiritual beliefs, affiliation, or national origin with regards to recruitment, admission, codes of conduct, hiring, retention, or dismissal of students, staff, faculty, or supervisors. We treat everyone with respect and care.

 

All students will be members of AAMFT/UAMFT
As part of your development as a marriage and family therapist, you must become a member of AAMFT and submit verification to the Program Director by September 15 of each year you are in the program. Your grade in MFT 6390 (first year) will be reduced by one whole grade if your membership is not verified and you will have to go through remediation if not verified by MFT 6390R (second year).

 

Core competencies as established by the AAMFT
Students should refer to specific core competencies noted in the Educational Outcomes but should also familiarize themselves with all of the AAMFT Core Competencies.

 

Post-Graduation
Part of our goal to administer a high quality MFT program is being able to track post-graduate outcomes and thereby demonstrate that our students are successful even after completion of their degree and graduation. In addition to the numerous ways that we assess educational outcomes during and at the conclusion of the program, we also will track performance rates in terms of graduation, job placement, employee performance evaluations, passing the MFT licensing exam, and MFT licensure.

 

In order to make this a simple process, we will send out annual surveys for you to complete one and two years after you complete the program. After the first alumni survey, we will request to contact your current employers and solicit feedback regarding your performance and our training.

 

MFT Social Media & Technology Standard
The UT MFT program views current students as representatives of the program. Students are expected to demonstrate appropriate judgement by limiting information posted about their training and clinical work. Students who violate the confidentiality of other students (i.e., FERPA rights) or clients, and students who post content that violates the mission of the MFT program will be recommended to meet for remediation.

Students may not use personal phones to record or broadcast UT classes without formal permission by the faculty member, or a formal ADA letter. Students may not use personal phones to record or broadcast therapy sessions or supervision meetings.

Students may not use personal telephone numbers or email addresses to call, text, or communicate with clients.

Technology Requirements
Our MFT program typically requires access to a computing device (desktop/laptop) and internet access to do work for your courses as well as clinical work (e.g., case notes, etc.). Access to these resources are widely available. There are computer labs with the appropriate software that are accessible for course work.

 

Authenticity of Student Work

In order to fairly evaluate student progress, the following guidelines must be rigidly adhered to when submitting student work:

 

1. All work done for this program is to be your own, with the exception of the Group Projects.
2. Cheating of all kinds is forbidden-All incidents will be reported to the Program Director, Department Chair and/or Academic Dean.
3. All students are expected to have read and understand the current version of the Code of Student Rights & Responsibilities (found at catalog.utahtech.edu/codeofstudentrightsresponsibilities/). The document includes relevant policy information regarding student responsibilities, student rights, intellectual property policy, information regarding procedures, and appropriate student behavior
4. All students are expected to have read and understood the current version of the Department of Psychology Academic Honesty and Integrity Policy.
5. Cheating of any kind may be punishable by one or more of the following: a) Receiving a failing grade on the specific assignment where dishonesty was observed; b) Receiving a failing grade in the course: c) Immediate dismissal from this course; and d) Referral to the Academic Affairs Committee which may take actions such as reprimands, placing on probation, suspension, or removal from UT. For further information regarding student responsibilities related to academic integrity, please refer to Policy 552, which can be viewed at utahtech.edu/policylibrary/.