CAMFT MEMBERSHIP EXPLAINED
What CAMFT Membership Category do you belong in?
STUDENT*
AFFILIATE*
ASSOCIATE MEMBER
OR
REGISTERED MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPIST
RMFT SUPERVISOR (QUALIFYING)
RMFT SUPERVISOR
OR
SUPERVISOR MENTORS
RETIRED
*Student and Affiliates (together) elect a representative to the CAMFT Board, but are non-voting members of CAMFT. Associates and Registered Marriage and Family Therapists, Supervisors Qualifying, Supervisors and Supervisor Mentors are voting members of CAMFT.
DETAILED EXPLANATION OF MEMBERSHIP
PREAMBLE:
CAMFT aspires to promote excellence in the practice of Marriage/Couple and Family Therapy, while at the same time welcoming a diverse array of professionals who seek to integrate systemic perspective and practice in their work. We use the term “Marriage and Family Therapy” as a form of acknowledgment and respect for the pioneers of our field who brought our profession into being. We are an inclusive association that is open and accepting of couples and families in all of their myriad permutations.
To this end, CAMFT has created a variety of categories of membership, and is committed to being open to many approaches and varieties of experience and training.
While our standards of credentialing are rigorous, we strive also to make them accessible. Candidates are encouraged to enter into a process of dialogue and reflection which will enable them to identify the resources they bring to practice from diverse backgrounds and forms of training and experience, as well as the resources they may yet need to practice with autonomy and confidence, joining the ranks of those who promote excellence in the field.
Those who are members in good standing in AAMFT may apply for membership to CAMFT, in the same (or related) category. If this applies to you please click here for more information and application form.
Candidates in graduate level programs which are specifically designed to train Marriage/Couple and Family Therapists.
Candidates in graduate level programs which include sufficient courses to meet the criteria for Registered Marriage and Family Therapist credentialing (see below).
Candidates in programs which are pre-approved as COAMFTE programs by AAMFT or IFTA’s IACSTE approved programs. FYI: http://www.ifta-familytherapy.org/approvedprograms.html. or https://www.coamfte.org/COAMFTE/Directory_of_Accredited_Programs/MFT_Training_Programs.aspx
Candidates in a graduate level program of study to follow some other career path (e.g. nursing, medicine, occupational therapy, psychology, social work, clinical counselling), wanting to learn how to practice from a systemic perspective.
PRACTICUM REQUIREMENTS
The degree must include a supervised practicum (supervised client contact hours with individuals, couples, and families). A minimum of 150 supervised client contact hours is required. Applicants who did not complete the full 150 hours practicum during their graduate program may document the remaining hours with initial post graduate client contact hours supervised by an CAMFT Approved Supervisor, Supervisor in Training, or by an alternate supervisor pre-approved by CAMFT specifically for that applicant.
Wondering what courses you should take? Have a look at the list of Required Coursework.
OR
BECOMING A REGISTERED MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPIST
Educational Requirements:
RMFT Section
The equivalent of one course is defined as three semester credits, or 33 didactic contact hours (i.e.lecture/classroom hours).
Recognizing the gravity of First Nations/Indigenous history and current issues for Canadian culture and identity, all RMFT applicants are expected to have awareness of this history and these current issues, how they can be understood through a systemic perspective, and how they would be addressed in treatment. Applicants are required to submit a 5 - 10 page, double spaced Reflection Paper, (i.e. personal rather than academic in focus) in which they outline and reflect on the impact of the Truth and Reconciliation findings on their own professional identity and practice. This paper should accompany the application.
National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation
Please click here for a CAMFT resource list which may help you with the TRC requirement. The resources are interesting reading for everyone.
Marriage and Family Studies (a minimum of three courses required)
These courses will prepare candidates to understand and conceptualize their clients using systems theory. Candidates should be familiar with and think in systems terms about issues and dynamics present in a wide variety of family structures and a diverse range of presenting issues (e.g., gender and orientation, culture and migration narratives, substance abuse, First Nations and indigenous issues in Canada/North America). Topic areas may include: Systems Theory, Family Development, Blended Families, Gender Issues in Families, Cultural Issues in Families, The Indigenous Worldview and Indigenous Family Dynamics, Residential School Trauma and Recovery, Genocide and Families, Forced Immigration and Family Impacts, Traumatized Families and Intergenerational Impacts.
Marriage and Family Therapy (a minimum of three courses required)
These courses will prepare candidates to grasp and demonstrate their ability to utilize advanced family systems theories and systemic therapeutic interventions as they engage with client couples and families. Candidates will also demonstrate substantive understanding of the major theories of systems change and the applied practices evolving from each theoretical orientation. Major Theoretical Approaches might include: Strategic, Structural, Object Relations Family Therapy, Behavioral Family Therapy, Communications Family Therapy, Intergenerational Family Therapy, and Systemic Sex Therapy, Neurobiology and Trauma-Informed Practice, Traumatology: Types 1, 2 and 3, Culturally-Based Theoretical Approaches and including Safe and Effective Use of Self.
Human Development (a minimum of three courses required)
These courses will prepare candidates to demonstrate knowledge of individual personality development and its normal and abnormal manifestations. Candidates should be conversant in human development across the life span, which includes special issues that affect an individual’s development (i.e. culture, gender, and human sexuality). This material should be integrated with systems concepts. Topic areas may include: Human Development, Child/Adolescent Development, Psychopathology, Personality Theory, Human Sexuality, Attachment as a Precedent for Mental Health in Adults. Test and measurement courses are not accepted toward this area.
Professional Ethics (a minimum of one course required)
This course will prepare candidates to function as ethical professionals in the field of marriage and family therapy. This course should also include exploration of the significance of diversity in the practice of therapy. If the course has been taken in Canada after 2015 it should include an understanding of the resolutions from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Religious ethics courses and moral theology courses are not accepted toward this area.
If the course does not provide opportunity to reflect on the resolutions form the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, applicants are strongly encouraged to attend an additional course, workshop, or training event that focusses on the TRC in order to fulfill this requirement.
Research (a minimum of one course required)
This course will prepare candidates to understand and perform research, demonstrating an ability to read and think critically regarding research in the field of marriage and family therapy. Topic areas may include: Research Methodology, Quantitative, Qualitative Methods, and Statistics.
PRACTICUM REQUIREMENTS
The degree must include a supervised practicum (supervised client contact hours with individuals, couples, and families). A minimum of 150 supervised client contact hours is required. Applicants who did not complete the full 150 hours practicum during their graduate program may document the remaining hours with initial post graduate client contact hours supervised by an CAMFT Approved Supervisor, Supervisor in Training, or by an alternate supervisor pre-approved by CAMFT specifically for that applicant.
N.B. Not all hours can be acquired post-graduation. The degree must include a practicum with at least some hours of client contact.
In the case of programs whose practicum requirements exceed 150 hours, there are two categories:
Programs which are COAMFTE approved: all hours acquired within the program are counted toward the 1000 hours total required to become an RMFT.
Programs which are not COAMFTE approved: the 150 practicum hours must be completed before beginning to acquire the 1000 hours required to become an RMFT
POST-GRADUATE CLINICAL EXPERIENCE
Minimum of two (2) years of professional work experience in marriage and family therapy following receipt of master’s or doctorate degree are required to attain the Registered Marriage and Family Therapist designation. Post-graduate clinical experience includes both client contact and supervision hours, which must be completed/received concurrently. All Clinical work must be supervised by a qualified supervisor (RMFT Supervisor, Supervisor In Training, or by an alternate supervisor pre-approved by CAMFT specifically for that applicant.)
Applicants must receive a minimum of 200 hours of supervision while concurrently providing at least 1,000 hours of client contact in therapy with individuals, couples or families which is demonstrably systemic. At least 100 of the 200 required supervision hours must be individual supervision. (i.e. supervision received one-on-one with the supervisor, or as part of a dyad in which both supervisees participate with their own case material) CAMFT will accept a maximum of 100 hours of group supervision. Group supervision is defined as any group of 3 to a maximum of 8, but preferably 6 people maximum. Dyadic supervision: two therapists receiving supervision together can count toward individual hours of supervision.
As mentioned above, graduates of COAMFTE accredited programs must complete 500 client contact hours for their graduate practicum; hours from a COAMFTE program can be used at a ratio of one supervision hour for every five client contact hours toward the post-graduate hour requirement. The two years of professional work experience will still be required.
SUPERVISORS MUST BE:
RMFT-SQ, RMFT-S, RMFT-SM.
AAMFT Approved Supervisors are also accepted.
If your supervisor does not have one of these designations, and you want your supervision hours to count with CAMFT, your supervisor can apply to be an Alternate Supervisor.
THE APPLICATION PROCESS
The application process (minimum 2 years, maximum 10 years, with option to extend, as negotiated) will include:
Statement of Intention/Learning Contract
– submitted at the time of application
List of courses taken, kept up to date as course requirements are completed
Schedule of supervision, kept up to date, including names and credentials of supervisors
Philosophy of Systemic Practice Statement
– Submitted at the time of evaluation, which includes a personal/professional statement regarding Philosophy of Systemic Practice. (3-5 pages)
CONTINUING EDUCATION UNITS
RMFT is the gold standard designation for Couple and Family Therapy practice in Canada. To maintain this standard of excellence we ask all RMFTs to complete 16 hours of Professional Development per year to maintain their RMFT status. This is a means of recognizing all the hard work and training that our RMFTs do every year. Please click here for more information about CEUs.
RETIRED MEMBERS
Members in the Retired category are those who are no longer practising, but wish to continue to contribute to and be involved as an ‘elder’ with the profession and the MFT/CAMFT community.
Appendix A
If you completed your graduate degree in the USA your graduate school needs to be accredited by one of these seven major regional accreditation boards to qualify for CAMFT membership:
These seven accrediting organizations form the Council of Regional Accrediting Commissions (C-RAC), which oversees the agencies to ensure accredited public and private colleges and universities are upheld to quality academic standards.
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