Marriage and Family Therapists

Marriage and Family Therapists typically perform the following tasks: • Encourage individuals and family members to develop and use skills and strategies for confronting their problems in a constructive manner. • Ask questions that will help clients identify their feelings and behaviors. • Develop and implement individualized treatment plans addressing family relationship problems, destructive patterns of behavior, and other personal issues. • Maintain case files that include activities, progress notes, evaluations, and recommendations. • Counsel clients on concerns, such as unsatisfactory relationships, divorce and separation, child rearing, home management, or financial difficulties. • Collect information about clients, using techniques such as testing, interviewing, discussion, or observation. • Confer with clients to develop plans for posttreatment activities. • Confer with other counselors, doctors, and professionals to analyze individual cases and to coordinate counseling services. • Determine whether clients should be counseled or referred to other specialists in such fields as medicine, psychiatry, or legal aid. • Provide instructions to clients on how to obtain help with legal, financial, and other personal issues. • Provide public education and consultation to other professionals or groups regarding counseling services, issues, and methods. • Follow up on results of counseling programs and clients' adjustments to determine effectiveness of programs. • Supervise other counselors, social service staff, and assistants. • Gather information from doctors, schools, social workers, juvenile counselors, law enforcement personnel, and others to make recommendations to courts for resolution of child custody or visitation disputes. • Write evaluations of parents and children for use by courts deciding divorce and custody cases, testifying in court if necessary. • Diagnose mental and emotional disorders in clients.