MFC 502 - Family Therapy: Systemic Approaches

Credits: 3

Families are the primary unit of study in this course designed to familiarize students with systems theories. Students study the interaction of parts and the whole, and how intervention with one element of a system creates change throughout the family and the larger systems with which the family interacts. Learning sequentially, students begin with a sensitive study of their own family systems before moving on to therapeutic and counseling applications with other families. The models presented are General Systems Theory, Bowen, Structural, Strategic, and Humanistic/Experiential. The course then moves into the collaborative, strength-based approaches of Post Modern therapies. Specific counseling applications of these theories are demonstrated in the classroom to help students develop intervention strategies with families and larger systems.