Statewide occupation search

Sort your search results or select and compare details of two occupations. Find out if an occupation is in demand or not in demand in your local area, at Learn about an occupation.

Statewide occupation search

Marriage and Family Therapists

It's a bright outlook for

This career will grow rapidly in the next few years.

Learn more about what they do.

Diagnose and treat mental and emotional disorders, whether cognitive, affective, or behavioral, within the context of marriage and family systems. Apply psychotherapeutic and family systems theories and techniques in the delivery of services to individuals, couples, and families for the purpose of treating such diagnosed nervous and mental disorders.

Related: Child, Family, & School Social Workers Clinical & Counseling Psychologists Healthcare Social Workers Mental Health & Substance Abuse Social Workers Mental Health Counselors

Industries: Health & Counseling

Summary
Details

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

Operations Analysis
- Figuring out what a product or service needs to be able to do.
Management of Financial Resources
- Making spending decisions and keeping track of what is spent.
Operations Monitoring
- Watching gauges, dials, or display screens to make sure a machine is working.
Equipment Maintenance
- Planning and doing the basic maintenance on equipment.
Quality Control Analysis
- Testing how well a product or service works.
Negotiation
- Bringing people together to solve differences.
Speaking
- Talking to others.
Mathematics
- Using math to solve problems.
Active Learning
- Figuring out how to use new ideas or things.
Service Orientation
- Looking for ways to help people.
Equipment Selection
- Deciding what kind of tools and equipment are needed to do a job.
Programming
- Writing computer programs.
Operation and Control
- Using equipment or systems.
Troubleshooting
- Figuring out what is causing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs to not work.
Judgment and Decision Making
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different options and picking the best one.
Systems Evaluation
- Measuring how well a system is working and how to improve it.
Management of Material Resources
- Managing equipment and materials.
Science
- Using scientific rules and strategies to solve problems.
Coordination
- Changing what is done based on other people's actions.
Critical Thinking
- Thinking about the pros and cons of different ways to solve a problem.
Persuasion
- Talking people into changing their minds or their behavior.
Active Listening
- Listening to others, not interrupting, and asking good questions.
Technology Design
- Making equipment and technology useful for customers.
Complex Problem Solving
- Noticing a problem and figuring out the best way to solve it.
Installation
- Installing equipment, machines, wiring, or computer programs.
Monitoring
- Keeping track of how well people and/or groups are doing in order to make improvements.
Repairing
- Repairing machines or systems using the right tools.
Systems Analysis
- Figuring out how a system should work and how changes in the future will affect it.
Time Management
- Managing your time and the time of other people.
Management of Personnel Resources
- Selecting and managing the best workers for a job.
Instructing
- Teaching people how to do something.
Writing
- Writing things for co-workers or customers.
Social Perceptiveness
- Understanding people's reactions.
Learning Strategies
- Using the best training or teaching strategies for learning new things.
Reading Comprehension
- Reading work-related information.

Reaction Time
- Quickly moving your hand, finger, or foot based on a sound, light, picture or other command.
Perceptual Speed
- Quickly comparing groups of letters, numbers, pictures, or other things.
Originality
- Creating new and original ideas.
Night Vision
- Seeing at night or under low light.
Arm-Hand Steadiness
- Keeping your arm or hand steady.
Inductive Reasoning
- Making general rules or coming up with answers from lots of detailed information.
Sound Localization
- Noticing the direction that a sound came from.
Dynamic Strength
- Exercising for a long time without your muscles getting tired.
Fluency of Ideas
- Coming up with lots of ideas.
Problem Sensitivity
- Noticing when problems happen.
Number Facility
- Adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing.
Selective Attention
- Paying attention to something without being distracted.
Speech Clarity
- Speaking clearly.
Auditory Attention
- Paying attention to one sound while there are other distracting sounds.
Glare Sensitivity
- Seeing something even if there is a glare or very bright light.
Depth Perception
- Deciding which thing is closer or farther away from you, or deciding how far away it is from you.
Wrist-Finger Speed
- Making fast, simple, repeated movements of your fingers, hands, and wrists.
Control Precision
- Quickly changing the controls of a machine, car, truck or boat.
Speed of Limb Movement
- Quickly moving your arms and legs.
Gross Body Coordination
- Moving your arms, legs, and mid-section together while your whole body is moving.
Rate Control
- Changing when and how fast you move based on how something else is moving.
Trunk Strength
- Using your lower back and stomach.
Explosive Strength
- Jumping, sprinting, or throwing something.
Response Orientation
- Quickly deciding if you should move your hand, foot, or other body part.
Gross Body Equilibrium
- Keeping your balance or staying upright.
Category Flexibility
- Grouping things in different ways.
Spatial Orientation
- Knowing where things are around you.
Deductive Reasoning
- Using rules to solve problems.
Memorization
- Remembering words, numbers, pictures, or steps.
Oral Expression
- Communicating by speaking.
Multilimb Coordination
- Using your arms and/or legs together while sitting, standing, or lying down.
Static Strength
- Lifting, pushing, pulling, or carrying.
Far Vision
- Seeing details that are far away.
Mathematical Reasoning
- Choosing the right type of math to solve a problem.
Visualization
- Imagining how something will look after it is moved around or changed.
Written Expression
- Communicating by writing.
Speed of Closure
- Quickly knowing what you are looking at.
Time Sharing
- Doing two or more things at the same time.
Near Vision
- Seeing details up close.
Oral Comprehension
- Listening and understanding what people say.
Information Ordering
- Ordering or arranging things.
Finger Dexterity
- Putting together small parts with your fingers.
Stamina
- Exercising for a long time without getting out of breath.
Extent Flexibility
- Bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Dynamic Flexibility
- Quickly and repeatedly bending, stretching, twisting, or reaching out with your body, arms, and/or legs.
Manual Dexterity
- Holding or moving items with your hands.
Visual Color Discrimination
- Noticing the difference between colors, including shades and brightness.
Hearing Sensitivity
- Telling the difference between sounds.
Speech Recognition
- Recognizing spoken words.
Peripheral Vision
- Seeing something to your side when your are looking ahead.
Written Comprehension
- Reading and understanding what is written.
Flexibility of Closure
- Seeing hidden patterns.

Mechanical
- Knowledge of machines and tools, including their designs, uses, repair, and maintenance.
Psychology
- Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
Geography
- Knowledge of principles and methods for describing the features of land, sea, and air masses, including their physical characteristics, locations, interrelationships, and distribution of plant, animal, and human life.
Therapy and Counseling
- Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
Mathematics
- Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Computers and Electronics
- Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
History and Archeology
- Knowledge of historical events and their causes, indicators, and effects on civilizations and cultures.
Telecommunications
- Knowledge of transmission, broadcasting, switching, control, and operation of telecommunications systems.
Philosophy and Theology
- Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.
Administration and Management
- Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
Food Production
- Knowledge of techniques and equipment for planting, growing, and harvesting food products (both plant and animal) for consumption, including storage/handling techniques.
Sales and Marketing
- Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
Transportation
- Knowledge of principles and methods for moving people or goods by air, rail, sea, or road, including the relative costs and benefits.
Chemistry
- Knowledge of the chemical composition, structure, and properties of substances and of the chemical processes and transformations that they undergo. This includes uses of chemicals and their interactions, danger signs, production techniques, and disposal methods.
Biology
- Knowledge of plant and animal organisms, their tissues, cells, functions, interdependencies, and interactions with each other and the environment.
Education and Training
- Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
Engineering and Technology
- Knowledge of the practical application of engineering science and technology. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures, and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.
Fine Arts
- Knowledge of the theory and techniques required to compose, produce, and perform works of music, dance, visual arts, drama, and sculpture.
Law and Government
- Knowledge of laws, legal codes, court procedures, precedents, government regulations, executive orders, agency rules, and the democratic political process.
Public Safety and Security
- Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.
Foreign Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of a foreign (non-English) language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition and grammar, and pronunciation.
Production and Processing
- Knowledge of raw materials, production processes, quality control, costs, and other techniques for maximizing the effective manufacture and distribution of goods.
Design
- Knowledge of design techniques, tools, and principles involved in production of precision technical plans, blueprints, drawings, and models.
Personnel and Human Resources
- Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.
Communications and Media
- Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
Economics and Accounting
- Knowledge of economic and accounting principles and practices, the financial markets, banking, and the analysis and reporting of financial data.
Customer and Personal Service
- Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
Physics
- Knowledge and prediction of physical principles, laws, their interrelationships, and applications to understanding fluid, material, and atmospheric dynamics, and mechanical, electrical, atomic and sub-atomic structures and processes.
Sociology and Anthropology
- Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
Medicine and Dentistry
- Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
English Language
- Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, and rules of composition and grammar.
Administrative
- Knowledge of administrative and office procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and workplace terminology.
Building and Construction
- Knowledge of materials, methods, and the tools involved in the construction or repair of houses, buildings, or other structures such as highways and roads.

Education

Master's degree

Work Experience

No work experience

Training

Internship/residency

Education and Training Opportunities

Washington Annual Salary

59660/yr

Washington Hourly Wage

28.68/hr

Currently Employed

650

Yearly Projected Openings

Social: People interested in this work like activities that include helping people, teaching, and talking. They do well at jobs that need:

Concern for Others
Integrity
Self Control
Dependability
Stress Tolerance
Social Orientation

Building blocks
Desktop computers
Doll houses
Dolls
Laser printers
Notebook computers
Personal computers
Personal digital assistant PDAs or organizers
Photocopiers
Special purpose telephones
Stuffed animals or puppets
Videoconferencing systems

Accounting software
Data base user interface and query software
Electronic mail software
Internet browser software
Medical software
Office suite software
Presentation software
Project management software
Spreadsheet software
Video conferencing software
Web platform development software
Word processing software

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Find Marriage and Family Therapists jobs Education and Training for Marriage and Family Therapists

Statewide occupation search

Statewide occupation search

Marriage and Family Therapists

Work Activities

Skills

Abilities

Knowledge

Education

Pay

Washington Employment Trends

Personality

Tools

Technology

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES