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<h1>Marriage and Family Therapists in Higher Education and Student Affairs: Leveraging Expertise and Holistic Success</h1>

<div id="MainImg" style="margin-bottom:20px;margin-top:5px;"><img src="https://images.higheredjobs.com/images/articles/article_4259_1.jpg" alt="Group of MFTs talking on campus." class="" style="" /><div class="ArticleCaption">Tiger Lily/Pexels</div></div>

<div id="article-byline">by Crystal Smith-Morgan,  LMFT</div>

<div id="article-content"><strong>Friday, May 2, 2025</strong> -
<p>Marriage and family therapists (MFTs) are no strangers to college and university settings. They often excel in academic roles, providing vital education and training to aspiring marriage and family therapists, counselors and emerging servant leaders. Despite their significant contributions, MFTs remain underutilized in student affairs, where their systemic expertise and leadership abilities provide immense value.</p>

 <p>While understanding of MFTs' roles is growing, some continue to hold antiquated views that MFTs are primarily focused on mental health services for couples and families. The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) identifies MFTs as "holistic, relational and systemic" professionals who serve as thought leaders beyond the therapy room. Student and academic affairs can benefit significantly from strategically integrating MFTs into counseling roles, leadership, senior leadership administrators, and tenured faculty roles.</p>

 <p>MFTs are trained in systemic thinking, which allows them to assess and address mental health challenges, identify systemic barriers with actionable solutions, implement strategic policies and procedures, and lead higher education organizations toward effective student success and retention using data-driven approaches. Their specialized training equips them to navigate intricate and overlapping systems, integrate resources and interventions effectively, and achieve outcomes that balance both big-picture goals and critical details.</p>

 <p>Students, as human systems, pursue higher education to enhance their well-being, communities, and <a rel="noopener" href="https://thrive.arizona.edu/sites/default/files/Whose%20culture%20has%20capital_A%20critical%20race%20theory%20discussion%20of%20community%20cultural%20wealth_1.pdf" target="_blank">social and cultural capital</a>. Students possess intersectional identities-such as family member, community member, employee, romantic partner, and friend-while also engaging with the unique systems of higher education. They bring personal experiences shaped by factors such as religious beliefs, economic backgrounds, family structures, neurodivergence, and first-generation college attendance. <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.ncj.nl/wp-content/uploads/media-import/docs/6a45c1a4-82ad-4f69-957e-1c76966678e2.pdf" target="_blank">Urie Bronfenbrenner's Social Ecological Theory (1994)</a> highlights the environmental systems influencing students, from micro-level interactions to macro-level societal forces. MFTs are exceptionally equipped to assess, treat, and create strategic policies that ensure students' holistic well-being and success.</p>

 <p>MFTs are skilled in assessing, treating, developing resources, shaping policies, providing and strategic leadership to cultivate safe, enriching and comprehensive experiences that students' overall well-being.</p>

 <h2>Unique Competencies of MFTs in Higher Education</h2>
 <p>Marriage and family therapists bring specialized skills that align closely with the challenges and opportunities in higher education systems:</p>

 <ul> <li><b>Systemic Expertise</b>: MFTs are adept at navigating overlapping and intersecting systems, identifying barriers, and leveraging actionable solutions.</li> <li><b>Strategic Thinking</b>: With training in systemic operations, MFTs create effective policy, procedures, and leadership strategies to boost student success and retention.</li> <li><b>Holistic Understanding of Students</b>: Students arrive with intersectional identities as family members, employees, and community contributors, influenced by diverse socioeconomic and cultural factors. MFTs' training equips them to address these complexities comprehensively.</li> </ul> <h2>Key Contributions of MFTs</h2>
 <p>MFTs are uniquely positioned to contribute to student affairs through diverse initiatives:</p>

 <ul> <li><b>Provide Holistic Support</b>: Address systemic challenges such as family dynamics, relational and systemic challenges, mental health, academic pressures, and emotional wellness.</li> <li><b>Resolve Conflicts</b>: Offer mediation and solution-focused strategies for conflicts involving students, staff, roommates, leaders, or faculty.</li> <li><b>Expand Campus Resources</b>: Collaborate across departments to develop evidence-based wellness programs and data-driven leadership initiatives.</li> <li><b>Lead Strategic Operations</b>: Assess systems from top-down and bottom-up perspectives, unlocking collective strengths within teams and organizations for greater impact and a meta-effect.</li> <li><b>Promote Mental Health Awareness</b>: Facilitate workshops on topics like stress management, relationship health, leadership development and diversity, aligning with student success and retention goals.</li> <li><b>Manage Crises with Compassion</b>: Equip institutions with tools for grief, trauma, and emergency intervention to ensure stability during critical situations.</li> </ul> <h2>Recommendations for Strategic Integration of MFTs</h2>
 <p>To fully leverage the potential of MFTs in higher education, consider these recommendations:</p>

 <p>1. <b>Leadership Opportunities</b>: Appoint MFTs to senior leadership roles where they can influence policy and organizational development.</p>

 <p>2. <b>Program Development</b>: Involve MFTs in creating curricula, research initiatives, and holistic learning programs to enhance systemic effectiveness.</p>

 <p>3. <b>Collaboration with Departments</b>: Encourage cross-functional partnerships where MFTs contribute to counseling and wellness centers, EOF, <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.aamft.org/AAMFT/Advocacy/Joining_Forces.aspx" target="_blank">military & veteran services</a>, diversity and inclusion offices, residential life, career development, academic achievement, student conduct, career servics, and more.</p>

 <p>4. <b>Professional Development</b>: Utilize MFTs to train faculty and staff, fostering an environment of cohesion and understanding.</p>

 <p>5. <b>Student Engagement</b>: Enable MFTs to coach student leaders, facilitate group initiatives, and support organizations with systemic insights.</p>

 <h2>Applications in Higher Education</h2>
 <p>Marriage and Family Therapists can contribute to a variety of departments and programs, including:</p>

 <ul> <li>Counseling and wellness centers</li> <li>Career development programs</li> <li>Educational opportunity fund (EOF)</li> <li>Residential life</li> <li>Academic advising</li> <li>Diversity and inclusion offices</li> <li>Crisis response teams</li> <li>Support organizations and leadership development</li> <li>Faculty and staff training and development</li> <li>Holistic curriculum and research development</li> </ul> <h2>Call to Action</h2>
 <p>As higher education faces unprecedented changes and challenges, the need for creativity, competence, outstanding service delivery, and dynamic leadership has never been greater. MFTs possess a versatile skill set that transcends traditional therapy roles. By incorporating their expertise into student and academic affairs, institutions can harness their systemic thinking, strategic problem-solving, and leadership abilities to create environments that foster student success and organizational excellence.</p>

<div class="article-footer"><small><p><b>Disclaimer:</b> HigherEdMilitary encourages free discourse and expression of issues while striving for accurate presentation to our audience. A guest opinion serves as an avenue to address and explore important topics, for authors to impart their expertise to our higher education audience and to challenge readers to consider points of view that could be outside of their comfort zone. The viewpoints, beliefs, or opinions expressed in the above piece are those of the author(s) and don't imply endorsement by HigherEdMilitary.</p></small></div>
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<p>This article is republished from <a href="https://www.HigherEdMilitary.com">HigherEdMilitary</a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href="https://www.higheredmilitary.com/news/articleDisplay.cfm?ID=4259">original article</a>.</p>
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