Friends University’s MSFT program provides academic and clinical training for persons seeking competence in the core mental health profession of marriage and family therapy (MFT). In the program’s 23 month schedule, students complete 52 credit hours earned through 19 academic courses and three semesters (15 months) of continuous clinical internship. The MSFT degree is nationally accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT).
The MSFT Student Portfolio is completed in the concluding term of graduate study and training to promote the following objectives for each graduate of the program:
(1) the integration of academic learning and clinical practice
(2) the presentation of professional competencies to the broader services provider public
(3) student confidence and readiness to assume the professional role of the LMFT upon graduation
The portfolio project interacts with course work and clinical internship activity across the MSFT program, though it is not itself a graded project of any single course. The specific contents of the portfolio are derived primarily from learning projects and activities demonstrating student competencies required by respective MSFT components. In June of Year Two, the Portfolio is prepared for review by community professionals serving as “consultant-evaluators” of student readiness to practice.
The following outline provides a summary of the MSFT Student Portfolio project presented in this notebook:
Introduction and Presentation of Primary MSFT Learning
• Introduction of self by personal letter and resume
• Acknowledgement of the MSFT curriculum and learning context (provided)
Record of Clinical Internship Experience
• Description of placement contexts
• Description of client contact experience
• Presentation of clinical experience by diagnostic categories
• Presentation of clinical supervision experience
Theoretical Working Model of Therapy
• Establishing Therapeutic Alliance
• Personal Integration of therapeutic Models/Approaches
Demonstration of “The Transformative Journey”
• Session segments
• Working Model Response to Difference in Clinical Practice
• Summary of clinical learning
• Summary of “transformative learning” (self of the therapist)
Student Preparation and Readiness for Professional Practice
• Summary of professional and employment goals
• Description of licensure status and plans
The concluding step in completing the MSFT Student Portfolio requirement is securing feedback from a community professional serving as a consultant-evaluator who meets the following qualifications:
(a)a community professional who is not employed by the MSFT program
(b)a person trained and serving in a social services/mental health care profession as a clinician, administrator, or closely related role
(c)a person chosen specifically by the student as a professional capable of offering valued feedback on the student’s MSFT Student Portfolio project
(d)a person who is willing to read the portfolio project and submit feedback to
1) the student, and (2) to the MSFT faculty via provided rubrics and feedback sheets
As indicated in (d) above, the community consultant-evaluator provides feedback for two purposes.
First, with the graduating MSFT student, the community professional serves as a professional consultant to the student’s initial presentation of self-as-professional to the broader service provider community. In this role, the consultant-evaluator’s review of the MSFT Student Portfolio parallels an initial interview for employment, with feedback designed to help the graduate accomplish a clear presentation of professional readiness to practice upon completion of the degree.
Second, with the MSFT program faculty, the community professional serves as a professional evaluator of the student’s presentation of self for the purposes of assisting the MSFT program determine its degree of success in meeting program outcomes. Both of these roles are assisted by completing specific feedback forms defined by accompanying rubrics. Specific instructions for the consultant-evaluator’s feedback are included in the Community Consultant-Evaluator Packet provided separately by the MSFT student.
A Note about Formatting in the Portfolio
The MSFT Student Portfolio consists largely of assignments completed during the final term of graduate study and clinical training. Each of the required components that follow includes a brief description of the assignment to which the student is responding. While they each display APA writing style, they are paginated independently.
