NIU's Specialization in Marriage and Family Therapy (SMFT) within the M.S. in Applied Human Development and Family Sciences (AHDFS) program is designed to educate and train marriage and family therapists to work with diverse individuals, families and communities. Our program delivers high quality academic and clinic training as well as opportunities to work collaboratively with faculty in research, service and scholarship.
NIU’s program is the only one in an Illinois state-supported university to be accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) and was one of the first master's degree programs in the United States to be accredited by COAMFTE.
The two-year, 54-semester hour program features:
The Specialization in Marriage and Family Therapy program at Northern Illinois University recently received reaccreditation for the next seven years from the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education.
I am finishing my master’s in applied human development and family sciences with a specialization in marriage and family therapy and a certificate in trauma-informed counseling. I chose this course of study because I want to establish a sense of support for families in the community. I have loved my experience at NIU. I have felt that professors and staff care about their students and want them to succeed.
Since I was 15 years old, I knew I wanted to study psychology. I did not know anything about the subject or its career options, but the whole idea about studying human behavior intrigued me. Eventually, with each passing year I got a closer understanding of the field, and 10 years later, here I am as a therapist, pursuing my second master’s degree in marriage and family therapy at NIU.
Family and Consumer Sciences
118 Wirtz Hall
DeKalb, IL 60115
815-753-1543
facs@niu.edu
Kristine Radtke
Program Coordinator
kradtke@niu.edu