The California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) is a non-profit 501(c) professional organization with approximately 30,000 members dedicated to preserving the ethical standards of Marriage and Family Therapists in California. CAMFT was founded in 1964 by Dr. Dominick Amorelli, Dr. Elsie V. King, Dr. George L. McGhee, Allan M. Myerson, and Dr. Paul A. Verdier.
CAMFT is dedicated to the advancement of marriage and family therapy as an art, a science and a mental health profession, and the advancement of the common business interests of its member(s). CAMFT has authored and lobbied numerous laws to legitimize the MFT profession (See, below.) Many state legislatures have used the laws that California passed regarding marriage and family therapy as models for their own laws.
Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) are relationship specialists who treat persons involved in interpersonal relationships. They are trained to assess, diagnose and treat individuals, couples, families and groups to achieve more adequate, satisfying and productive marriage, family and social adjustment. The practice also includes premarital counseling, child counseling, divorce or separation counseling and other relationship counseling. Marriage and Family Therapists are psychotherapists and healing arts practitioners licensed by the State of California. Requirements for licensure include a related master's or doctoral degree, completion of at least 3,000 hours of supervised experience, followed by both a comprehensive exam and a written clinical vignette exam.
The terms "Marriage and Family Therapist" (MFT) and "Marriage, Family and Child Counselor" (MFCC)are used interchangeably, as the title MFCC was formerly the title of the license in California. However, all states who regulate the profession, now including California use the title, "Marriage and Family Therapist."
CAMFT provides www.CounselingCalifornia.com as an online resource to the public looking for Marriage and Family Therapists located in California. The comprehensive online directory has over more than 7,500 licensed mental health professionals listed with their skills, area of expertise, educational background and other information that can ensure a positive and successful therapy experience.
Commonly known as “relationship experts,” MFTs go beyond marriage and family counseling and are trained to assess, diagnose and treat individuals with depression, anxiety, addiction and other serious mental illnesses.
Sponsored Legislation
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—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
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—French National Assembly. Declaration of the Rights of Man (drafted and discussed August 1789, published September 1791)
“What exacerbates the strain in the working class is the absence of money to pay for services they need, economic insecurity, poor daycare, and lack of dignity and boredom in each partner’s job. What exacerbates it in upper-middle class is the instability of paid help and the enormous demands of the career system in which both partners become willing believers. But the tug between traditional and egalitarian models of marriage runs from top to bottom of the class ladder.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)
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—Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910)
“Instructing in cures, therapists always recommend that “each case be individualized.” If this advice is followed, one becomes persuaded that those means recommended in textbooks as the best, means perfectly appropriate for the template case, turn out to be completely unsuitable in individual cases.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)