If you call the vast prairies and rich agricultural land of Nebraska home, you know what a wonderful place it is to live and work. The below-average costs of healthcare and housing make it a more affordable state than most of the country. Nebraska is an excellent place to begin a rewarding Marriage and Family Therapy career.
Marriage and Family Therapy is a rapidly growing field. As healthcare reforms created more coverage for mental health issues, more people could receive treatment they could not previously afford. There is an increasing demand for Mental Health Counseling of different types. Marriage and Family Therapy specifically treats the relationship dynamics in a person’s life and helps them to improve their relationships. People who work as Marriage and Family Therapists (MFTs) are licensed and certified counselors. They undergo specialized training to work with individuals, couples, and families.
MFTs examine a person’s relationships and their dynamics to help them function better. Good mental health is often related to healthy relationships. MFTs can help people keep the good times happening within their relationships and cope with and grow through struggles and challenging times.
If you consider embarking on a Marriage and Family Therapist career in Nebraska, we will show you programs to help you achieve this goal.
Nebraska MFT Program Quick Facts
- Nebraska MFT Programs: 1
- COAMFTE Accredited Programs: 1
- CACREP Accredited Programs: 0
- Average Nebraska MFT Program Tuition: $10,108 to $27,748
Online MFT Programs in Nebraska
While no college or university in Nebraska offers a fully online Marriage and Family Therapy program, you don’t have to be in the state to take advantage of online programs. Nebraska students can complete their Master’s Degree in Marriage and Family Therapy from the comfort of their home computer.
Online programs offer great flexibility, making them ideal for working students or those with other commitments. However, ensuring the program is flexible enough to meet your individual needs is important. It is essential to consider the program’s cost when deciding to enroll. The program’s price can vary depending on the institution and the specialization you choose.
Here is a list of FULLY online programs that Nebraska residents can take advantage of:
Manhattan University
M.S. in Marriage and Family Therapy
City: Riverdale, NY
Length: 60 credit hours
Modality: Online Blended
Tuition: $1,330 per credit hour
Accreditation: COAMFTE
Program Overview: This mixed online and in-person program prepares future therapists to work with and provide treatment for familial relationships, marital/couple relationships, parent-child relationships, pre-marital, and other personal relationships. The program is 60 graduate credits with a required 500 hours of internship experience.
Why We Like This Program: We appreciate any program that prioritizes hiring faculty who are actively working in the field. Manhattan University’s faculty all come from varied backgrounds which culminated in their entering into the field of MFT counseling both as practitioners and as educators.
Additional Considerations: This program isn’t a fully online program. Students still attend some classes in-person in classes with small student-to-teacher ratio. However, many classes are offered online as well.
Syracuse University
M.A. in Marriage and Family Counseling
City: Syracuse, NY
Length: 60 credit hours
Modality: On-campus and part-time online
Tuition: $2,015 per credit hour
Accreditation: COAMFTE
Program Overview: Syracuse University offers an online Master of Arts degree in Marriage and Family Counseling. The program has a 60 credit requirement along with 500 hours of practicum experience. The program is COAMFTE accredited.
Why We Like This Program: Students have ample opportunity to gain hands-on experience both through the school’s partnerships with local clinics and community sites along with its Couple and Family Therapy Center, which does clinical training and research. Online students are also supported in their placements at local community clinical sites in their communities.
Additional Considerations: This program uses a “Self and Systems” approach to training and supervision, which mixes self-understanding of the clinician in training with the systems framework applied to the clinical work with clients.
University of Wisconsin-Superior
Masters in Counseling: Marriage and Family Therapy Track
City: Superior, WI
Length: 63 credit hours
Modality: Online
Tuition: $520 per credit hour
Accreditation: Higher Learning Commission
Program Overview: Syracuse University offers an online Master of Arts degree in Marriage and Family Counseling. The program has a 60 credit requirement along with 500 hours of practicum experience. The program is COAMFTE accredited.
Why We Like This Program: We love that this program is 100 percent online. Many programs are hybrid rather than fully online, so students looking for completely online programs that also provide hands-on training. We also like the relatively affordable tuition of this program.
Additional Considerations: This program isn’t currently accredited by COAMFTE or CACREP. While many non-accredited programs can still qualify applicants for licensure, it should be taken into consideration that this program has not yet been officially accredited.
Touro University Worldwide
M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy
City: Los Alamitos, CA
Length: 72 credit hours
Modality: Online
Tuition: $500 per credit hour
Accreditation: COAMFTE
Program Overview: The M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy from Touro University Worldwide is a 100 percent online program accredited by COAMFTE. Graduates will be eligible to sit for the national MFT exam and apply for licensure in most states.
Why We Like This Program: The $500 per credit-hour price tag makes this an attractive option for students wanting an online education that doesn’t break the bank.
Additional Considerations: Students learn from experienced faculty members who are scholar-practitioners, meaning they are actively working with clients in their own practices or other community settings.
Accredited Nebraska MFT Programs
COAMFTE Accredited Nebraska MFT Programs
The Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education is a national accrediting body for marriage and family therapy programs. The programs that COAMFTE accredits meet high-quality standards and are recognized by state and national professional organizations.
There is one university in the state of Nebraska that has a COAMFTE-accredited program in Marriage and Family Therapy. Listed below are some critical components of the program at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln:
University of Nebraska – Lincoln
M.S. in Child, Youth, and Family Studies: Marriage and Family Therapy Specialization
City: Lincoln, NE
Length: 53 credit hours
Modality: In-person
Tuition: $10,108 (in-state) to $27,748 (out-of-state)
Accreditation: COAMFTE
Program Overview: This 53-credit Nebraska MFT program can be completed in 24 months. Students go through the program in cohorts of 8 to 12 students, providing opportunities for interaction with peers and more opportunities to interact with faculty due to smaller class size.
Why We Like This Program: We like the opportunity for students to get on-campus training at UNL’s Family Resource Center.
Additional Considerations: This is the only accredited Nebraska MFT program, making it unique among any program of its type both in state and in the country. Students who wish to receive their degree and training from an in-state Nebraska MFT program need not look further.
There are COAMFTE-accredited programs in the nearby state of Colorado. They are:
Colorado State University
M.S. in Human Development and Family Studies: Marriage and Family Therapy Specialization
City: Fort Collins, CO
Length: 53 to 56 credit hours
Modality: On-Campus
Tuition: $14,377 (in-state) and $31,566 (out-of-state) per 9-month semester
Accreditation: COAMFTE
Program Overview: This program from CSU has a strong focus in diversity, equality, and inclusion. Coming in at between 53 and 56 credit hours, depending on whether students choose the thesis track or the oral presentation track, the program takes around 2 years to complete.
Why We Like This Program: In addition to training and internships through community placements and the on-campus Center for Family and Couples Therapy, students complete clinical rotations in the CSU Trauma and Resilience Assessment Center and Campus Connections. We like that students get a chance to work with crisis and trauma in a supervised environment.
Additional Considerations: Students can complete the research portion of the program by either doing option A, which has the student complete a thesis, or option B, in which students work with a team of students to prepare and present an oral presentation.
Regis University
M.A. in Marriage and Family Therapy
City: Denver, CO
Length: 60 credit hours
Modality: On-Campus
Tuition: $896 per credit hour
Accreditation: COAMFTE
Program Overview: Regis University prioritizes flexibility in its MFT program with evening and weekend classes, enabling students who are working to attend on-campus classes at more convenient times. Students complete the 60-credit program in 2.5 to 3 years, depending on whether they attend full-time or part-time.
Why We Like This Program: Regis University doesn’t just offer smaller class sizes. They tailor the class size to the specific type of class, with lecture classes having 18 students, skills classes having no more than 12 students, and clinical classes with no more than 8.
Additional Considerations: The program takes a format of seven and fourteen-week on-campus terms with four to five days of weekend intensives every term.
University of Colorado – Denver
M.A. in Couple and Family Therapy
City: Denver, CO
Length: 54 credit hours
Modality: On-Campus
Tuition: $456 (resident) to $1,456 (non-resident) per credit hour
Accreditation: COAMFTE
Program Overview: The 54-credit, COAMFTE-accredited MFT program prepares students both in the classroom and in the clinic, with opportunities to receive supervised experience in real-world settings through the on-campus Student and Community Counseling Center, as well as other field placements in the community.
Why We Like This Program: We like that this program puts students’ lives at the center of their program delivery, offering weekend classes during the day and on weekdays Monday to Thursday starting at either 3:30 p.m. or 6:30 p.m.
Additional Considerations: This program takes between 2.5 and 3.5 years to complete, depending on full-time or part-time basis.
CACREP Accredited Nebraska MFT Programs
CACREP is another accreditation for Counseling programs, including Marriage and Family Therapy programs. The CACREP acronym stands for the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs. It is a non-profit, non-governmental organization that accredits counseling programs in the United States and Canada. CACREP accreditation is voluntary, but many state and national professional organizations recognize it.
Unfortunately, there aren’t any Nebraska MFT programs that are CACREP-accredited. However, here are a few schools that have clinical mental health counseling graduate programs that are CACREP-accredited.
There are several CACREP-accredited clinical mental health programs in Nebraska:
- Bellevue University:
- Clinical Mental Health Counseling
- Doane University:
- Clinical Mental Health Counseling
- Clinical Mental Health Counseling
- University of Nebraska – Kearney
- Clinical Mental Health Counseling
- University of Nebraska – Omaha
- Clinical Mental Health Counseling
- School Counseling
- Wayne State College
- Clinical Mental Health Counseling
No GRE Required MFT Programs in Nebraska
Many colleges and universities require a standardized test called the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) for admission into graduate-level programs. Many colleges and universities no longer require standardized admission tests. You can find many Marriage and Family Therapy programs that do not require the GRE for admission. However, some programs may require it only under certain circumstances.
There is one Nebraska MFT program that does not require the GRE for admission:
- University of Nebraska – Lincoln: Master of Science in Marriage and Family Therapy.
The requirements for admission are:
- A completed graduate application
- Statement of Professional Goals
- Three Letters of Recommendation
- Undergraduate College Transcripts
- Resume
In addition to University of Nebraska, there are three MFT programs in Colorado that do not require the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) for admission:
- Colorado State University
- Regis University
- University of Colorado – Denver
What Will You Learn in a Nebraska MFT Program?
Nebraska MFT programs train students to apply knowledge of systemic principles, theories, and research to practice with individuals, couples, families, and groups. Nebraska MFT programs prepare students to become socially proficient marriage and family therapists by integrating the principles of social justice and diversity throughout all courses and clinical work. With this training, you can begin a marriage and family therapy career.
After completing a Nebraska MFT program, students are eligible to sit for the licensure examination for MFTs. Once they have passed the test, they can become licensed MFTs.
Some core courses you will cover in your studies include:
- Addiction and Violence
- Research Design and Methods
- Multicultural competencies in Mental Health Treatment
- Theories and Foundations of Counseling
- Psychopathology
- Clinical Assessment
- Issues and Ethics
- Family and Couples therapy
In addition to this coursework, students in Nebraska MFT programs must complete both practicum and internship courses where they begin to work with clients under the supervision of a professor and professional MFT. These hours are necessary for students to gain understanding and practice as a therapist but are also a requirement to sit for the licensing exam.
How To Become a Fully-Licensed MFT in Nebraska:
Nebraska offers a provisional and professional licensure with an additional certification in Marriage and Family Therapy.
Here are the steps on how to become a Mental Health Practitioner with a Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy (CMFT) in Nebraska:
- Complete a master’s or doctoral degree from a regionally accredited marriage and family therapy program or a related subject with equivalent coursework.
- The program must include a supervised internship.
- Apply for and receive a Provisional Mental Health Practitioner License.
- Complete 3,000 hours of supervised work experience under the supervision of a board approved Mental Health Practitioner with 1,500 of those hours working directly with clients.
- CMFT applicants must ensure their work experience hours are in a ratio of 2 hours of direct supervision or every 15 hours of client contact.
- Pass the AMFTRB National exam for Marriage and Family Therapists.
- Keep your license current by accruing 32 hours of Continuing Education Credits every two years.
Step 1: Earn a Master’s in MFT from a CACREP or COAMFTE-accredited program or another counseling program.
COAMFTE is the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education and is the highest national accrediting body for MFT programs. CACREP and COAMFTE programs ensure that the curriculum meets their standards and prepares students for work as Marriage and Family Therapists.
If you have completed a Master’s or Doctoral degree in a counseling program not accredited by these associations, you must provide evidence of your coursework. Completing a degree from an MFT program will give you the knowledge and experience necessary to pass the National MFT exam and begin a rewarding career as an MFT in Nebraska.
Step 2: Receive a Provisional Mental Health Practitioner License with a Certification in Marriage and Family Therapy (CMFT).
After you prove you have completed your studies and have a plan for accumulating supervised hours of work, you can apply to be provisionally licensed as a Mental Health Practitioner through the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services.
Step 3: Complete the Supervised Work Experience Requirement
Only a board-approved licensed Mental Health Practitioner can supervise provisionally licensed MFTs.
The licensure candidate must complete 3,000 hours of supervised experience with at least 1,500 hours in direct services. Practitioners applying for the Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy must have a ratio of 2 hours of direct supervision by their mentor for every 15 hours spent directly with clients.
Step 4: Pass the National MFT exam.
The AMFTRB exam is the Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards exam. It is a national exam that all LMFTs must pass to be licensed.
The AMFTRB exam is a multiple-choice exam that tests your knowledge of MFT theory, assessment, and intervention. You must score at least 75% on the exam to pass. They offer four testing sessions per calendar year.
Step 4: Renew Your License every two years
Fully Licensed MFTs in Nebraska must renew their MFT licenses every two years. In addition to renewing their license, MFTs must complete 32 hours of Continuing Education Credits and provide evidence of this in their application. This requirement ensures that MFTs in Nebraska keep up to date with the latest research and best practices in the discipline.
Career and Salary Opportunities for LMFTs in Nebraska
Marriage and family therapy is growing, and many career opportunities are available for MFTs in Nebraska. Here, we will discuss some of the different career paths that MFTs can take and the average salary for MFTs in Nebraska.
Career Opportunities for MFTs
There are many different career paths available for MFTs in Nebraska. Some of the most common career paths include:
- Private practice: Licensed MFTs can open their private practices and see clients individually, couples, or families.
- Inpatient and outpatient mental health facilities: MFTs can work in inpatient and outpatient mental health facilities, providing therapy to individuals, couples, and families.
- Substance Abuse and Addiction Treatment Facilities.
- Schools: MFTs can work in schools, providing therapy to students and their families.
- Community-based non-profit organizations: MFTs can work in community mental health centers, providing therapy to individuals, couples, and families.
- Government agencies: MFTs can work for government agencies, providing therapy to individuals, couples, and families.
- Military and Veterans’ facilities
Salary for MFTs in Nebraska
Salaries for MFTs can vary depending on experience, location, and the setting in which you work.
Here are some factors that can affect your salary as an MFT in Nebraska:
- Experience: MFTs with more experience typically earn higher wages.
- Location: MFTs in urban areas typically earn higher salaries than MFTs in rural areas.
- Setting: MFTs who work in private practice typically earn higher salaries than MFTs who work in other settings.
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the average salary of MFT’s in Nebraska is $53,990. In the neighboring state of Colorado, the average MFT salary is slightly higher at $61,490.
Marriage and family therapy is a growing field and therapists can work in various settings, and salaries can vary based on the employer. MFTs work in mental health centers, hospitals, substance abuse treatment centers, nursing homes, residential care facilities, and as private practitioners.
A career as a Marriage and Family Therapist can be gratifying. As an MFT in Nebraska, you can work in various settings and earn a decent salary while helping people live more fulfilling lives. You will be able to show people how creating healthier relationships can improve their mental health and overall enjoyment of life. Enroll in one of these MFT programs and start your path to becoming an MFT in Nebraska today!
