Social Work and Marriage and Family Therapy

Return to: NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences

Faculty:

Program Director: B. Lynch; Associate Professor: J. Matich-Maroney; Assistant Professor: B. Lynch; Visiting Professor: M. Butler 

Social Work

The Social Work and Marriage & Family Therapy Department offers a 60-credit MS degree designed to prepare graduates for liberatory social work practice excellence in interprofessional settings. We define liberatory social work as the action-oriented practice of partnering with those impacted by injustice and oppression, facilitating recognition of their innate strengths and promoting their power to make the world a more just place. The two-year full-time MSW program is structured as a cohort learning model, with students advancing through the scaffolded curriculum together. Interprofessional education (IPE) is a signature feature of the NYP-I School of Health Sciences MSW Program and as such, MSW students have the unique experience of learning “with, from and about” students from seven other professional disciplines through their engagement in shared IPE modules over the course of their four semesters at Iona.  

The MS in Social Work curriculum begins in fall semester with a courseload that emphasizes the processes of shared community-building and cultivating professional social work identity as students establish a foundation of knowledge about the profession’s values and ethics, its theoretical foundations, systematic planned change process, basic interviewing skills, as well as those of interprofessional collaborative practice. The second semester (spring) builds upon the knowledge and skills of the first while adding a 200-hour social work practicum in one of the program’s IPE partner sites. Structured as a rotational practicum, Practicum I is intended to introduce/onboard students to the full interprofessional practice setting where they will complete the more intensive practicum of the second year and to provide a forum for the application of generalist social work competencies to the actual practice of social work. The third and fourth semesters of second year comprise lighter courseloads but increase practicum time (350 hours/semester) and professional expectations through students’ engagement in Practicum II & III. The emphasis of the second year is on integration/synthesis of theory/practice, the scaffolding of interprofessional social work collaboration skills, as well as the consolidation of professional identity as an MSW who is both liberatory social work and interprofessional collaborative practice-ready.  

Unique Program Features:

• Learning community cohort model 
• First semester all coursework (no practicum) 
• Interprofessional collaborative practice specialized year 
• Interprofessional partner sites hosting groups of students 
• Engagement in the University’s formal Interprofessional Education (IPE) curriculum with students from 7 other disciplines
• 4-day/week practicum experience in the 2nd year 
• Anti-racism woven throughout explicit and implicit curricula (content + context) 
• Simulated preparation for licensing exam 
• Faculty mentoriship groups with a focus on consolidating professional identity as liberatory social workers 

1st year MSW Student Learning Outcomes (as defined by the Council on Social Work Education [CSWE])

Competency 1: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior

1. Make ethical decisions by applying the standards of the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics, relevant laws and regulations, models for ethical decision making, ethical conduct of research, and additional codes of ethics within the profession as appropriate to the context; The Nine Social Work Competencies 2022 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards  
2. Demonstrate professional behavior; appearance; and oral, written, and electronic communication;
3. Use technology ethically and appropriately to facilitate practice outcomes; and
4. Use supervision and consultation to guide professional judgment and behavior.

Competency 2: Advance Human Rights and Social, Racial, Economic, and Environmental Justice

1. Advocate for human rights at the individual, family, group, organizational, and community system levels; and
2. Engage in practices that advance human rights to promote social, racial, economic, and environmental justice.

Competency 3: Engage Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ADEI) in Practice

1. Demonstrate anti-racist and anti-oppressive social work practice at the individual, family, group, organizational, community, research, and policy levels; and
2. Demonstrate cultural humility by applying critical reflection, self-awareness, and self-regulation to manage the influence of bias, power, privilege, and values in working with clients and constituencies, acknowledging them as experts of their own lived experiences.

Competency 4: Engage in Practice-Informed Research and Research-Informed Practice

1. Apply research findings to inform and improve practice, policy, and programs; and
2. Identify ethical, culturally informed, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive strategies that address inherent biases for use in quantitative and qualitative research methods to advance the purposes of social work.

Competency 5: Engage in Policy Practice 

1. Use social justice, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive lenses to assess how social welfare policies affect the delivery of and access to social services; and
2. Apply critical thinking to analyze, formulate, and advocate for policies that advance human rights and social, racial, economic, and environmental justice.

Competency 6: Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

1. Apply knowledge of human behavior and person-in-environment, as well as interprofessional conceptual frameworks, to engage with clients and constituencies; and
2. Use empathy, reflection, and interpersonal skills to engage in culturally responsive practice with clients and constituencies.

Competency 7: Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

1. Apply theories of human behavior and person-in-environment, as well as other culturally responsive and interprofessional conceptual frameworks, when assessing clients and constituencies; and
2. Demonstrate respect for client self-determination during the assessment process by collaborating with clients and constituencies in developing a mutually agreed-upon plan.

Competency 8: Intervene with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

1. Engage with clients and constituencies to critically choose and implement culturally responsive, evidence-informed interventions to achieve client and constituency goals; and
2. Incorporate culturally responsive methods to negotiate, mediate, and advocate with and on behalf of clients and constituencies. MSW

Competency 9: Evaluate Practice with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

1. Select and use culturally responsive methods for evaluation of outcomes; and
2. Critically analyze outcomes and apply evaluation findings to improve practice effectiveness with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

2^nd year MSW Student Learning Outcomes

Competency 1: Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior

Social workers in interprofessional settings contribute to shared team leadership by working with team members to facilitate and maintain a climate of shared values, ethical conduct, and mutual respect. They work to establish their voice in the promotion of the values, interests, and liberation of persons and populations in team-based service delivery. Additionally, they value the expertise of other professionals and their contributions to both team functioning and client system outcomes.

1. Apply the standards of the NASW Code of Ethics in contributions to team-based care.
2. Uphold the dignity, privacy, identity, and autonomy of persons while maintaining confidentiality in the delivery of team-based care.
3. Collaborate with honesty and integrity while striving for health/educational equity and improvements in health/educational outcomes.
4. Use supervision, consultation and continued professional development to maintain social work competence in order to contribute to interprofessional care.

Competency 2: Advance Human Rights and Social, Racial, Economic, and Environmental Justice

Social workers in interprofessional settings contribute to shared team leadership by articulating their knowledge of historical and ongoing injustices and the social determinants of health to ensure their consideration in team planning and service delivery. Additionally, they lend their advocacy and facilitation expertise to promote liberatory practice and the team’s efforts to advance human rights and social, racial, economic, and environmental justice.

1. Advocate for social justice, health and educational equity of persons and populations across the lifespan.
2. Facilitate practices within the team that advance human rights to promote social, racial, economic, and environmental justice.

Competency 3: Engage Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ADEI) in Practice

Social workers in interprofessional settings contribute to shared team leadership by fostering liberatory practice that reflects anti-racist and anti-oppressive approaches in team planning and service delivery.

1. Share the social work perspective on racism, oppression, and intersectionality relative to their impact on shaping lived experience.
2. Communicate clearly with authenticity, utilizing both cultural and professional humility.

Competency 4: Engage in Practice-Informed Research and Research-Informed Practice

Social workers in interprofessional settings contribute to shared team leadership by highlighting the importance and advocating for the utilization of ethical, culturally informed, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive research strategies.

1. Offer anti-racist informed considerations related to evidence-based interventions.
2. Offer anti-racist informed considerations in the planning of practice-based research.

Competency 5: Engage in Policy Practice 

Social workers in interprofessional settings contribute to shared team leadership by applying and modeling liberatory approaches to policy practice.

1. Assess existing organizational and sociopolitical policies through anti-racist and anti-oppressive lens’.
2. Offer guidance for liberatory policy formulation, analysis, implementation, and evaluation.

Competency 6: Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

Social workers in interprofessional settings contribute to shared team leadership by promoting authentic client engagement, rooted in liberatory practice that reflects their knowledge of human behavior and the person in environment perspectives and highlights the multitude of external forces that impact upon client well-being.

1. Share knowledge of human behavior and the person-in-environment perpsectives with the team to foster authentic client engagement, rooted in cultural humility
2. Model recognition of the multifaceted sociopolitical and cultural forces that impact functioning in order to “meet clients where they are.”

Competency 7: Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

Social workers in interprofessional settings contribute to shared team leadership by promoting liberatory and collaborative practice in the team’s holistic assessment approach.

1. Promote team-practices that foster professional humility and seek to support the integration of disciplinary perspectives in holistic assessment.
2. Center client voice while fostering integration of multidisciplinary assessment approaches.

Competency 8: Intervene with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

Social workers in interprofessional settings contribute to shared team leadership by promoting liberatory and collaborative practice in the team’s intervention approach.

1. Promote team’s engagement in the critical selection and implementation of culturally responsive, evidence-informed, integrated interventions to achieve client and constituency goals.
2. Centers culturally responsive methods in the team’s ability to negotiate, mediate, and advocate with and on behalf of clients and constituencies.

Competency 9: Evaluate Practice with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

Social workers in interprofessional settings contribute to shared team leadership by promoting liberatory and collaborative practice in the team’s evaluation approach.

1. Promote team’s selection and use of culturally responsive methods for evaluation of outcomes.
2. Fosters team’s critical analysis and application of evaluation to improve integrated practice effectiveness.

Marriage and Family Therapy

Faculty:

Program Director: C. Awosan; Associate Professor: C. Awosan; Assistant Professor: Y. He; Clinical Director and Field Placement Coordinator: M. Fernandez  

The department also offers a unique and comprehensive MS degree in couple and family therapy. All courses in the department are oriented toward studying human behavior from an intrapsychic, interpersonal, intergenerational, and multicultural perspectives. Graduates of the program are also afforded a firm grounding in family systems theories and techniques as well as strong cultural awareness and ethical foundations.

The program looks to the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE), and the New York State License Laws and Regulations for Marriage and Family Therapy in planning its curriculum.

The program in Marriage and Family Therapy has been registered and approved by the New York State Department of Higher Education and has been given the designation “Licensure Qualifying” by New York State for licensure as a Marriage and Family Therapist.  

The Marriage and Family Therapy Program was awarded initial accreditation status by Commission on the Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education in 2007. In 2007, the program submitted its first self-study, and in 2009 was granted accreditation through 2015. In 2015, the program applied for reaccreditation and was granted reaccreditation through 2021.  In Spring of 2021, the program submitted the self-study for reaccreditation with COAMFTE and completed the COAMFTE site visit in April of 2022. In 2022, the program was reaccredited, and the reaccreditation currently runs through 2025.

The program contributes its services to the surrounding communities. The Iona Family Therapy Center (IFTC), which is run by the MFT program, offers individual, couple and family therapy. The program offers seminars for various professional and community groups.

The MS in Marriage and Family Therapy is geared towards those individuals who desire to work from a systemic/relational perspective. Students are required to become student members of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. Completion of the MS in Marriage and Family Therapy leads to eligibility for associate membership in AAMFT. By completing additional appropriate clinical experience and supervision after graduation, holders of the MS in Marriage and Family Therapy may qualify for clinical membership in AAMFT.

The MFT academic and clinical graduate training program at Iona maintains its relevance, quality, distinctiveness, rigor, and consistency in departmental offering by adhering to the professional guidelines and outcomes of

• Professional Marriage and Family Therapy Educational Principles
• AAMFT Core Competencies 
• AAMFT Code of Ethics 
• Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Board (AMFTRB) Guidelines 
• New York State Mental Health Practitioners Laws, Rules, and Regulations: Marriage and Family Therapy License Requirements 

These professional guidelines and outcomes allow the MFT program to solidify and maintain its theoretical foundation, which is systemic, relational and biopsychosocial in its training of students to engage in and deliver ethically, culturally responsive and quality mental health services to diverse communities, while considering the ways in which “social, political, historical, and economic forces affect individual and relational problems and decisions about seeking and obtaining treatments” (AAMFT Core Competencies).

Self-of-the-Therapist

Students enrolled in the programs are required to participate in their own growth experience as well as critical awareness of one’s social locations and identities in relations to others. This recommendation is based on the program’s philosophy that the continuous development of such self-awareness when it is relevant to clinical practice is important to provide effective therapy services. It is also based on the belief that firsthand experience as a client bridges the often-existing gap between the intellectual and the emotional understanding of the client experience. Additionally, it is the program’s hope that attention to Self-of-the-Therapist work allows students to be more culturally aware, sensitive, responsive in their clinical development and ethical interactions with clients as well as colleagues.

Diversity, Inclusion and Anti-racism

The MFT program and Iona University is committed to diversity and inclusion. The MFT program takes a multicultural-informed education approach to training its students by creating an environment that allows for a socially-just, inclusive, anti-oppression and anti-racist training program. The program is committed to its “students developing competencies in understanding and applying knowledge of diversity, power, privilege and oppression as these relate to race, age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, socioeconomic status, disability, health status, religious, spiritual and/or beliefs, nation of origin or other relevant social categories throughout the curriculum” (COAMFTE V12.5 Standard). The mission of the MFT program aligns with COAMFTE Version 12.5 Standard to integrate “practices with diverse, international, multicultural, marginalized, and/or underserved communities, including developing competencies in working with sexual and gender minorities and their families as well as anti-racist practices” throughout the curriculum and training of CFT graduate students (COAMFTE V12.5 Standard).

Clinical Experience and Supervision

Students enrolled in the Marriage and Family Therapy program are being trained as clinical mental health practitioners who will apply family systems theories and techniques in the delivery of professional services to individuals, couples, and families in a variety of settings.

Students enrolled in the program will engage in two years of clinical practicum during the second and third years of training. During this clinical experience it is not recommended to work full time while managing the expectations of an external field placements and working with clients at the IFTC.

Students are expected to complete a minimum of 500 supervised, direct client contact hours with individuals, couples, and families. Up to 400 of these hours must be face-to-face contact with individuals, couples, and families. Additionally, at least 250 of these required client contact hours must be with couples or families. One hundred of the required 500 hours can be designated alternate/equivalent hours with permission of the program.

Students must be supervised while they are doing their clinical work. Students are required to receive at least 100 hours of face-to-face supervision with an AAMFT approved supervisor. All of Iona’s MFT Clinical Supervisors are AAMFT Approved Supervisors and the 100 hours of face-to-face supervision with them is built into the curriculum given the shortage of AAMFT Approved Supervisors at many of the External Internship Placements. At least 50 of the supervision hours will be based on direct observation, videotape, or audiotape of self or classmates.  Furthermore, at least 25 of those 50 hours will be based on direct observation or videotape of each student’s clinical work with clients.

Upon completion of the requirements for graduation in the MFT program, students are eligible to apply for the Limited Permit in Marriage and Family Therapy to continue accrue clinical hours towards licensure. Upon completion of the required supervised clinical experience and passing the American Marriage and Family Therapy Regulatory Board examination in Marriage and Family Therapy graduates are granted a license as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the state of New York.  Similar licensing is available in other states.  However, graduates who desire to be licensed in another state/jurisdiction other than New York are advised to check with local licensing boards for the requisite state requirements.

Capstone Project and Substitute

A Capstone Project is required of all students for graduation.  This project involves a written and oral Clinical Case Study examination that documents the graduate’s ability to integrate theoretical knowledge with clinical skills and apply it to a real clinical situation, as well as video documentation as support for the students’ growing clinical skill.

Matriculated Status

See “Academic Information - Matriculated” in this catalog for requirements to be met, in addition to the following:

• Students must meet the professional and clinical criteria established by the department.

Conducting Private Practice While Enrolled in the Program

While enrolled in the program, students may not independently offer mental health diagnosis, counseling, therapy, individual or organizational assessment, consultation services or other professional services for which they are being trained, either gratis or for remuneration.

Professional Conduct

Students in the program are being trained in the most sensitive areas of human interaction. Those who gain from their Iona training and who in turn become capable of helping their clients are those whose emotional health, ethical standards and behaviors signal their ability to develop and maintain the highest of professional attitudes and personal growth.

In view of this fact, Iona reserves the right to place on probation, suspend or dismiss from the program any student who falls short of the required clinical or professional standards of competence and integrity established by the AAMFT Code of Ethics, the MFT program and department.

The decision of the director of the program or a university delegate regarding a student’s status in the program shall be supported by written faculty assessments and recommendations. These shall be guided by the precepts of the latest edition of the Ethical Principles of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy and New York State Law.

The program procedures afford the student the opportunity to address concerns raised by the faculty and to take advantage of the appeals process.

Grievance procedures can be found in the Student Handbook.

Graduation Requirements

1. Completion of 60 credits including the appropriate distribution of credits.
2. A minimum 3.0 GPA.
3. Acceptance of the written and presented master’s capstone project.
4. All professional and clinical criteria established by the department.
5. Meet the 500 clinical hours and 100 AAMFT approved supervision hours.
6. The department’s expectation is that all requirements will be completed within three years from the date of admission. The maximum time allowed for completion is five years.

Programs

• Marriage and Family Therapy, MS (2104.10)
• Social Work, MS (2104)

Return to: NewYork-Presbyterian Iona School of Health Sciences