Marriage and Family Therapists

Diagnose and treat mental and emotional disorders, whether cognitive, affective, or behavioral, within the context of marriage and family systems. Apply psychotherapeutic and family systems theories and techniques in the delivery of professional services to individuals, couples, and families for the purpose of treating such diagnosed nervous and mental disorders.

tasks jobzones knowledge skills abilities work_activities work_context work_styles

Tasks

• Provide public education and consultation to other professionals or groups regarding counseling services, issues and methods.

• Write evaluations of parents and children for use by courts deciding divorce and custody cases, testifying in court if necessary.

• Provide family counseling and treatment services to inmates participating in substance abuse programs.

• Contact doctors, schools, social workers, juvenile counselors, law enforcement personnel and others to gather information in order to make recommendations to courts for the resolution of child custody or visitation disputes.

• Provide instructions to clients on how to obtain help with legal, financial, and other personal issues.

• Follow up on results of counseling programs and clients' adjustments in order to determine effectiveness of programs.

• Supervise other counselors, social service staff and assistants.

• Confer with other counselors in order to analyze individual cases and to coordinate counseling services.

• Confer with clients in order to develop plans for post-treatment activities.

• Determine whether clients should be counseled or referred to other specialists in such fields as medicine, psychiatry and legal aid.

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Job Zone

• Name: Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed

• Experience: Extensive skill, knowledge, and experience are needed for these occupations. Many require more than five years of experience. For example, surgeons must complete four years of college and an additional five to seven years of specialized medical training to be able to do their job.

• Education: A bachelor's degree is the minimum formal education required for these occupations. However, many also require graduate school. For example, they may require a master's degree, and some require a Ph.D., M.D., or J.D. (law degree).

• Job training: Employees may need some on-the-job training, but most of these occupations assume that the person will already have the required skills, knowledge, work-related experience, and/or training.

• Examples: These occupations often involve coordinating, training, supervising, or managing the activities of others to accomplish goals. Very advanced communication and organizational skills are required. Examples include librarians, lawyers, aerospace engineers, physicists, school psychologists, and surgeons.

• Svp range: (8.0 and above)

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Knowledge

Browse Knowledge

• Therapy and Counseling
  Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.

• Psychology
  Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.

• Customer and Personal Service
  Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.

• Education and Training
  Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.

• English Language
  Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

• Sociology and Anthropology
  Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.

• Philosophy and Theology
  Knowledge of different philosophical systems and religions. This includes their basic principles, values, ethics, ways of thinking, customs, practices, and their impact on human culture.

• Computers and Electronics
  Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.

• Administration and Management
  Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.

• Personnel and Human Resources
  Knowledge of principles and procedures for personnel recruitment, selection, training, compensation and benefits, labor relations and negotiation, and personnel information systems.

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Skills

Browse Skills

• Social Perceptiveness
  Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.

• Active Listening
  Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.

• Negotiation
  Bringing others together and trying to reconcile differences.

• Monitoring
  Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.

• Reading Comprehension
  Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

• Critical Thinking
  Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.

• Persuasion
  Persuading others to change their minds or behavior.

• Active Learning
  Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.

• Learning Strategies
  Selecting and using training/instructional methods and procedures appropriate for the situation when learning or teaching new things.

• Service Orientation
  Actively looking for ways to help people.

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Abilities

Browse Abilities

• Oral Expression
  The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.

• Oral Comprehension
  The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.

• Inductive Reasoning
  The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).

• Problem Sensitivity
  The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.

• Speech Recognition
  The ability to identify and understand the speech of another person.

• Written Comprehension
  The ability to read and understand information and ideas presented in writing.

• Written Expression
  The ability to communicate information and ideas in writing so others will understand.

• Deductive Reasoning
  The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

• Speed of Closure
  The ability to quickly make sense of, combine, and organize information into meaningful patterns.

• Near Vision
  The ability to see details at close range (within a few feet of the observer).

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Work Activities

Browse Work Activities

• Assisting and Caring for Others
  Providing personal assistance, medical attention, emotional support, or other personal care to others such as coworkers, customers, or patients.

• Establishing and Maintaining Interpersonal Relationships
  Developing constructive and cooperative working relationships with others, and maintaining them over time.

• Monitor Processes, Materials, or Surroundings
  Monitoring and reviewing information from materials, events, or the environment, to detect or assess problems.

• Identifying Objects, Actions, and Events
  Identifying information by categorizing, estimating, recognizing differences or similarities, and detecting changes in circumstances or events.

• Making Decisions and Solving Problems
  Analyzing information and evaluating results to choose the best solution and solve problems.

• Resolving Conflicts and Negotiating with Others
  Handling complaints, settling disputes, and resolving grievances and conflicts, or otherwise negotiating with others.

• Getting Information
  Observing, receiving, and otherwise obtaining information from all relevant sources.

• Updating and Using Relevant Knowledge
  Keeping up-to-date technically and applying new knowledge to your job.

• Judging the Qualities of Things, Services, or People
  Assessing the value, importance, or quality of things or people.

• Thinking Creatively
  Developing, designing, or creating new applications, ideas, relationships, systems, or products, including artistic contributions.

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Work Context

• Telephone
  How often do you have telephone conversations in this job?

• Structured versus Unstructured Work
  To what extent is this job structured for the worker, rather than allowing the worker to determine tasks, priorities, and goals?

• Face-to-Face Discussions
  How often do you have to have face-to-face discussions with individuals or teams in this job?

• Contact With Others
  How much does this job require the worker to be in contact with others (face-to-face, by telephone, or otherwise) in order to perform it?

• Freedom to Make Decisions
  How much decision making freedom, without supervision, does the job offer?

• Spend Time Sitting
  How much does this job require sitting?

• Indoors, Environmentally Controlled
  How often does this job require working indoors in environmentally controlled conditions?

• Frequency of Decision Making
  How frequently is the worker required to make decisions that affect other people, the financial resources, and/or the image and reputation of the organization?

• Impact of Decisions on Co-workers or Company Results
  How do the decisions an employee makes impact the results of co-workers, clients or the company?

• Consequence of Error
  How serious would the result usually be if the worker made a mistake that was not readily correctable?

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Work Styles

• Integrity
  Job requires being honest and ethical.

• Concern for Others
  Job requires being sensitive to others' needs and feelings and being understanding and helpful on the job.

• Dependability
  Job requires being reliable, responsible, and dependable, and fulfilling obligations.

• Self Control
  Job requires maintaining composure, keeping emotions in check, controlling anger, and avoiding aggressive behavior, even in very difficult situations.

• Stress Tolerance
  Job requires accepting criticism and dealing calmly and effectively with high stress situations.

• Cooperation
  Job requires being pleasant with others on the job and displaying a good-natured, cooperative attitude.

• Persistence
  Job requires persistence in the face of obstacles.

• Independence
  Job requires developing one's own ways of doing things, guiding oneself with little or no supervision, and depending on oneself to get things done.

• Analytical Thinking
  Job requires analyzing information and using logic to address work-related issues and problems.

• Social Orientation
  Job requires preferring to work with others rather than alone, and being personally connected with others on the job.

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