Couple & Family Therapy Accreditation & Licensure

CFT Program Goals and Student Learning Outcomes

The Couple and Family Therapy Program is committed to the following program goals and Student Learning Outcomes (SLO).

Program Goal #1 (Diversity): To train professionals who are committed to diversity and cultural responsiveness in relational/systemic therapy.

• SLO #1: Students will demonstrate clinical competency in working in diverse settings and with diverse client populations.
• SLO#2: Students will demonstrate knowledge of multicultural conceptualization.

Program Goal # 2 (Systemic knowledge and practice): To prepare professionals who are competent in knowledge and clinical practice using relational/systemic therapy.

• SLO# 3: Students will demonstrate their knowledge of family systems therapy theories.
• SLO# 4: Students will apply a systemic framework in their clinical practice.

Program Goal # 3 (Research): To prepare professionals who are informed in family systems research.

• SLO# 5: Students will develop a research proposal on topics related to family systems practice.
• SLO# 6: Students will learn to critically analyze common family systems assessments.

Program Goal # 4 (Ethics): To prepare professionals with knowledge and skills in legal and ethical practice of family systems therapy.

• SLO# 7: Students will demonstrate an applied knowledge of Marriage and Family Therapy (MFT) legal and ethical guidelines and professional standards.

Graduate Achievement Data

The University of Colorado, Denver, Couple and Family Therapy (CFT) program is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE), 112 South Alfred Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314, (703) 838-9808, coa@aamft.org. Below is our Graduate Achievement Data of cohorts that began since the CFT program’s initial accreditation in May, 2020. The program requires a minimum of two and a half (2.5) years to complete, and students have a maximum of seven (7) years to complete the program. Full time students typically complete requirements in 2.5 to 3.5 years. Part-time students taking one course per semester complete requirements in 6 years.

Graduate Achievement Data Disclosure

FT=Full‐time; includes students taking at least 6 credit hours per semester

PT=Part-time; includes students taking less than 6 credit hours per semester.

NS= No Students

IP=In Process: Students from the cohort listed have yet to graduate from the cohort year listed.

Programs are only required to provide data on the past 7 years/cohort or since the program was initially accredited, whichever is shorter.

*Graduation Rate is the program’s Advertised Length of Completion which is how long the program is designed to complete as written.

**Job Placement Rate is the percentage of graduates from the cohort year that are employed utilizing skills learned in the COAMFTE accredited program.

***Licensure rate is the percentage of graduates from the cohort year that have achieved any level of MFT licensure. For Master’s programs only, COAMFTE has established a benchmark of 70% licensure rate for each cohort.

Program note: The CFT program admits students in two cycles in Fall and Spring. Each “Cohort Year” in the first column includes the total number of students admitted in both Fall and Spring terms of that academic year. CU Denver considers enrollment in at least 6 credit hours per semester for full time status. Enrollment in less than 6 credit hours is considered part-time. Students can enroll in a minimum of 3 credits and maximum of 12 credits during their program duration. Given this flexibility, the number of students considered full-time and part-time varies each semester. This table provides the latest data available from Spring 2025 enrollment.

Licensure

The MA in CFT program fulfills the educational requirements for licensure in the State of Colorado. Full details of MFT licensure eligibility can be found on the Colorado Department of Regulatory Agencies (DORA) website.

Eligibility for licensure in MFT varies across the nation with unique requirements in each state. The following resources are available to verify requirements in other states:

CU Denver State authorization

AAMFT resources