How to Apply
Important: The button below will take you to University Admissions. Use the following advice to correctly identify your interest in this program.
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Transcripts and/or Entrance examinations
- Official BA or Master’s degree transcript. Request that all colleges and universities you have attended send transcripts electronically to: gradadm@umsl.edu.
- International applicants are required to document English proficiency by providing scores from an internationally accepted standardized examination before a decision is made on admission.
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Grade Point Average
Minimum of 2.75 on 4.0 scale in undergraduate categories and 3.00 in graduate work.
Application Fee: $50 for domestic applicants; $40 for international applicants
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A 12 credit hour program including a supervised clinical experience providing counseling to couples/families.
The College of Education Graduate Certificate in Couple, Marriage, and Family Counseling provides an academic program to help mental health professionals and counseling students increase their understanding of theory, practice, and research in the couple, marriage, and family counseling area. The coursework and clinical experiences required for the certificate offer mental health professionals and counseling students a means to apply knowledge of couple, marriage, and family counseling to practice. The certificate helps ensure that there are mental health professionals trained to provide couple, marriage, and family counseling in areas where they plan to practice.
The Graduate Certificate in Couple, Marriage, and Family Counseling is a 12 credit hour program. To earn a certificate, one must a) successfully complete required coursework and b) complete a supervised clinical experience providing counseling to couples/families.
The Graduate Certificate in Couple, Marriage and Family Counseling (CMFC) may be pursued as a stand-alone credential or in conjunction with the Master’s Degree in Education in counseling, the Master’s in Social Work degree, the Ed.D., or the Ph.D. in Education. With advance planning, all 12 credits may be applied to the Master’s of Education in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Completion of the CMFC certificate, however, does not guarantee acceptance into any other degree program (which requires a separate application for admission).
Admission Requirements
Requirements for admission to the CMFC certificate program are current “good standing” (non-probation) in an UMSL graduate mental health practitioner training program (such as counseling, social work, or psychology), OR all of the following criteria must be met:
- Undergraduate degree with a GPA of 3.0 or better;
- Enrollment in a graduate mental health practitioner training program, or completion of a mental health practitioner master’s degree;
- Two letters of recommendation with at least one from a current or former college-level instructor (or someone with a graduate degree who can attest to the applicant’s capacity to complete graduate-level work);
- Two-page personal statement explaining the applicant's personal and professional goals.
Certificate Requirements
| CNS ED 6500 | Introduction to Systems Theory for Couples and Family Counseling | 3 |
| CNS ED 6510 | Marriage Counseling and Enrichment | 3 |
| CNS ED 6520 | Family Counseling | 3 |
| CNS ED 6380 | Clinical Mental Health Counseling Field Experience 1 | 3 |
| or CNS ED 7000 | Advanced Theories and Practice of Counseling | |
| or CNS ED 7780 | Doctoral Internship | |
| Total Hours | 12 | |
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For CNS ED 6380/CNS ED 7000/CNS ED 7780, the counseling must be completed at a site requiring the student to work with couples/families.
R. Rocco Cottone, Ph.D.
Distinguished Research Professor
Professor Cottone received an A.B. degree from the University of Missouri-Columbia and an M.Ed. from the same institution. He received his Doctor of Philosophy degree from St. Louis University in 1980. He is certified as a family therapist by the NACFT.
