Master of Counseling Degree (M.Coun.) - Marriage, Couple, And Family Counseling - Pocatello and Meridian

About the Program

The master’s degree major in Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling program specialty is designed to prepare individuals to specialize in providing marriage, couple, and family counseling in a variety of settings. Some of the settings where students will serve practicum and internships are mental health centers, rehabilitation counseling offices, juvenile homes and youth ranches, and alcohol and substance abuse centers.

Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling Program Objectives

Students who select the Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling (MCFC) specialty practice area will demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary to provide ethical, culturally responsive, and systems-based counseling to individuals, couples, and families across diverse populations, developmental stages, and settings. In addition to the CACREP common core objectives, graduates in the specialty practice area of marriage, couple, and family counseling will:

Graduates understand the sociology of the family and family phenomenology, and identify family of origin theories
Graduates understand aging and intergenerational influences and related family concerns
Graduates understand and can assess the impact of interpersonal violence on marriages, couples, and families
Graduates understand the interactions of career, life, and gender roles in marriages, couples, and families
Graduates understand the impact of unemployment, under-employment, and changes in socioeconomic standing on marriages, couples, and families
Graduates understand the impact of migration on family functioning
Graduates understand and apply theories and models of marriage, couple, and family counseling
Graduates understand and apply principles and models of assessment and case conceptualization from a systems perspective
Graduates understand and apply family assessments, including genograms and family mapping
Graduates understand and apply techniques and interventions of marriage, couple, and family counseling
Graduates demonstrate skill in conceptualizing and implementing treatment, planning, and intervention strategies in marriage, couple, and family counseling
Graduates understand service delivery modalities and networks within the continuum of care, such as primary care, outpatient, partial treatment, inpatient, integrated behavioral healthcare, and aftercare
Graduates identify and apply strategies for interfacing with the legal system relevant to marriage, couple, and family counseling
Graduates understand third-party reimbursement and other practice and management issues in marriage, couple, and family counseling

For the Master of Counseling (M.Coun.) degree, the student is required to complete the equivalent of at least four full semesters of resident graduate study beyond the bachelor’s degree. The minimum Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling program must total 60 semester hours.

The Idaho Counselor Licensing Board requires the following for licensable hours:

“Section 150 02. Supervised Experience Requirement. One thousand (1,000) hours of supervised experience in counseling acceptable to the Board. (7-1-93)

One thousand (1,000) hours is defined as one thousand (1,000) clock hours of experience working in a counseling setting, four hundred (400) hours of which shall be direct client contact. Supervised experience in practicum and/or internships taken at the graduate level may be utilized. The supervised experience shall include a minimum of one (1) hour of face-to-face or one-to-one (1/1) or one-to-two (1/2) supervision with the supervisor for every twenty (20) hours of job/internship experience. Face-to-face may include a face-to-face setting provided by a secure live electronic connection between the supervisor and supervisee. As stated under Subsection 150.01.a.iii. counseling practicum experiences opposed to job or internship experience shall be supervised at a ratio of one (1) hour of supervision for every ten (10) hours in the settings. For example: (3-29-12)

A person in a twenty (20) hour per week job/internship who is receiving one (1) hour of individual supervision each week would accumulate one thousand (1,000) supervised hours in fifty (50) weeks to equal the twenty to one (20/1) ratio. (7-1-93)
A person in a forty (40) hour per week setting with one (1) hour of supervision per week would still require fifty (50) weeks to equal the twenty to one (20/1) ratio. (7-1-93)
A person in a forty (40) hour per week setting with two (2) hours of supervision per week would accumulate the one thousand (1,000) hours at the twenty to one (20/1) supervision ratio in twenty-five (25) weeks. (7-1-93)

Until July 1, 2004, the supervision must be provided by a Professional Counselor or a Clinical Professional Counselor licensed by the state of Idaho. Effective July 1, 2010, supervision must be provided by a counselor education faculty member at an accredited college or university; Professional Counselor, registered with the Board as a supervisor; a Clinical Professional Counselor, registered with the Board as a supervisor; a Marriage and Family Therapist, registered with the Board as a supervisor; a Clinical Social Worker registered as a supervisor with the Board of Social Work; a licensed Psychologist; or a licensed Psychiatrist, licensed by the state of Idaho. Supervision by a professional counseling peer, however, may be acceptable to the Board if the peer/supervisory relationship include the same controls and procedures expected in an internship setting. (See Subsection 150.02.a.) For example, the relationship should include the staffing of cases, the critiquing of counseling tapes and this supervision must be conducted in a formal, professional, consistent manner on a regularly scheduled basis.”

In the Department of Counseling, supervision by doctoral students who have received supervision training are viewed as acceptable to the Board. The Department of Counseling prefers that students seek out practicum and internship settings that have a licensed professional counselor first, before considering a site in which supervision is provided by a different mental health professional. Your development as a professional counselor occurs not only while in class at ISU but also during your clinical experiences outside of ISU. Mentoring by a professional counselor during your clinical supervision is a vital part of your emergent identity as a professional counselor.

Please note: Students are responsible for ensuring a site supervisor is registered with the IBOL prior to accepting a site for practicum or internship.

If you intend to be licensed or certified in a state other than Idaho, you are advised to:

Review the licensing information for the program(s) below; and
Contact the appropriate licensing agency in the U.S. states and territories where licensure is intended to ensure that you have the most up-to-date information about licensure requirements and confirm how an ISU program aligns with those requirements. Because requirements may change during the course of your program of study, we recommend that you check licensing agency requirements regularly to monitor whether any changes may impact your licensure plans.
For more information please see the ISU license disclosure or the Department of Counseling license disclosure.