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 services to individuals, couples, and families for the purpose of treating such diagnosed nervous and mental disorders.

Most important skills

Active Listening
Social Perceptiveness
Speaking
Service Orientation
Reading Comprehension
Complex Problem Solving
Judgment and Decision Making
Writing

Key knowledge

Therapy and Counseling
Psychology
Sociology and Anthropology
Customer and Personal Service
English Language
Education and Training
Administrative
Philosophy and Theology

What the work involves

Ask questions that will help clients identify their feelings and behaviors.
Counsel clients on concerns, such as unsatisfactory relationships, divorce and separation, child rearing, home management, or financial difficulties.
Encourage individuals and family members to develop and use skills and strategies for confronting their problems in a constructive manner.
Maintain case files that include activities, progress notes, evaluations, and recommendations.
Collect information about clients, using techniques such as testing, interviewing, discussion, or observation.
Determine whether clients should be counseled or referred to other specialists in such fields as medicine, psychiatry, or legal aid.
Confer with clients to develop plans for posttreatment activities.
Follow up on results of counseling programs and clients' adjustments to determine effectiveness of programs.

Strongest interest areas (O*NET): Social, Investigative, Artistic.

Qualifications and licensing

Most common education: Master's Degree (86.7% of expert ratings)
Related experience: Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (43.3%)
On-the-job training: Over 2 years, up to and including 4 years (33.3%)
Preparation level: O*NET job zone 5: Job Zone Five: Extensive Preparation Needed
Licensing: Not yet verified. Check your state licensing board.

Check before planning

Licensing for Marriage and Family Therapists is not yet verified for any state: check the state licensing board before planning.

Limits

Distributions show what current workers or occupational experts report, not legal minimums.
Requirements vary by employer and state; time to qualify is not estimated.

Source: O*NET 31.0 Database (USDOL/ETA, CC BY 4.0); BLS Employment Projections · dataset 2026.10.8 · method e3-qualification-1.0.0

Work environment

How the typical conditions of this occupation compare with 911 occupations in O*NET (very low = the lowest fifth).

Levels are relative. Most occupations involve a lot of contact with people, for example, so “very low” can still mean regular contact; the last column shows what workers actually reported.

Rankings compare typical U.S. occupation-level work conditions; individual jobs and employers vary. Data: O*NET 31.0 Work Context and BLS wages (May 2025).
Condition	Level	Compared with other occupations	Most common answer (O*NET survey)
Contact with others	High	Higher on contact with others than 61% of occupations compared	60% of surveyed respondents chose “Constant contact with others”
Dealing with the public	Low	Lower on dealing with the public than 62% of occupations compared	37% of surveyed respondents chose “Extremely important”
Teamwork	Very low	Lower on teamwork than 95% of occupations compared	48% of surveyed respondents chose “Important”
Freedom to make decisions	Very high	Higher on freedom to make decisions than 95% of occupations compared	79% of surveyed respondents chose “A lot of freedom”
Time pressure	Moderate	Higher on time pressure than 59% of occupations compared	38% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day”
Conflict situations	Very high	Higher on conflict situations than 93% of occupations compared	40% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a week or more but not every day”
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people	Very high	Higher on dealing with unpleasant or angry people than 86% of occupations compared	45% of surveyed respondents chose “Once a month or more but not every week”
Consequence of error	High	Higher on consequence of error than 61% of occupations compared	28% of surveyed respondents chose “Serious”

Work-pressure profile

Time pressure: moderate
Conflict situations: very high
Dealing with unpleasant or angry people: very high
Consequence of error: high

Each part is shown on its own. There is no combined stress score, and conditions vary by employer and role.

Full answer distributions

Contact with others

No contact with others: 0%
Occasional contact with others: 3.33%
Contact with others about half the time: 0%
Contact with others most of the time: 36.67%
Constant contact with others: 60%

n = 30, Occupational Expert 08/2026

Dealing with the public

Not important at all: 20%
Fairly important: 26.67%
Important: 10%
Very important: 6.67%
Extremely important: 36.67%

n = 30, Occupational Expert 08/2026