Are people always coming to you with their relationship issue?  Do you tend to be the person that your friends tell all their issues to and you seem to have the answer?  Have you thought about turning your gift into a career?  If you are interested in becoming a marriage and family therapist but are not sure how to get there, here are some steps and suggestions to assist you with achieving your goals.

There are a couple ways you can go about helping others with their relationship and family issues.  First you should decide if you want to simply coach people or actually provide therapy and mental health services.  Both careers enable you to reach out to people and families to address personal issues. However, certified coaches and licensed therapist play similar but differentiated roles.

Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist

To become a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, you must first earn a college degree.  You can get your Bachelor’s degree in almost anything.  Some select supporting degrees such as psychology, social work or sociology.  I personally would suggest that you pursue a bachelor’s degree in something that you can earn money with while pursuing your next step to becoming a LMFT (licensed Marriage and Family Therapist), such as business or a desired trade.  During your undergraduate pursuit, it would be beneficial to participate in an internship or volunteer position that would expose you to couples and family work.

Upon completing your college degree, you will need to apply for your Master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy.  The Master’s degree should consist of a practicum where you will conduct supervised counseling session under the instruction of a licensed MFT.  Once you complete graduate school you will then apply to take the Associate Marriage and Family Therapy License Exam.  This exam tests your knowledge in Marriage and Family Therapy models and well as critical circumstances that may occur during the course of working with families and individuals.

Passing the Associate Marriage and Family Therapy License Exam does not guarantee you a license however.  You must then work in the field of Marriage and Family Therapy for two years in order to be rewarded an actual license to practice unsupervised.  If you opt not to take the associate exam, you can take the actual license exam upon completing two years of supervised counseling post graduate school.

Relationship Coach

In order to become a relationship or life coach you simply need experience or wisdom on the subjects.  Currently there is no specific education required to become a coach.  However there are certifications available to those who would like training.  Momentarily, there are no regulation placed on the field of coaching and if you desire to coach, you can start your business today.  Simply identify what you feel you are gifted in and offer your services to those in need. You provide your services in the form of phone coaching or video face to face coaching.

If you are looking to put your ability and desire of helping families and couples into practice follow these steps on how to fulfill your dream of becoming a coach or counselor.  It’s never too early or late to put your expertise into practice.