University of Georgia Launches Master’s in Couple and Family Therapy

This article was originally reported in May 2025. A latest update on admissions and accreditation follows at the end.

The University of Georgia (UGA) has launched a two-year Master of Science in Couple and Family Therapy (CFT), aimed at training more mental health providers for a state facing a shortage of clinicians. The University System of Georgia Board of Regents approved the program in April 2025, and it began enrolling its first cohort in fall 2025 (UGA College of Family and Consumer Sciences, May 16, 2025).

What the program offers

Home: the Department of Human Development and Family Science in UGA’s College of Family and Consumer Sciences (FACS), which has run a doctoral program in couple and family therapy for 40 years.
Training focus: telemental health, evidence-based treatments and trauma-informed care. Founding program director Jennifer Gonyea, a clinical professor, said: “As a research-focused institution, it’s important that we train providers in treatment methods that have been demonstrated to be effective.”
Clinical training: a first-year practicum at the UGA Love and Money Center, an interdisciplinary FACS clinic serving the Athens area, followed by placements at community-based agencies under licensed clinicians.
Tracks: thesis and non-thesis options; both require a clinical competency capstone paper grounded in theoretical and empirical literature. Graduates are prepared for entry-level mental health and family therapy positions or for doctoral training.
Context: before UGA, Mercer University and Valdosta State University were the residential master’s programs in the field in Georgia. The program also fits the goals of Georgia’s 2022 mental health parity law, HB 1013, which requires insurers to cover mental health and substance abuse treatment as they cover physical illness and aims to train more mental health professionals (UGA FACS).

Longer term, the department plans to recruit through undergraduate advisors in psychology, social work and sociology, work with the UGA Career Center, and seek an auxiliary clinic site, possibly at another UGA campus in Georgia.

Curriculum and clinical hours

According to the program’s July 2025 handbook, the non-thesis option requires 52 credit hours and the thesis option 60–64. Students must complete at least 300 direct client contact hours, of which at least 100 must be relational (couples, parents and children together, or whole families) and no more than 100 may be telemental health, plus at least 100 hours of clinical supervision. In the clinic, students typically carry 12–15 active clients and average 8–12 hours of direct client contact a week (UGA MSCFT Program Handbook, July 2025).

Accreditation and licensure

The curriculum is designed to meet the standards of the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE), but the program is not yet accredited. New programs must collect two years of data before applying: UGA’s data collection runs from August 2025 to July 2027, after which it plans to submit a letter of intent and go through a two-year accreditation process (2027–2029). The handbook notes that Georgia’s associate marriage and family therapist license (LAMFT) requires a master’s degree in marriage and family therapy or an equivalent or COAMFTE-accredited program, plus a practicum with at least 300 hours of direct clinical experience and 100 hours of supervision (UGA MSCFT Handbook). Students who plan to be licensed in another state should check that state’s rules, since requirements differ.

Career outlook

Marriage and family therapists had a median annual wage of $66,940 in May 2025, with the middle half earning between $50,070 and $93,840; about 66,740 were employed nationwide (BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025).

Notes for international students

The program is full-time, in person and residential in Athens, and admits students only in the fall.
Applicants need a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution; a behavioral or family science background is preferred, and applicants from other fields must have taken introductory psychology and human development (UGA MS CFT Admissions).
Program pages do not list separate requirements for international applicants; English-test and I-20 rules follow the UGA Graduate School and International Student Life. Clinical work with clients in Georgia and later licensure are central to the degree, so international applicants should ask the program ([email protected]) how practicum placements and post-graduation licensure work for F-1 students.
UGA’s rankings, costs and international enrollment are on Forward Pathway’s University of Georgia school page.

Latest update

As of November 2026, applications for the fall 2027 cohort are due December 1, 2026, through the UGA Graduate School, with in-person interviews in mid-January 2027 (UGA MS CFT Admissions). The program page now lists Dr. Bowden Templeton as program director and still describes the curriculum as designed to meet COAMFTE standards, without claiming accreditation (UGA M.S. in Couple and Family Therapy).

References

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