1006014 - Family Therapy and Mental Health
Course Description
Family therapists have finally found a place at the table of regulated healthcare. This puts us more directly into dialogue with medical mental health practitioners. These clinicians speak their own language, a derivation of the World Health Organization’s International Classification of Diseases, known as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5). The purpose of this course is to familiarize you with the DSM-5 and its language for the major disorders of thinking (schizophrenia), feeling (anxiety, depression, bipolar) and behaving (personality). The impact of mental illness on family functioning and the current literature regarding effective couple and family approaches to treating these mental health problems will be explored.
Here you will see integration of couple and family therapy approaches with individual psychodynamic, psychiatric and biomedical approaches. Psychotropic medications, often an adjunct treatment to these particular problems, will be examined. The instructor will facilitate the course with slides, didactic presentations, video, and experiential exercises. You will actively engage in the material with your own didactic presentations, small group work, self-directed study and written assignments.
This course is designed for counsellors, therapists, social workers, mental health workers, and pastoral care/faith-based and other practitioners seeking to build or enhance their practical skills and theoretical foundation in couple and family therapy, as well as those exploring therapy as a career.
This course is typically recognized by CAMFT and AAMFT as a couple/marriage and family therapy or studies course.
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion of this course you will be able to:
- Use the DSM-5 to look up any diagnosis and obtain a list of symptoms and behaviours associated with it, and describe the general process of mental health diagnosis
- Understand the effect of mental illness on family and individual life cycle development, roles, and family functioning
- Demonstrate familiarity with the current literature on effective family interventions for mental illness, and be able to maintain professional development in this field
- Demonstrate a basic knowledge of psychotropic medications and support their use as an adjunct to therapy with clients with mental illness
- Develop a practice model which integrates an awareness of mental illness with couple and family therapy
Course Topics
- Introduction; Models for Understanding the Impact of Mental Illness; Introduction to the DSM-5; Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders
- Depressive Disorders; Anxiety
- Bipolar Disorder, Addictions & Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)
- Personality Disorders
- Eating Disorder, Trauma, and other Diagnoses
Additional Requirements
- Prerequisite course: Theories and Methods of Family Therapy: Foundations of the Field
- Note: If you wish to take the course but have not completed the prerequisite, please contact our main office.
- As well as scheduled instruction time, you can expect to spend approximately five to ten hours per week on course readings, activities, and/or assignments.
- Course assignments are completed up to four weeks following the final day of the course.
Assessment
| Assessment Item | Weight |
|---|---|
| Group Presentation | 30% |
| Quiz | 10% |
| Major Paper | 60% |
| Total | 100% |
Please note that the course assessment is subject to change.
Sponsoring Partner
Applies Towards the Following Certificates
Technical Requirements
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*Course details are subject to change.