Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Providing Professional Therapy

What is an LMFT?

LMFTs are comprehensive mental health practitioners who are trained to assist individuals, couples and families in resolving a wide continuum of problems including mental, emotional and interpersonal disorders.

How are LMFTs different from other licensed mental health professionals?

LMFTs are the only group of mental health practitioners whom you can be sure have the training and qualifications to work with couples/families (conjoint therapy) as well as with individuals and groups. While practitioners holding other mental health licenses may have supervised clinical training in each of these areas, no other license requires that practitioners be trained in this way. Most LMFTs have special expertise in conjoint therapies. Since no other Mental Health License in California requires such expertise, other Licensed Mental health professionals may or may not have it.

Why see an LMFT?

Since there is so much research demonstrating that treatment programs for various disorders (for example, bi-polar disorder, schizophrenia, substance abuse disorders, etc.) are more effective when conjoint therapies are included, agencies and insurance companies must include practitioners who are trained specifically in the conjoint therapies. Unless practitioners are trained both to work individually and conjointly, they may fail to recognize when one format or the other is most needed.