As the holidays approach, it can be a difficult and emotional time for many. As a result, people might find themselves looking for a therapist — but where can they turn to?
The MSU Couple and Family Therapy Clinic, or CFTC, serves individuals, couples and families in the Greater Lansing community. The clinic is the primary training site for graduate students in the Couple and Family Therapy, or CFT doctoral program in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies in the College of Social Science.
“All of our therapy services are based in systemic, evidence-based interventions,” said Erica Mitchell, director of the clinic. “Evidence-based interventions means that the therapy models we use are supported by research, and systemic means our approach with clients focuses on the context of their lives and the relationships they have. We like to say that the relationships are our clients."
Meeting clients where they are
In 2023-2024, the clinic welcomed 206 new clients (in addition to the clients they were already serving). It also welcomed three new therapists and maintained its six returning therapists and seven undergraduate interns.
“Our therapists, our supervisors and our clinic staff are very passionate about helping the clients that we serve, and they are very dedicated to walking alongside our clients and helping them achieve their goals for therapy,” Mitchell said.
“We treat various clients with diverse identities and with different presenting symptoms, and we have a great staff of therapists here with a lot of various training in different therapeutic modalities,” said Deja Young, CFT doctoral candidate who previously served as a clinic therapist. “So, if you are seeking help, reach out to join our waitlist, and we see individuals, couples and families so you’re more than welcome here.” The services at the clinic hope to meet clients where they are, both in their personal therapy goals but also in accessibility. The clinic’s mission is to increase equitable access to therapy through offering low-cost services.
“Operating on a sliding fee scale helps us reach clients in need who may not be able to access services elsewhere in the community,” Mitchell said. “Our clinic highly values diversity and inclusion and creating a warm and welcoming environment for our clients and our staff.”
Temple Odom is a MSU HDFS faculty member who provides supervision and mentorship to graduate student therapists.
“If you’re wondering if you should be at this clinic because it is a teacher clinic: most of our students come here with a master’s degree in a clinical field,” Odom explained. “Even though they are doctoral students, they’re usually very experienced and they get incredibly close and attentive supervision. It’s a really wonderful complement of having research-based practices and an affordable way to get family and couples work, which is sometimes hard to access out in the community.”
The student experience
Therapists in the CFT program are supervised by faculty who are licensed marriage and family therapists and American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy-approved supervisors.
There’s an intentional emphasis on teaching and training in the clinic: students must be enrolled in a practicum course to see clients, and each practicum course is taught by a CFT faculty member. Supervising faculty meet weekly, both individually and in groups, to talk about the therapists’ cases.
“I really enjoy our group supervision,” said Pendo Galukande, a CFT doctoral student and clinic therapist. “I learn a lot from the other students both clinically but also culturally.”
In addition to courses and weekly meetings, supervisors watch therapy sessions live and give therapists feedback, either in the middle of a session or at the end of session.
Lekie Dwanyen is an assistant professor in the CFT program and a clinical supervisor.
“It’s really meaningful for me to be able to help train and support students in developing their own clinical skills, especially family therapy skills,” Dwanyen said. “We really value relationships in context and culture, so any training around these elements is very meaningful to me personally. And professionally, we focus on disparities and making mental health care very accessible to different communities — so that piece is also incredibly meaningful.”
Tanner Hickman CFT doctoral student, formerly a therapist at the clinic and currently the clinic coordinator. He chose MSU because of the clinical opportunity in the CFT program.
“I’d been in the field working as a therapist and a licensed social worker, and I recognized how complex it is working with people, so I wanted to gain more clinical skills while having great supervision,” he said.
Each year, the clinic has several undergraduate students who complete their internships here. As a part of the doctoral program, students gain experience as student supervisors too.
Diversity, equity and inclusion
Young chose the CFT program because of the department’s focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.
“We talk about how we can meet the needs of different populations, people with different identities in the therapeutic room,” Young said. “Being someone who has marginalized identities, I really appreciate that we don’t shy away from those conversations.”
The services, training and people are all grounded in a diversity, equity and inclusion framework.
“We prioritize inclusive teaching and training practices,” Mitchell said. “We also provide clinical training opportunities through our monthly CFT student-faculty meetings.”
In the future, the clinic’s team of faculty hopes to increase clinical research and to continue to expand its outreach efforts to serve clients with marginalized or underserved identities.
“Here at the clinic, we really value relationships, culture, context, people in relation to their loved ones,” Dwanyen said. “We value support and ways that our mental health is impacted not just by what we’re experiencing, but the families and the cultural backgrounds that we come from.”
To learn more about the MSU Family and Couple Therapy Clinic, visit the clinic’s website.
