Marriage and Family Therapists

<ul><li>Ask questions that will help clients identify their feelings and behaviors.</li><li>Counsel clients on concerns, such as unsatisfactory relationships, divorce and separation, child rearing, home management, or financial difficulties.</li><li>Encourage individuals and family members to develop and use skills and strategies for confronting their problems in a constructive manner.</li><li>Maintain case files that include activities, progress notes, evaluations, and recommendations.</li><li>Develop and implement individualized treatment plans addressing family relationship problems, destructive patterns of behavior, and other personal issues.</li><li>Collect information about clients, using techniques such as testing, interviewing, discussion, or observation.</li><li>Confer with clients to develop plans for posttreatment activities.</li><li>Confer with other counselors, doctors, and professionals to analyze individual cases and to coordinate counseling services.</li><li>Determine whether clients should be counseled or referred to other specialists in such fields as medicine, psychiatry, or legal aid.</li><li>Follow up on results of counseling programs and clients' adjustments to determine effectiveness of programs.</li><li>Write evaluations of parents and children for use by courts deciding divorce and custody cases, testifying in court if necessary.</li><li>Provide instructions to clients on how to obtain help with legal, financial, and other personal issues.</li><li>Provide public education and consultation to other professionals or groups regarding counseling services, issues, and methods.</li><li>Gather information from doctors, schools, social workers, juvenile counselors, law enforcement personnel, and others to make recommendations to courts for resolution of child custody or visitation disputes.</li></ul>