The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) is pleased to announce a research partnership with the Behavioral Health Workforce Research Center (BHWRC) at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Established in 2015, the BHWRC is a joint Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) and Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) initiative that works to strengthen the workforce responsible for prevention and treatment of mental health and substance use disorders by conducting studies to inform workforce development and planning. The BHWRC is one of the seven members of HRSA’s Health Workforce Research Centers.
AAMFT and BHWRC are currently partnering on an important workforce study. Marriage and family therapists are among the core professional occupations in behavioral health. Aside from standardized education and training requirements, few characteristics are known about MFTs, such as demographic composition, practice characteristics, job functions, and settings where services are being delivered. One of the BHWRC’s chief research efforts involves collecting data to study MFT workforce size and composition. This study will involve a survey a representative sample of AAMFT Clinical Fellows residing in the United States. The goal of the project is to better inform MFT workforce planning efforts.
AAMFT serves in an advisory capacity as a member of the BHWRC Consortium. The American Psychological Association, Council on Social Work Education, National Board for Certified Counselors, and National Council for Behavioral Health also are members of this Consortium. An AAMFT representative is a member of the BHWRC Advisory Group.
The collaborative MFT workforce study is expected to launch in July 2017. AAMFT believes this partnership will benefit policymakers, researchers, and members of the profession by providing comprehensive and current data on the MFT workforce.
If you have any questions about this partnership or the upcoming study, please contact Roger Smith at [email protected].