MFTs: Confidence, Comfort, and Training to Address Client Financial Concerns

Abstract

Research is limited regarding the training marriage and family therapists (MFTs) receive in the area of financial problems couples and families experience. We surveyed 293 professional MFTs to gain information about their financial training, level of comfort addressing financial topics with clients, and level of confidence to successfully address financial concerns of clients. Results indicated the majority (61%) of therapists did not receive any financial training but reported feeling comfortable (46.1%) or very comfortable (22.2%) addressing financial issues, and somewhat confident (56.7%) or very confident (23.2%) they could successfully address client financial issues. Therapists who received some type of financial training were more confident and comfortable addressing client concerns than those who did not receive any training. Implications for the field of marriage and family therapy are discussed.