This 14-credit (4 course) certificate program is designed to introduce a variety of currently practicing health care professionals to the ways acute and chronic medical illnesses and conditions influence and are influenced by psychosocial, relational, and family conditions and environments. Ideal candidates for this certificate include experienced couple and family therapists who are seeking to develop their clinical knowledge and expand the scope of their clinical practice, graduate students in couple and family therapy and related disciplines (such social work, psychology, creative arts, rehabilitation science, physician assistant, and physicians), and clergy, physicians, nurses, and allied health care professionals seeking to update and/ or improve their knowledge about families, illness and collaborative practice.

After completing this program graduates will be able to: Apply family systems perspective and its relationships to health, illnesses and recovery; Assess the impact of healthcare problems on the family system, using a family lifecycle perspective; Evaluate the role of family members in promoting positive health outcomes; Develop effective relationships and intervention strategies with families utilizing appropriate cultural frameworks; Appraise and synthesize best practice collaborative approaches to health care; Analyze health care policies that impact children, families and aging populations; And Demonstrate professional awareness and use of self in the health care delivery process.