MA MFT Marriage and Family Therapy

Latinx Applicant to MFT Program

I love my city, San Diego, and I hope to be accepted to the MS Program in Clinical Psychology at ____ University with a focus on Marriage and Family Therapy. I am convinced that it is in this area where I will be able to make my greatest contribution to my community. I seek the profound rewards that come from helping individuals who have long faced many challenges and obstacles, and now find themselves in need of professional support, especially immigrant communities from Latin America. I see the master's degree, MFT Program at ____ as integrating neuroscience and psychology in the pursuit of social justice, through hands-on work in our community. 

I appreciate the special challenges that we face in San Diego as part of our unique history as a border city. Thus, ____’s focus on providing services to marginalized and underserved populations is for me an especially attractive feature of your program. I long to be of service to those individuals and communities that have historically faced societal obstacles in the pursuit of their goals and dreams. I also have a special interest in veterans, particularly those who continue to suffer from PTSD. 

We have large Latinx populations, especially along the border, where a lot of help is needed. I have studied Spanish for many years and keenly look forward to putting it to beneficial use on a professional level. Given the horrendous physical and social obstacles that migrant individuals and families face, as they struggle for survival on both sides of the border, the need for counseling support is great. And this is true for both marital and more general family issues. I hope to excel at bilingual counseling for speakers of Spanish, especially appropriate since migrants from Latin America and the Caribbean are seldom fluent in English. 

Latinx Applicant to MFT Master's program Personal Statement Example

I particularly look forward to studying under Dr. Boyd, because of her work on behalf of veterans, and her contribution to the development of innovative psychotherapy interventions for veterans. Dr. Boyd’s work has a personal resonance for me since my father is a combat veteran who was in Vietnam; and he has struggled heroically to manage chronic PTSD for decades.

I am now 28 years old, and my father is seventy-six. I look forward to doing a research project with him about his parenting challenges resulting from PTSD, drawing upon both of our memories of my childhood. Being raised by my father has provided me with an insider’s view into the impact of physical, moral, and psychological trauma on a person’s life, particularly with respect to parenting. My father went on to become an MFT and spent his career serving veterans with co-morbid PTSD and Substance-Use Disorders at the VA. My mother is also a psychotherapist - an LCSW specializing in CBT. Both are role models. 

I was raised in a small, rural farming town north of San Francisco, near to many, mostly undocumented, Latinx families, employed in agricultural and domestic sectors. I made lifelong friends at school and began learning Spanish early, on the playground, at recess and after school. I also witnessed the hardships, pain, and injustice experienced by many in this community; from ICE deportations devastating their families through being denied access to even basic health care.  

As an athlete in high school, I first became a Certified Personal Trainer, helping people with their health and fitness goals. Then, I became hooked on Psychology with my first class at Mesa College, Physiological Psychology, and went on to UCSD to earn my bachelor's degree. Participating in loneliness research was a special highlight. I found Dr. Rose’s course ‘Clinical Neuropsychology’, to be particularly thrilling, arriving at a better understanding of the inner workings of the brain, its power and fragility. 

My internship at the National Conflict Resolution Center gave me additional experience in facilitating communication and connection between people. I am currently managing a CBT practice, working on becoming a Registered Behavioral Technician, and in the process of becoming a Therapy Assistant for a Telehealth provider of mental health services.  

Veterans, people struggling with addictions, neurodiverse and disabled populations, as well as immigrants, all stand at the forefront of my interests. 

I thank you for considering my application to the MFT Program at ____ University. 

MA MFT Marriage and Family Therapy