Beyond its intrinsic value, CFP certification provides a wealth of opportunities for advancement in one’s professional career. Board certified CFPs are poised to access national networking and leadership prospects within a vibrant and diverse community of fellow experts, fostering connections and shared knowledge with practitioners dedicated to advancing the field. Additionally, CFP certification may contribute to workplace benefits such as salary increases, promotion, licensure mobility, and attraction of business opportunities and clients. Given these benefits, board certified CFPs are equipped with the expertise and access to drive innovation, shape best practices, and inspire future generations in the field.
In summary, board certification in CFP holds significant value in several ways:
- Professional Credibility
- Demonstrated Competence
- Quality Assurance
- Career Advancement
- Professional Networking, and
- Consumer Protection
The process proceeds through three stages.
Stage I: Application for candidacy
The application provides the primary data for determining board certification candidacy based on education and training credentials and endorsements from colleagues. The Applicant’s doctoral degree and program verification is accomplished by requesting that official transcripts be sent from their educational institution(s) directly to the ABPP Central Office. Endorsements are requested by the Applicant as described in the application form. Once all the materials have been received, the ABPP Central Office verifies the Applicant’s licensing status. The Applicant achieves candidacy once they pass Stage I.
Stage II: Submission of professional statement and/or work sample (depending upon standard or senior track application)
In Stage II, the Candidate submits the work sample and the related professional statement, both of which represent the initial part of the examination process. The work sample provides the Candidate with the opportunity to represent their practice in CFP in support of candidacy. The professional statement puts the work sample in context and explains the Candidate’s philosophy of practice. The Candidate submits the following items to the ABPP Portal in electronic form:
- A current curriculum vitae
- A professional statement of one’s philosophy of couple and family psychology
Candidates must provide in electronic form a professional statement in which they describe their professional training, experience, and identification in CFP. The professional statement should highlight the Candidate’s CFP-specific training and background. The Board recommends no more than 2,500 words. This statement provides the Candidate with the opportunity to communicate with the Examination Committee about their identity and work as a CFP and serves as a basis for the discussion during the opening portion of the oral examination.
- A work sample video (with audio) in electronic format (to be sent in encrypted form or in a form to protect the identity of the couple or family)
The work sample serves as an example of the Candidate’s couple and family practice for exploration and evaluation during the oral examination. The work sample typically focuses on assessment or intervention. It is possible to provide a work sample demonstrating competency in consultation, teaching, or supervision, but a video and contextual material are still needed when one of these elective competencies is the focus of the exam.
- Contextual and supplementary information for the work sample video
- Copies of the clients’ authorization (names/signatures obscured) to use their interview recordings for the Candidate’s examination (unless applying as a Senior Psychologist without videos), and a copy of the Health Information Portability and Privacy Act (HIPPA) documents used with the clients. Names should be obscured on all submitted material.
The ABCFP President will assign a committee composed of the Chair and two other Board-certified psychologists, one of whom must be CFP certified. The Examination Committee will assess whether the Candidate’s submission demonstrates mastery of the ABCFP competencies:
- Professionalism: Knowledge of the CFP Specialty and skills
- Ethical legal standards and policy: Awareness and application of ethical decision-making
- Individual and cultural diversity: Understands individual, interpersonal and contextual factors in couples and families, and has ability to apply culturally sensitive CFP clinical services
- Relationships: Understands conceptualizes and evaluates interpersonal interaction from systemic perspective
- Scientific knowledge and methods: Demonstrates advanced level of CFP scientific knowledge and methods
- Evidence-based practice: Knowledge of CFP evidence-based practice and specialty interventions
- Reflective practice/self-assessment/self-care: Aability to monitor interpersonal interactions and correct problems and commitment to perennial development
- Interdisciplinary systems: Applies ethical and professional standards and a systemic perspective in work with multidisciplinary systems
- Assessment: Applies a systemic paradigm to CFP assessment
- Intervention: Ability to select implement and evaluate CFP interventions
All Candidates are expected to demonstrate excellence in the first ten foundational competencies as they relate to the field of CFP. Candidates are expected to demonstrate excellence in one or more of the remaining six elective functional competencies (consultation, supervision, teaching, research/evaluation, management-administration, or advocacy) in CFP.
- Consultation: Applies systemic epistemology to consultation with individuals, groups, organizations
- Supervision: Applies systemic concepts, modalities, and research to teach systemic thinking about CFP practice
- Teaching: Creates a comprehensive specialty curriculum and a course reflecting CFP research and methods that fits within a comprehensive specialty curriculum
- Research/Evaluation: Applies CFP research methods relevant to their inquiry, including measures and procedures for assessing complex family processes, as well as statistical analyses for examining sequential processes and participants with co-varying behavior.
- Management-administration: Applies specialty foundational competencies to management and administration.
- Advocacy: Leverages scientific knowledge in CFP to promote change at institutional, community, professional, or societal levels
Stage III: Oral examination
The final stage of the board certification process in CFP is the oral examination. For the oral exam, the Candidate meets with the Examination Committee, who direct questions to the Candidate about all aspects of their professional statement and work sample.
For more details about the process, see FORM A-1: STEPS IN THE CERTIFICATION PROCESS
All family therapy associations are good. Family Therapy is empirically validated and a wonderful way to create a clear case conceptualization. But, what makes ABPP different is that ABPP Couple and Family Psychology (CFP) is directly linked to Psychology. Therefore, research is integrated into clinical thinking in a different and advanced manner. For those who understand developmental, individual, and systemic issues, including diversity, as well as psychological assessment, and prefer to work with the family, the ABPP CFP is the preferred association within which to professionally grow. Our integration of research and embracing of diversity makes us standout from other professions who have not developed similar integrated criteria at an advanced level.
To a very large degree people’s presenting problems concern their relationships with others, especially with those to whom one is very close. Spouses, parents, children…..everyone has encountered moments and issues in these relationships. Couple and family psychology provides the expertise and competence to focus on the complexity of close relationships. By looking at the social system of the relationship, as well as the individuals themselves, a couple and family psychologist can be much more effective in helping people address and resolve complex relationship issues.
If you are unsure, you can get in touch with the ABCFP Credentials Reviewer to discuss your situation before you apply. This would allow you to get a read on whether your current credentials meet the training requirements. And, if your current credentials don’t meet the training requirements, you could discuss possible ideas about additional training that could get you to the point of meeting the ABCFP requirements. Please visit the ABCFP Officers page for contact information for the current Credentials Reviewer.
Exams are routinely held at the APA Convention and meetings sponsored by APA Division 43. Additionally, groups of examiners are geographically distributed throughout the country to minimize travel for candidates for examinations occurring at times other than those noted above. The board is happy to work with you to schedule an exam at a convenient time and location.
The Board aspires to conduct the oral exams in a collegial manner. You can expect that the examiners will pose questions about the specific features of the cases that you provided for your work samples. Typically, examinees are asked to put their cases in the context of supporting theoretical and scientific literature. Examinees should be prepared to present the systemic rationale and support for their intervention, consultation, and assessment techniques. A portion of the exam will include ethical vignettes for discussion. Examinees are encouraged to review the competency areas listed in the ABCFP Manual located in the Document Library to be familiar with which areas are likely to be addressed.
Devices such as the iPad, iPhone, and other digital tablets and smart phones usually come with a built-in camera application. Most of these cameras can be switched between taking still photographs and video. The iPad can easily be set up on its frame and positioned to capture the assessment or therapy session. The finished video can then be downloaded to a DVD and sent in with the candidate’s application materials. Please include the signed authorization for the taping and for sending the video in for review.
This is a question similar to: Why should I stop for a traffic light if no one is around? Because it’s the right thing to do. Without it, you’re just one of many practicing clinicians who treat couples, families, or parent-child dyads without demonstrated competence, and potential clients and the general public have no way to determine your ability, except for hearsay. Due to the many intractable difficulties presented by CFP clients, there is great potential for ineffectiveness or harm without a minimum of training and supervised experience.
The process and criteria are templates for maintaining consistency and high standards. In reality, there is flexibility for determine equivalency, and a mentor from the Academy will guide you through the process.
Everyone receives a mentor to help them through the process. You do not do it alone. Here is a short video describing our attitude toward helping people to go through the process. https://drive.google.com/file/d/14hkUfnZVFofwnNuIczkXykZ-OQiKRK02/view?usp=sharing
If you do not succeed the first time, you can reapply after additional professional training to try again.
The CFP specialty has incorporated the 2017 APA Multicultural Guidelines: An Ecological Approach to Context, Identity, and Intersectionality into its foundational competencies for Board certification. The guidelines represent a truly inclusive, systemic approach to understanding and intervening with couples, families, and larger social systems. The complete guidelines are available here.