Marriage and Family Therapists

Skills

• Active Listening Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Social Perceptiveness Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
• Speaking Talking to others to convey information effectively.
• Complex Problem Solving Identifying complex problems and reviewing related information to develop and evaluate options and implement solutions.
• Judgment and Decision Making Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.

Abilities

• Oral Comprehension The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Deductive Reasoning The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.
• Inductive Reasoning The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Problem Sensitivity The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing that there is a problem.

Knowledge

• Therapy and Counseling Knowledge of principles, methods, and procedures for diagnosis, treatment, and rehabilitation of physical and mental dysfunctions, and for career counseling and guidance.
• Psychology Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Customer and Personal Service Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Sociology and Anthropology Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures, and their history and origins.
• English Language Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.

Social

Work involves helping, teaching, advising, assisting, or providing service to others. Social occupations are often associated with social, health care, personal service, teaching/education, or religious activities.

Investigative

Work involves studying and researching non-living objects, living organisms, disease or other forms of impairment, or human behavior. Investigative occupations are often associated with physical, life, medical, or social sciences, and can be found in the fields of humanities, mathematics/statistics, information technology, or health care service.