Graduate and doctoral students have opportunities to work and learn in various clinical experiences and locations across Saint Louis University, SLUCare Physician Group, SSM Health, and the greater St. Louis area. Learn more about these facilities and the research and clinical sites our esteemed faculty use on a daily basis.
M.A. Program Clinical Sites
We have several sites that serve as internship placements for students towards their clinical hour requirements in the program. These sites provide quality supervision and clinical experiences for student interns. Students not only get relational hours at these sites but have opportunities to work with diverse and underserved populations in our communities. These partner sites include:
Ph.D. Program Clinical Sites
Doctoral students participate in several clinical experiences in the program through rotations, observations, and field assignments. Our primary care clinics and student health center clinic provide an outstanding medical family therapy training experience for students to treat a range of medical and behavioral issues for patients and families. Students even get experience shadowing providers who are affiliated with geriatrics, internal medicine, and psychiatry.
The new SLUCare medical building, known as the Center for Specialized Medicine, is a state-of-the-art outpatient hub for our primary care providers and specialists. Located on Grand and connected to the new SSM Health Saint Louis University Hospital, the Center for Specialized Medicine offers behavioral health services to patients and families through Family and Community Medicine. The clinic also shares space with internal medicine and other departments, offering a multi-disciplinary approach to patient care.
The SLUCare University tower offers comprehensive services from different departments at Saint Louis University. Family medicine, located on the 11th floor, offers behavioral health services to patients and families with bio-psychosocial needs. Behavioral health is integrated into ambulatory care services, helping to coordinate effective care with physicians, nurses, and medical assistants. The clinic is also connected to cardiology services on the same floor.
As one of the leading community health care providers in St. Louis, Family Care Health Centers is dedicated to providing comprehensive primary health care services to the residents of St. Louis. With two state-of-the-art facilities in the metropolitan area, family care also works to improve the overall health of the communities it serves by reducing barriers to health care. Medical Family Therapy students integrated their clinical work with the Family and Community Medicine residency at this site. As the primary outpatient for the residency program, residents often use MedF.T.s to help streamline referrals, coordinate complex patients needs, and review behavioral health areas in the lives of patients and families. Some of the past and current roles of Medical Family Therapy interns at this site include:
- Providing behavioral health services to patients and families from underserved backgrounds
- Receive warm handoffs from providers for establishing mental health services
- Facilitating behavioral health needs in precepting with doctors and residents
- Conducting focus groups with staff and/or providers about quality improvement areas
- Observe pediatric and adult visits with other behavioral health providers
- Observe and provide feedback to residents on family-centered skills in their outpatient appointments
SSM Health St. Mary's Hospital - St. Louis is centrally located in metro St. Louis, providing exceptional care to all patients, and is a Level II Time Critical Diagnosis STEMI Center. The hospital specializes in high-risk pregnancy care and fetal surgery. SSM St. Mary’s also operates as a teaching hospital, serving as the primary location for St. Louis University School of Medicine's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and its Family Practice Residency programs. Medical Family Therapy interns have served as behavioral health consultants on the Family Medicine Inpatient Service team. Interns have opportunities to do brief behavioral health screenings, medical genograms, crisis counseling, and precepting with residents around family and social issues of hospital patients.
Faculty Research Labs and Clinics
The Memory Clinic is a multidisciplinary clinic that offers family-centered services to patients and families suffering from dementia and older adult issues. We take a holistic and biopsychosocial approach to aging, where we see the health and well-being of older adults as being connected to many areas of their lives. Our care also extends to all areas and regions of St. Louis and surrounding areas, helping provide services to individuals and families who otherwise cannot afford care.
The Queer and Trans Wellness Clinic @ Saint Louis University provides financially accessible, culturally-attuned therapeutic care and advocacy for the LGBTQIA+ community and their families of Missouri.
Director: Dixie Meyer
Dr. Meyer’s research interests include Neurobiological applications in counseling, couples counseling, drama therapy, affect regulations and attachment. This lab includes both master’s and doctoral students to help study cutting edge research on the associations between areas of the brain and intimate relationships. Dr. Meyer runs several studies and projects from this lab, disseminating findings through peer-reviewed publications, presentations, and other community outreach activities.
Director: Dr. Dixie Meyer
About Us
The MOMs Clinic is designed to help families during life transitions.
Mission
The overarching goal is to improve the mental well-being of pregnant women and birthing
persons, parents, and their families across pregnancy, adverse pregnancy events, and
the first two years postpartum.
Learn More
Director: Michelle R. Dalton, Ph.D., L.P.C.
The Social Determinants and Minority Stress Lab is a multidisciplinary research lab
with a focus on intersections of identity that include race, gender identity, and
neurotype, social determinants of health, and reducing barriers to care for LGBTQIA+
individuals. The research team includes masters and doctoral students in medical family
therapy, medical students and residents, and collaborators in allied health fields
across SLU and outside universities.
Projects:
The Impact of Racial and Gender Minority Stressors Among BIPOC TGNC Adults in the
U.S.
Collaborators: Scott Secrest, Deb Coolhart, PhD, LMFT, CRE-2 Core at WashU
Toward a Typology of Nonbinary Gender Identity
Collaborators: Stacey Harris, PhD, Katie Heiden-Rootes, PhD, LMFT
Accreditation
The Medical Family Therapy Master's and Doctoral Programs at Saint Louis University are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), 112 S. Alfred Street, Alexandria, VA 22314, 703.838.9808.
In accordance with the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) Recognition Standard 12B and Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education (COAMFTE) policies, programs must publish their Student Achievement Criteria (SAC) - Ph.D. and Student Achievement Criteria (SAC) - M.A.