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:
- Casa de Salud
- B.J.C. Hospice
- Care and Counseling
- Family Forward
- Lutheran Child and Family Services
- Jewish Children and Family Services
- Youth in Need
- Sandhill Counseling
- Creve Coeur Counseling
- Hoyleton Youth and Family Services
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.
The Saint Louis University Health Resource Center’s mission is to improve the health and wellbeing of underserved members of the St. Louis community through the provision of quality health care, counseling, education, support, and advocacy. The clinic is facilitated by students in different departments at Saint Louis University, including medicine, nursing, medical family therapy, psychology, physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech language, and nutrition. Medical Family therapy doctoral students’ primary clinic is the Saturday morning clinic from 8:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m. Services include:
- Physical exams
- Tuberculosis (TB) test
- Vision screenings (Saturdays only)
- Pregnancy and STD screening
- HIV tests (results within 20 minutes)
- Lab tests (includes screening for diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol and lead)
- Seasonal flu vaccine
- Pharmacy counseling (includes medical reconciliation, smoking cessation, medication cost assistance, Saturdays only)
- Social services (Saturdays only)
- Insurance counseling (Saturdays only)
- Dental screenings (first and third Saturdays of the month)
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: Megan Ferber, Ph.D.
Research Projects:
- Bariatric Surgery Outcomes in a Nationally Distributed Electronic Health Records Data
set
Collaborators: AHEAD Institute
This project will explore potential important moderators, including sex, racial identity, and mental health status of long-term bariatric surgery outcomes in a large, nationally distributed
HER data set. - Assessing Associations Between Successful Weight Loss and Maternal Mental Health Outcomes
in a Multi-State Healthcare System
Collaborators: Kara Christopher, Ph.D.
This project is a pilot study to examine whether the weight loss process interacts with the incidence of maternal prenatal and postpartum mental health diagnoses in a large, multi-state healthcare system. - Hitting Home: How COVID-19 and the Resultant Financial and Job Insecurities Affect
Couple and Family Functioning
Collaborators: Dixie Meyer, Ph.D.
This project will explore the impact of COVID-19 induced stress on co-habitating couples who have a child living within the home. This lab is particularly interested in the impact of COVID-19 stress on health behaviors, particularly emotional eating, physical activity, and alcohol consumption. - Clinical Projects: Healthy Living Program
Collaborators: F. Gerald Wade, M.D., and Maria Romo-Palafox, Ph.D., R.D.
The Healthy Living Program aims to be an accessible, multi-disciplinary lifestyle intervention to help patients reach their health goals as they relate to weight, nutrition, physical activity, and psychosocial functioning.
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.