The Doctorate in Marriage and Family Therapy (D.M.F.T.) is a practitioner oriented terminal degree. The primary emphasis of the D.M.F.T. degree program is different from the Ph.D. program in that it seeks specifically to produce professionals whose chief contributions will be in the clinical rather than academic sphere. Still, there is some overlap in the core curriculum between the two programs.

The D.M.F.T. is a 78 credit-hour program designed for individuals holding master's degrees that prepares graduates for careers as private practitioners, agency administrators, clinical supervisors, and senior clinicians. The D.M.F.T. program is designed to expand and enhance a student's existing clinical skills in order to become top level practitioners, while at the same time demonstrating the place of program/clinical research in this pursuit. To this end, the D.M.F.T. degree requires students to complete an Applied Clinical Project (APC) rather than a dissertation.

The Department of Family Therapy has full and part time faculty and supervisors that represent diversity in race, cultural, gender, age, sexual orientation, and religion. The student body reflects the rich cultural diversity of the University and South Florida as far as race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, and age.