How Do I Write for FTM?
Family Therapy magazine is AAMFT's bimonthly online magazine. Most readers are clinicians at the postgraduate (master's and doctoral) level who have an average of 10-15 years of professional experience. Current AAMFT membership is approximately 25,000. The magazine website is also visited by many readers around the world.
Before writing an article for FTM, please check with the editor to identify upcoming topics. Articles are organized and planned by an editorial team, and special guidance and instructions are given to each author so that articles are produced within the proper topic area and to ensure that topics do not overlap. Article topics are established based on how relevant and useful the information will be to systemic therapists. Please do not submit articles over 2,000 words. See our Guidelines for Authors for more information. Please note that FTM does not publish book reviews.
Advocating for your profession: Your contribution to FTM is an important part of supporting the MFT identity. MFTs are sometimes improperly conflated with counselors, social workers, or psychotherapists. While there are intersections among these mental health professions, MFTs have their own distinctive character. The more we emphasize the traits that are special to us, the more we solidify the message that we are MFTs!
The content of your article needs to reflect this identity. We ask that you include:
1) Specific content that indicates how MFTs are uniquely qualified to work with the population discussed in your writing;
2) Language that aligns with our expertise as systemic thinkers. For example, if writing about the importance of premarital counseling, underscore the relational knowledge that MFTs offer and how it differs from that of other mental health professionals; 3) Research to support MFTs as uniquely qualified providers.
Your submission is an opportunity to differentiate our profession. The systemic lens that anchors our profession is particularly beneficial to improving individual, couple and family functioning. As AAMFT strives to promote the profession of MFT and advocate before legislators, we need to send a strong message about our difference. We can demonstrate through our research and communications that MFTs are exceptionally qualified to address issues that their counterparts in other mental health professions approach with different tools.
Since we are an online publication, we highly encourage you to include links to videos and other interactive materials that help bolster your content.