Wheaton College Alumni Magazine Winter 2014 | Page 9

Two new degrees
replace the M.A. in
Clinical Psychology
In the past, graduates who earned
master’s degrees in clinical psychology
could pursue licensure as marriage and
family therapists (LMFT). In recent
years, however, various state licensing
boards instituted rule changes that have
made this difficult. Prospective students
have also demonstrated increasing
interest in specialized training in
marriage and family therapy from a
Christian perspective. As a result, the
M.A. in Clinical Psychology degree
was replaced by two master’s degree
programs that meet separate licensure
standards: Clinical Mental Health
Counseling, and Marriage and Family
Therapy.

Entering its second year under director
Dr. David Van Dyke ’91, the M.A. in
Marriage and Family Therapy program
added two new assistant professors of
psychology, Drs. Hana Yoo and Jacob
Johnson. Launched last September with
a group of 18 graduate students, the
MFT program provides rigorous
academic experience and clinical training
in collaboration with local agencies
such as Outreach Community Center,
Lawndale Christian Health Center, and
TriCity Family Services.
“What is unique for our MFT
students is the relational focus, service
to the underserved, and the Christian
distinctiveness of the program,” says
Dr. Van Dyke. “There is a significant
need within society, the church, and
the mission field for God-honoring

relationships. Divorce rates, broken
relationships, and emotional struggles are
evident in the news and within the pews
of churches.”
Dr. Van Dyke’s immediate goal for the
MFT program is to have it accredited
by the Commission on Accreditation for
Marriage and Family Therapy Education.
Thus far, the MFT’s initial cohort
has shown a clear sense of purpose and
passion for their future ministries. “Many
of our students are missionaries and will
be working with both missionaries and
national families,” says Dr. Van Dyke.
“We have international students who
will return to their countries of origin
to work with individuals, marriages, and
families. We have a few that are interested
in continuing on to get their Ph.D.s to
research and teach.”

The 2013 Missionary Book Mailing
Thanks from alumni missionaries . . .
Austria: “Our family is the richer for all the
wonderful books you have sent over our 22 years
in Austria! Thank you so very much for increasing
our effectiveness as missionaries.”

This Christmas, 400 alumni families serving
as missionaries in 70 countries will receive
gifts from Wheaton’s annual Missionary
Book Mailing, thanks to publishers who
donate books and to individuals on Wheaton’s
Board of Trustees who give the funds for

Singapore: “Thank you for the gifts I have been

shipping costs. This year’s package includes

receiving every year for many years. I have

five books: Follow Me: A Call to Die, a

read them and blessed others by passing them

Call to Live by David Platt (Tyndale House

on to some of my friends so that they in turn can

Publishers); Bible Stories that End with

be blessed to be a blessing!”

a Hug! by Stephen Elkins and Simon Taylor-

Indonesia: “Many thanks to the trustees and
the publishers, and to all the authors and those
who worked to prepare and send the books.”

Kelty (Tyndale House); Raised with Christ:
How the Resurrection Changes Everything
by Adrian Warnock (Crossway Books);
The Emancipation of Robert Sadler by Robert

Zimbabwe: “You don’t know how much I always

Sadler, with Marie Chapian (Bethany House);

look forward to these gifts! I’m in a very remote

A Reader’s Guide to Caspian: A Journey

area, which is getting more and more difficult

into C. S. Lewis’s Narnia by Leland Ryken

as I age (now 78), and I always appreciate what

and Marjorie Lamp Mead ’74, M.A. ’06

is sent.”

(InterVarsity Press).

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