For Akwete Cleveland, the decision to go into marriage and family therapy was both professional and personal. Professionally, she knew she wanted to help people change their lives for the better, and she believed therapy was the best way for her to do that. Personally, she had experienced marriage, divorce, and single motherhood at a young age, and she wanted to better understand the factors at work in her own life.

Perhaps that’s why she was drawn to the marriage and family therapy program at Syracuse, which is known for the “self-of-the-therapist” approach to training therapists by heightening their awareness of self in relation to others. “My master’s program was theory-oriented, and the Syracuse program, which has a unique aspect to it, is its complement. That appealed to me,” she says.

Now a doctoral student in marriage and family therapy, she says the program has expanded and enhanced her approach to therapy. “When I first came here, I used a strategic therapy approach, which focuses on helping clients and their families find a strategy that works best for them in order to make positive change in their lives,” she says. “That’s still my approach, but now I’ve added a culturally-sensitive element. It’s important to recognize different cultures, and the ways in which cultural influences affect family functioning.”

The program has also instilled in Akwete a strong sense of social justice. “The concept of social justice is so ingrained in our education,” she says. “At first, I resisted it. I thought of it as forcing my beliefs on others. Now I understand that it’s about helping clients understand themselves better by encouraging them to explore their role in society, and in the world.”

After completing the doctoral program, Akwete would like to teach marriage and family students and eventually establish a training institute to train therapists. “What’s wonderful about marriage and family therapy are the possibilities,” she says. “Therapists do many different things, but all of them can make positive change, one client at a time.”