Kaiser Permanente School of Allied Health Sciences MFT Program: Comprehensive Profile and Student Fit Analysis

Kaiser Permanente School of Allied Health Sciences is one of 71 BBS-approved MFT programs in California. Compare all 71 in our directory. Program data collected April 2026 from publicly available sources including the Kaiser Permanente School of Allied Health Sciences (KPSAHS) Master of Science in Counseling program page, the KPSAHS program tuition and fees page, the KPSAHS general website, Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Training Program materials, and BBS records. The KPSAHS student handbook page was not publicly accessible in readable form at the time of data collection; some handbook-level details are therefore drawn from the program page and secondary directory sources and should be verified directly with the program. Prospective students should verify all details directly with the program before applying.

Student Outcomes

Cost and Regional Pay

Approximate placement of this program’s total cost (about $39,065, tuition and fees) against the directory’s lowest and highest published totals.

Estimated total tuition: approximately $39,065, consisting of $37,800 in tuition and $1,265 in fees, per the KPSAHS tuition and fees page. Eligible Kaiser Permanente employees may receive up to 75% tuition support; books and living expenses are additional.

Regional pay context: In the San Francisco-Oakland-Fremont area, marriage and family therapists earn a median of about $77,210 per year, with a typical range of roughly $66,940 to $125,140 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). These figures cover all marriage and family therapists in the area at all experience levels, not this program's graduates. For more, see our San Francisco Bay Area LMFT salary guide.

Schedule and Format Details

Hybrid Format: Students attend class on campus in Richmond (or at the San Mateo site) approximately one day per week, with the remainder of coursework delivered online. Class meetings are generally held in the afternoon and evening. Based on publicly available program directory information, first year cohorts typically meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays and second year cohorts on Mondays and Wednesdays. Prospective students should confirm the current schedule with KPSAHS.

Cohort Structure: The program is cohort based. Students begin together in the summer term and progress through the curriculum as a cohort over approximately 24 months.

Clinical Training and Fieldwork

Clinical Hours: Per the KPSAHS program page, students begin logging practicum hours during their first year and complete a minimum of 600 hours of direct supervised clinical practice to graduate. Most students complete more than the minimum by the time they finish the program. Specific breakdowns of direct face to face hours, relational hours, and supervision hours are not publicly listed on the program page.

Training Clinic: KPSAHS does not operate a freestanding in house training clinic in the traditional university counseling center model. Instead, the program embeds training within the Kaiser Permanente integrated care system.

Practicum Arrangement: Practicum placements are available at Kaiser Permanente medical centers, community clinics, and counseling centers affiliated with the program, per the KPSAHS program page. The program partners with the Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Training Program to support placement.

Post Master's Fellowship Opportunity: Graduates may be eligible for an Associate Post Master's Mental Health Fellowship within the Kaiser Permanente system to complete the 3,000 postgraduate associate hours required for LMFT licensure.

Personal Psychotherapy Requirement: A personal therapy requirement during the program is not listed on the KPSAHS program page. Prospective students should confirm directly with the program whether any personal therapy hours are expected.

Curriculum Structure

The Marriage and Family Therapy concentration is organized as a 90 quarter credit, cohort based sequence that prepares graduates for California LMFT licensure. Coursework addresses systemic theory, human development, psychopathology, counseling techniques, multicultural and diversity competence, law and ethics, research methods, assessment, and substance use and co occurring disorders. Clinical training is integrated with coursework beginning in the first year, with practicum and supervision occurring in Kaiser Permanente and affiliated community settings. Specific course titles and credit distributions are provided in the KPSAHS Master of Science in Counseling course descriptions page.

Culminating Requirements

The specific culminating academic requirement for the MS in Counseling program, such as a comprehensive examination, thesis, clinical portfolio, or capstone project, is not publicly specified on the KPSAHS program page. Prospective students should contact KPSAHS directly to confirm the current culminating requirement.

Application Process

Application Platform: PsychologyCAS.

Application Deadline: January 31 for the following summer start, per the KPSAHS program page. The most recently listed cycle closed January 31, 2026 for a July 2026 start.

Start Term: Summer (typically July).

GPA Requirement: Cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher, calculated on the last 60 semester or 90 quarter units of undergraduate coursework.

Prerequisites: No specific undergraduate prerequisite courses are required for admission.

Application Components: Bachelor's degree from an accredited institution, two letters of recommendation from individuals familiar with the applicant's academic or professional capabilities, a current resume or curriculum vitae, and a 3 to 5 page double spaced personal essay addressing the applicant's background, goals, experiences with diverse populations, and anticipated challenges in the program.

Interview: Required for applicants who advance past the initial application review. Interviews are typically scheduled from late February through early April.

What This Program Says About Itself

• Per the KPSAHS MS in Counseling page, the program prepares students for California LMFT licensure and is built around clinical training within the Kaiser Permanente integrated care system.
• The program page states that students begin logging supervised practicum hours during their first year, enabling early and sustained clinical experience throughout the program.
• Per the KPSAHS program page, practicum placements are available at Kaiser Permanente medical centers, community clinics, and counseling centers, giving students exposure to integrated behavioral health care.
• KPSAHS partners with the Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Training Program to offer an Associate Post Master's Mental Health Fellowship pathway for graduates to complete their 3,000 postgraduate licensure hours within the Kaiser system.
• Eligible Kaiser Permanente employees may receive up to 75 percent tuition support through the Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Scholars Academy, per Kaiser Permanente communications about the program.

This Program May Be a Good Fit For

Working professionals seeking schedule flexibility: The hybrid format requires only one day per week on campus, with the remainder of coursework delivered online, and classes meet in the afternoon and evening.

Career changers entering the field: No undergraduate prerequisite courses are required and the GRE is not required, which lowers the barrier for applicants coming from non psychology backgrounds.

Students prioritizing affordability: The estimated total program tuition of approximately $39,065 is below the California MFT program average, and eligible Kaiser Permanente employees may receive up to 75 percent tuition support through the Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Scholars Academy.

Students seeking an accelerated path: The full time program is structured to be completed in approximately 24 months.

Students who value small cohort learning: Cohorts are reported to run approximately 20 to 25 students, allowing for close engagement with peers and faculty.

Students seeking strong practicum infrastructure: Placements are arranged within the Kaiser Permanente integrated care system and affiliated community clinics and counseling centers.

Students interested in integrated behavioral health care: The program's embedding within the Kaiser Permanente system provides exposure to medical and behavioral health collaboration that is uncommon in most California MFT programs.

Current Kaiser Permanente employees pursuing a mental health career: The Kaiser Permanente Mental Health Scholars Academy tuition support and the post master's fellowship pathway within Kaiser make this program especially well aligned for KP employees planning a long term career in the system.

Related California MFT Programs

If you are weighing KPSAHS, you may also want to compare these nearby and similar programs in our directory:

• CSU East Bay: Nearby East Bay public
• The Wright Institute: Nearby Berkeley clinical program
• Saint Mary's College of California: East Bay private in Moraga
• San Francisco State University: Nearby San Francisco public
• Western Institute for Social Research: Nearby Berkeley, dual LMFT/LPCC

Or compare all 71 California MFT programs side by side.

How This California MFT Directory Is Built

This is the only California MFT program directory that accepts no paid placements of any kind. No program can pay to be listed, pay to rank higher, pay to be featured, or pay to remove information, and there are no affiliate links or sponsored entries. Every program on the California BBS approved-program list is included. At Sentio University, we believe in program transparency. Every prospective student should have as much objective information about MFT programs as possible to make the best decision for themselves.

How to Choose an MFT Program in California

Meeting the BBS requirements tells you that a curriculum clears a legal bar but says almost nothing about how skilled a clinician you can become. The students who get the most out of these years treat licensure as the floor, and then ask a far more ambitious question: which program will help me reach the very top of what I am capable of as a therapist? The program you choose changes everything. By the time they reach practicum, 2 in 3 students at COAMFTE-accredited MFT programs do not feel prepared to see clients. Training built around real, performable clinical skills, rather than theory alone, is what lets you walk into your first session with genuine confidence and keep growing from there. You get to decide how high to aim, and the right program will rise to meet you.

Look closely at four things. First, Deliberate Practice: the strongest programs let you rehearse specific skills with immediate feedback, the same way world-class musicians and athletes build mastery over time. Second, clinical hours: seek out programs that give you a high volume of direct client contact, because nothing accelerates your development faster than real, supervised repetition. Third, video recording in supervision rather than student self-report, so your supervisors can coach what actually happened in the room. Fourth, routine outcome monitoring, which teaches you to track, honestly and objectively, whether your clients are getting better. A program that does all four is training you to pursue excellence, not just clear a requirement.

Also consider programs that teach you safe and ethical AI-integrated clinical training. And do not let cost quietly lower your sights. There are more scholarships and financial aid options for California MFT students than most applicants ever realize.

The purpose of these years is not simply to pass a board and collect a license. It is to become the best therapist you can be, so struggling therapy clients will trust you with the hardest moments of their lives. Hold your education to that standard. Reach for the ceiling rather than settling for the floor, and choose the program that will help you get there.

Note from the Field:
"Aim higher than the license. A degree gets you in the door, but skill is what earns a client's trust. Pick the program that takes your training as seriously as you do."
Alexandre Vaz, PhD

Making Your Decision: What to Do Before You Apply

Salary data and job market projections are useful inputs to your program search, but they cannot tell you what a school is actually like to attend. Marketing materials, program websites, and admissions presentations are designed to present a program favorably. The most reliable way to cut through that and understand what a program actually delivers in the classroom is to ask to sit in on a live class session, whether in person or online, before you commit. Every program that is confident in the quality of its instruction should not only allow this but actively welcome it. If a program is reluctant to let prospective students observe a class, that reluctance is itself informative. The California MFT job market rewards clinical skill, and the training environment you choose over the next two to three years will shape the kind of therapist you become. Take the time to see it for yourself before you decide.

For a detailed comparison of every California MFT program, see our directory of all 71 BBS-approved MFT programs in California.

To learn more about Kaiser Permanente School of Allied Health Sciences's MFT program, visit their official website at kpsahs.edu. If you are comparing MFT programs in California, you can explore Sentio University's MFT program to see how our Deliberate Practice training model compares.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the KPSAHS MFT program accredited?

Kaiser Permanente School of Allied Health Sciences is accredited by WSCUC and the MS in Counseling is approved by the California BBS and BPPE. It is not COAMFTE-accredited.

How long is the program and how many credits?

It is about 24 months and 90 quarter credits, with the Marriage and Family Therapy concentration meeting California LMFT educational requirements.

What is the format and where is it taught?

Hybrid: students attend class on the Richmond campus about one day per week, with the remainder online. A second program site has opened in San Mateo.

Do I have to work for Kaiser Permanente to enroll?

No. The program is open to all qualified applicants, though eligible Kaiser Permanente employees may receive up to 75% tuition support.

What outcomes does KPSAHS publish?

As a BPPE-approved school it files a School Performance Fact Sheet, but it does not publish graduation, placement, licensure, or exam-pass rates on its public program pages, so those read Not published here.

What does the program cost?

Tuition and fees total about $39,065 ($37,800 in tuition plus $1,265 in fees) per the KPSAHS tuition and fees page; books and living expenses are additional.

Disclaimer: This profile was prepared by Sentio University for informational purposes only. Sentio University is an MFT program in California and a peer institution to the program profiled above. All information was drawn from publicly available sources and the program's own published materials as of April 2026. Sentio University makes no guarantee regarding the accuracy or completeness of this information. Prospective students should contact the program directly to verify all details, including admissions requirements, tuition, accreditation status, and clinical training structure. This profile does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation. For a full list of California MFT programs, visit our California MFT Program Directory.

About the Authors

Tony Rousmaniere, PsyD is the President of Sentio University and Executive Director of the Sentio Counseling Center. He is Past President of the psychotherapy division of the American Psychological Association and the author of over 20 books on deliberate practice and psychotherapy training, including The Essentials of Deliberate Practice book series (APA Books). He is a licensed psychologist in California and Washington. Learn more

Alexandre Vaz, PhD is the Chief Academic Officer of Sentio University and cofounder of the Deliberate Practice Institute. He is co-editor of The Essentials of Deliberate Practice book series (APA Books) and the author of over a dozen books on deliberate practice and psychotherapy training. Dr. Vaz is the founder and host of Psychotherapy Expert Talks. He is a licensed clinical psychologist in Portugal. Learn more

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