The Converse MMFT: Helping the Next Generation of Therapists Find Purpose & Career Connection

Written by Chris Worthy

The Path to a Rewarding Future

Woody McCutcheon ’26 said a combination of personal tragedies and professional setbacks caused him to consider both who he was and who he wanted to be. 

“I had the feeling that I was meant to do more,” he said. “I’m 35 years old, and I’ve suffered some great losses already.” 

McCutcheon’s path to a meaningful, rewarding future runs through Converse University’s Master of Marriage and Family Therapy (MMFT) program, which equips students to become marriage and family therapists who can practice in a wide variety of settings. 

“The reward is unparalleled,” he said. “I come from the business world. I just didn’t care anymore about quarterly goals and profits and revenue. I wanted to sit down with people and hear about their stories.” 

Helping Others After Loss 

Amaia Parkins ’24, ’26 knows about loss as well. After her brother died by suicide in 2016, she came to Converse as a student athlete and intended to pursue a career in social work. Parkins earned her undergraduate degree in Child and Family Studies and Philosophy. A shift to the MMFT program proved to be a perfect fit.

“The mentorship and guidance and guidance from Dr. Scott-Poe really helped me grow as an individual.”

Amaia Parkins ’24, ’26

“What has benefited me the most is the mentorship and guidance, specifically Dr. Deneisha Scott-Poe,” Parkins said. “I came into the program young – one of the youngest people in the cohort, because I graduated a year early. The mentorship and guidance and guidance from Dr. Scott-Poe really helped me grow as an individual. That mentorship helped me realize what I want and then narrow down my passion to something specific.” 

Parkins turned that passion into action by bringing the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s Out of the Darkness Walk to Converse, and she has already engaged undergraduate students to ensure the walk continues. After graduation, Parkins hopes to work with adolescents, specifically minorities and at-risk youth, with an emphasis on reaching athletes. 

A Foundation of Support – With a Plan for Employment 

Cassie Cacace, Assistant Professor of Marriage and Family Therapy and Community Engagement Director for the MMFT program, is part of a caring team that is both teaching the next generation of therapists like McCutcheon and Parkins, and helping them find their path to a fulfilling career. 

“The MMFT program is a two year master’s degree accredited by the COAMFTE (Commission on Accreditation for Marriage and Family Therapy Education) standard,” Cacace said. “Our students do 15 months of clinical practice. They do the bulk of their clinical work at the EMERGE Family Therapy Center. We have a clinic and a campus in Spartanburg and a clinic and a campus in Greenville.” 

EMERGE partners with Converse University to provide MMFT students with practical experience in the field.

EMERGE partners with Converse University to provide MMFT students with practical experience in the field. Students must graduate with 500 clinical hours to fulfill degree requirements, half of which must be relational, and the community benefits from therapy offered on an affordable sliding scale basis. 

“In many other programs, students would have to go out and find an opportunity for clinical training,” Cacace said. “This is built in, and you can see couples, families, and individuals.” 

Students can do their entire clinical training with EMERGE or combine it with other opportunities to add to the diversity of their experience. That includes programs like equine-assisted therapy groups. “While students may not plan to work in that particular setting, it offers pathways to considering other forms of counseling or creative opportunities they may not initially consider,” Cacase explained.

The MMFT program also partners with a variety of organizations to offer a rich diversity of externships, including Prisma Health System, a local Early Head Start program, a BIPOC transgender and non-binary community group, and groups for people who are newly housed. The result is students who are well prepared for their profession – and employers are taking notice. 

“Students are making an investment when they sign up for graduate school,” Cacace said. “When we say we have a really great employment rate after graduation, I think that helps people realize, ‘This is a viable investment. I’m going to spend two years and come out on the other side, have a job doing what I’ve studied to do and that I’m passionate about.’”

Creating a New Kind of Generational Wealth 

It is not unusual for Converse MMFT students to have a job secured prior to graduation – McCutcheon is among them. For some, that starts with the MMFT career fair. Cacace casts a wide net for participating employers. They know the program’s reputation and the quality of care provided by Converse graduates.

“Dr. [M. Evan] Thomas has built this program from the ground up and has done a really great job of establishing our MMFT graduates as well rounded, culturally competent, good therapists.”

Cassie Cacace

“Dr. [M. Evan] Thomas has built this program from the ground up and has done a really great job of establishing our MMFT graduates as well rounded, culturally competent, good therapists,” Cacace said. “We’ve created a large community. We also connect current students with alumni, and have social events each semester so that they can network with previous students. That’s often where students will find their supervisors for licensure or find career opportunities.

“It creates a kind of generational wealth. Someone who graduated 10 years ago says, ‘I trust this program because I graduated from this program. Let me hire two more people from Converse.’ It creates this wonderful ripple effect. I inherited a situation where people will say, ‘Oh, you teach there? That’s a great program.’”