Sentio University

Sentio University is a nonprofit graduate school dedicated to transforming how therapists are trained. Based in Los Angeles, California, Sentio offers a Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy that combines online learning, in person residencies, supervised clinical training, and intensive experiential skill development.

Our mission is to develop highly effective marriage and family therapists through innovative, skill focused, experiential Deliberate Practice training. We believe communities need therapists who are not only compassionate and knowledgeable, but also deeply practiced in the real skills of helping people heal, grow, reconnect, and build better lives.

Learn more at www.sentio.org.

Why Sentio Exists

There is an urgent need for well trained mental health professionals. Families and communities are facing trauma, grief, anxiety, depression, addiction, relational distress, loneliness, and the long term effects of social and economic stress. At the same time, many people struggle to find affordable therapy.

Sentio University was created to address two related needs: better therapist training and greater access to mental health care.

Traditional graduate education often relies heavily on lectures, readings, and papers. These are important, but therapy is also a performance based profession. Therapists need to practice the real skills of clinical work: listening deeply, responding to pain, building trust, working with conflict, repairing ruptures, addressing risk, and staying present under pressure.

At Sentio, students do not simply learn about therapy. They practice therapy. They rehearse clinical skills, receive feedback, review their work, track client outcomes, and learn how to keep improving throughout their careers.

A Different Kind of MFT Program

Sentio’s Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy is a 20 month online and hybrid graduate program designed for students seeking licensure as marriage and family therapists in California.

Learn more about the program at Master of Arts in Marriage and Family Therapy.

The program combines online coursework with in person residencies in Los Angeles. These residencies help students build community, practice clinical skills, receive live feedback, and develop professional confidence.

Sentio’s training model is built around small cohorts, close faculty support, applied learning, and repeated practice. Students study theory, ethics, diagnosis, law, multicultural practice, human development, family systems, research, and clinical treatment. At the same time, they are asked to translate knowledge into action through structured practice and feedback.

Deliberate Practice

One of the defining features of Sentio University is Deliberate Practice. Deliberate Practice is a research informed approach to skill development that uses focused rehearsal, feedback, reflection, and measurable improvement.

Learn more at What Is Deliberate Practice? and Deliberate Practice in MFT Training.

In Sentio courses, students repeatedly practice specific therapy skills. They learn how to respond to difficult clinical moments, strengthen therapeutic alliance, work with emotion, address avoidance, and stay engaged when clients are distressed, angry, hopeless, or stuck.

This approach helps students move beyond conceptual understanding toward clinical competence. It also teaches them a lifelong method for continued professional growth.

Sentio faculty and leaders have contributed extensively to the growing field of Deliberate Practice in psychotherapy training and supervision. Learn more at Books and Research on Deliberate Practice.

Guaranteed Practicum and Affordable Therapy

A central part of Sentio’s model is the Sentio Counseling Center, a nonprofit telehealth training clinic that provides affordable therapy to diverse and lower income clients.

Students in good standing are guaranteed a practicum placement at the Sentio Counseling Center. This helps remove one of the most stressful barriers many graduate therapy students face: finding a quality practicum site.

Learn more at Guaranteed Practicum at the Sentio Counseling Center.

Through this model, Sentio trains future therapists while expanding access to mental health care. Students receive supervision and feedback while serving real clients. Clients receive affordable therapy. Faculty and supervisors can connect classroom learning, clinical practice, outcome data, and professional development in one integrated system.

Free Resources and Field Leadership

Sentio University is committed to improving therapist training beyond our own degree program. Through free public resources, Sentio shares tools for therapists, supervisors, educators, and students who want to strengthen clinical skill development.

Explore these resources at Free Therapist Training Resources.

Sentio’s work reflects a larger vision for psychotherapy education: training should be experiential, accountable, skill based, and connected to client outcomes. We are working to help the field move beyond simply teaching students what therapy is and toward helping them become more effective therapists.

Why Donations Matter

Donations to Sentio University support a nonprofit model of therapist education and public service. Your gift can help fund student scholarships, clinical training, supervision, free public resources, research, technology, and the growth of the Sentio Counseling Center.

Supporting Sentio helps prepare therapists who will serve individuals, couples, families, children, and communities for years to come. A gift to Sentio can have a multiplying effect: one well trained therapist may help hundreds or thousands of clients over the course of a career.

Your support helps Sentio University:

Provide scholarships for future therapists

Train students through intensive Deliberate Practice

Expand affordable therapy for diverse and lower income clients

Strengthen the Sentio Counseling Center

Develop free training resources for the mental health field

Advance innovation in psychotherapy education

Build a more effective and accountable mental health workforce

Our Vision

Sentio University envisions a future where therapist training is more experiential, more compassionate, more rigorous, and more directly connected to the needs of clients and communities.

We believe better therapist training can lead to better therapy. Better therapy can lead to stronger families, healthier relationships, reduced suffering, and more resilient communities.

That is why Sentio University exists.

Support Sentio University and help us train the next generation of highly effective marriage and family therapists.

Learn more at www.sentio.org.