Master of Arts in Counseling (MA)

From admission through exit students will demonstrate the attitudes, characteristics, and behaviors defined by the program as characteristic of exemplar counseling professionals.

Students will demonstrate the capacity to practice counseling from a strong foundational understanding of ethical and legal issues, intentionally integrating counseling ethical practices into day-to-day professional activities.

In keeping with the ACA multicultural competencies, students will develop self-awareness, knowledge, and skills to prepare them to be contemporary, relevant, and culturally informed practitioners in clinical, marriage and family, and school counseling settings.

Students will demonstrate knowledge of lifespan development and the capacity to integrate knowledge of developmental theory into practice.

Students will demonstrate competence in understanding the world of work and the relationship between mental health and life roles such as work, school, and home.

Students will gain an understanding of the theories and research related to helping relationships, and will develop the skills to apply their knowledge in professional, therapeutic relationships.

Students will demonstrate knowledge of group process dynamics, group counseling, and group work, including group theories, stages of group, leadership styles, and therapeutic factors.

Students will demonstrate a broad understanding of validity and reliability of assessments, the selection and use of assessment tools, client assessment and diagnosis, trauma assessment, and the assessment of self-inflicted harm and danger to others.

Counseling students will demonstrate the capacity to select, analyze, and apply research to inform practice, including evidence-based practices and theory based interventions appropriate to their designated setting and personal theoretical orientation.

Clinical Mental Health Counseling students will demonstrate an understanding of foundational knowledge (such as psychological testing), contextual factors (such as trauma, co-occurring disorders, poverty, and culture), and the demonstration of competence in clinical mental health field work.

Marriage, Couple and Family counseling students will demonstrate an understanding of foundational knowledge (such as family systems theory and assessment), contextual factors (such as trauma, intergenerational influences, and culture), and the demonstration of competence in the practice of marriage, couple, and family counseling.

School counseling students will demonstrate an understanding of foundational knowledge (such as models of school program development and school assessment), contextual dimensions (such as the roles of school counselors, signs of substance abuse, and effective school leadership), and the demonstration of competence in the practice of school counseling.