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This program is designed to help students understand and integrate foundational counseling theories with their faith, while gaining practical counseling experience. In doing so, a student will possess the qualifications to pursue licensure along with a career path that may involve a calling towards the mental health community, private practice, the local church or international relief work.
Our program prepares counselors with the knowledge, skills and insight needed to practice counseling in local churches, non-profit organizations or clinical settings. As a seminary we present an integrative approach, which seeks to understand and explain the emotional, relational, behavioral, and spiritual problems that people face in life from a Christian worldview. In doing so, we believe our graduates will be fully equipped and well prepared to enter into a variety of counseling settings. We achieve this integrative method through several approaches:
Professionalism
Because we value real world experience, our counseling program places significant emphasis on practical internship training. To achieve this goal, a student will complete five semesters of internship working as a clinician before graduation. Through these hands-on internships, we enhance students’ learning experiences while giving them breadth of experience unmatched in other M.A. programs in the Northwest. Further, the M.A. in Counseling program meets the state educational requirements for licensure by the Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists.
Authenticity
In order for our graduates to be effective therapists they must understand both sides of the counseling relationship. We require all of our students to complete 20 hours of personal counseling along with 10 hours of group therapy participation. By doing so, students walk away with a deeper awareness of themselves and personal familiarity with the counseling process.
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