Certificate of Advanced Counseling Studies (CACS)

The CACS program is designed to augment the students’ basic knowledge and skills that were acquired in the HSC Program prior to Fall, 2005 and to fill in the necessary academic and experiential “gaps” in order to meet State licensure requirements. 

The following requirements must be satisfied for admissions into the CACS program:

1. All applicants must have successfully completed the HSC Program in either the on-campus or the online format or a degree program at another accredited university that is equivalent to the HSC degree.

2. All applicants will submit an updated Goals Statement to the SPC Admissions Department.

3. All Regent University applicants will submit an Academic Petition to the SPC Admissions Department, which has been signed by their current Advisor requesting consideration for admission into the program. Approval of this Petition does not mean that the applicant will automatically be admitted into the program. This is not necessary for applicants with equivalent degrees from another university.

4. All applicants will submit an additional letter of recommendation to the SPC Admissions Department from at least one current faculty member from whom they have taken a course in their Counseling Program (other than their Advisor).

5. All applicants will submit one of their APA formatted papers from the HSC program (or other equivalent university program) to the Admissions Committee.

6. Any applicant who received lower than a B+ in either HSC 524 (Intro. Counseling Skills & Techniques) or HSC 525 (Advanced Counseling Skills & Techniques) or took these classes online, must submit at least two videotapes from each class for review by the Admissions Committee. If the Committee feels that a skill deficiency exists, the applicant may be required to take COUN 521 (Counseling Skills & Techniques) as an additional perquisite along with COUN 523 (Practicum). If prior videotapes are unavailable or an applicant has a degree from another accredited university, the applicant will need to submit videotaped examples of their counseling skills at the direction and discretion of the Admissions Committee.

7. Any applicant who took HSC 552 (Group Dynamics) in the online format will be required to take COUN 552 (Group Counseling) as an additional prerequisite since they will need to have the experience of participating in an actual process group under supervision. Applicants from another accredited university program will need to submit a copy of their Group Counseling course syllabus to the Admissions Committee.

8. Since COUN 523 is currently only offered in the Spring semester, CACS students who have been accepted into the program may take approved courses in the previous Fall semester and/or concurrently with COUN 523 by submitting an Academic Petition making the request and with the understanding that they must successfully pass Practicum (as well as any other identified prerequisites) before they can continue beyond the Practicum semester. Additionally, if students elect this option, they understand, consent to, and accept the risk of investing their finances and time into other CACS courses without any guarantee that they will be permitted to continue taking courses after the Practicum class. COUN 561 (Ethics) cannot be taken prior to the successful completion of the Practicum.

Students in the CACS program will complete a required sequence of courses before going out on Internship, as in the MA in Community and School counseling programs on the Virginia Beach and D.C. campuses.

Important Notice for HSC students and graduates

The CACS Program is not available to those HSC students who began their Program after the Fall, 2005 semester.  Current HSC s who desire to pursue either the Community or School Counseling Programs, must submit a new application for these programs. It is further understood that none of their completed HSC courses will transfer into the Community or School Counseling Programs.