- Why
is a 48-hour Master's degree in counseling a prerequisite?
- Are there any
residency requirements?
- Are Teaching
Assistantships available?
- What career
options are available to graduates from your program?
- What does the
future look like for graduates entering the field?
- What is the
length and teaching format of the program?
- What is the
path for licensure for graduates from your program
and in what areas are they eligible to be licensed
or otherwise professionally credentialed?
- What professional
organizations or associations provide information
about the field your program prepares graduates to
enter? Where can I find more information?
- What sort of
students typically enroll in your program? What kind
of training and preparation do they usually have?
- What types
of clinical or practica training experiences do students
gain in your program?
1. Why is
a 48-hour Master's degree in counseling a prerequisite?
Accreditation of Doctoral programs
in Counselor Education and Supervision is conferred by
the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related
Educational Programs (CACREP). The stringent accreditation
criteria used by CACREP are the result of extensive input
from educators, practitioners, and the public-at-large.
Program accreditation by CACREP provides a credential
to the public-at-large which attests that a counseling
program has accepted and is fulfilling its commitment
to educational quality.
Graduation from a CACREP accredited
program is becoming an increasingly important element
to the person who has earned the PhD in Counselor Education
and Supervision. Because program accreditation by CACREP
is arguably the most identifiable symbol of a counseling
program's quality and rigor, we have developed the PhD-CES
program to comply with all the requirements and components
laid out in the 2001 CACREP Standards, in order to present
the PhD-CES program for accreditation as soon as CACREP
guidelines allow. Also, achieving CACREP accreditation
will likely be a safeguard for graduates against any
possible perception that an online program is less demanding
than a traditional, face-to-face program.
As indicated on the CACREP web pages
(2001
Standards),
there are specific educational foundations at the Master's
level that accreditation-seeking Doctoral programs must
require of its matriculating students. Having a 48-hour
Master's degree in counseling provides an applicant with
the best opportunity to present Master's level training
that meets the educational foundations expected by CACREP.
Per CACREP, a core curriculum of courses
provides the minimum knowledge and skills considered
necessary to anyone serving in the field of counseling:
- Human Growth and Development
- Group Work
- Social and Cultural Foundations
(or Multicultural Counseling)
- Appraisal (or Assessment)
- Research and Program Evaluation
- Professional Orientation and Identity
- Career and Lifestyle Development
- Helping Relationships
Additionally, CACREP accredited Master's
programs require supervised clinical experiences that
include practica and internships. Specifically, students
must have had supervised practicum experiences (or the
equivalent) that total a minimum of 100 clock hours (40
hours of which must have been direct client contact),
and a supervised internship experience (or the equivalent)
of 600 clock hours (240 hours of which must have been
direct client contact). Supervised experiences include
both individual and group supervision.
If your Master's degree is
from a CACREP accredited program, you will normally
have met all the curricular and clinical experience
requirements to apply to the PhD-CES program.
If you Master's degree did not provide
education and clinical experiences that meet the above
criteria, you will need to do what we call remediation
. You can still apply to and be accepted into the PhD-CES
program conditionally, but you will need to complete
all the missing elements in your remediation plan by
no later than the end of the first year of study in the
PhD-CES program. To meet the requirements before you
begin the PhD-CES program, you can take missing courses
from an accredited university (the counseling program
does not have to be CACREP accredited but the university
must be nationally accredited). As an example, if you
have taken coursework in 7 of the 8 courses listed above
but lack curricular experience in Career and Lifestyle
Development, you can take a 3-semester hour course from
an accredited university before you apply for or begin
the PhD-CES program and present your transcript showing
successful completion of the course for your file.
As you consider applying to the PhD-CES
program, we strongly recommend that you compare you Master's
degree curricular and clinical experiences with the 2001
CACREP Standards at www.cacrep.org/2001Standards.
Section II.K. details the core curricular experience
descriptions, and Section III.G. and H. gives the clinical
experience descriptions, so that you can determine any
deficiencies you might need to remediate. These requirements
are rigorous, but the ultimate result will be becoming
a part of a program of recognized quality.
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2.
Are there any residency requirements?
The PhD-CES program includes a stimulating
and instructional residency requirement. PhD-CES students
will be required to attend and successfully complete
three 10-day residencies during the course of the program.
What is a residency? It is a block
of time set aside for all students in a cohort to come
to Regent's Virginia Beach, VA, campus for a period
of about 10 to 14 days, to meet as a group and engage
in coursework, team building activities, workshops and
social/cultural events. Residencies are typically scheduled
during the summer July prior to the Fall semester of
the first three years of the program.
The online format of the PhD-CES program
challenges students and faculty alike to find alternative
ways to create the personal interaction and connectivity
that often develops in the traditional face-to-face classroom
course. Residency offers an incredible opportunity for
cohort members to meet and build relationships with one
another, faculty and staff that may last an eternity.
In addition, residencies provide wonderful networking
and mentoring opportunities for students with faculty
and peers. These opportunities facilitate in-person discussions
with faculty concerning the dissertation and allow time
for students to identify faculty research interests to
assist students in selecting a faculty Dissertation Chair.
During residency students begin coursework
and meet regularly during the residency with the instructor
in a face-to-face classroom setting, then return home
to complete the coursework in the online environment.
Some students consider bringing their
families with them during the residency, but this is
generally discouraged. Students' daily schedules during
the residency are occupied with many activities that
they are required to attend. The coursework is intensive
and require a considerable amount of study and preparation
time, and students typically do not find the residency
period conducive to being able to spend time with their
families.
Students should consider the following
residency costs: 1) tuition for the course, 2) transportation,
3) textbooks purchased prior to residency, and 3) room
and board. The School of Psychology and Counseling usually
provides lunch and two breaks each day when courses are
in session. Students must make their own travel, lodging
and other meal arrangements, but the School assists with
information on these, and residency links will be posted
on the program's website as the residencies nears, to
assist students with making the necessary arrangements.
The PhD-CES Doctoral program is committed
to the historical foundations of the doctoral degree
in which a community of scholars is created among faculty-mentors
and student-scholars. Regent University mirrors this
historical tradition by the utilization of student cohorts,
intensive on-campus residencies, and a variety of interactive
discussion modes that extend beyond topical course discourse.
In view of this goal, the waving of residency requirements
will not be considered.
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3.
Teaching Assistantships
In previous years, our scholarship
program included a limited number of Teaching Assistantships,
which were paired with a tuition waiver. Beginning with the
Fall 2007 cohort, TA positions will be taken out of the
scholarship program and restructured as adjunct teaching
opportunities. Applicants will be hired by our
Master’s program faculty to assist, co-teach, and
teach in our Master’s programs. Actual
TA duties will vary dependent upon the experience and
qualifications of the applicant. Anyone interested
in more information should contact Dr. Rosemary Thompson,
Program Director for MA Counseling Programs, at roseth1@regent.edu.
The restructuring of Teaching
Assistantships will not change the level of scholarship
funding available to PhD students. It will allow us to distribute
scholarship awards to more of our students in the form
of merit awards, including some full-tuition scholarships. These
awards will be connected to prior and future scholarship,
and will not be tied to prior experience in and ability
to teac
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4. What
career options are available to graduates from your
program?
Graduates with the PhD in Counselor
Education and Supervision are trained counseling professionals
who can provide a multiplicity of professional services
such as:
- Teaching in college and university
settings, as experts in human relations skills and
affective education in K-12 settings and community
mental health settings
- Supervising beginning through advanced
counselors
- Counseling interventions with individuals,
families, children and groups, treating a wide variety
of psychological problems typically presented in outpatient
counseling
- Crisis intervention responses
- Expert witness testimony within
scope of clinical specialty, education and training
- Professional consultation with individuals,
groups, businesses and organizations
- Program development, both in educational
and community mental health settings
- Program evaluation of public, private
and governmental programs
- Development and direction of school
counseling programs for schools and/or school districts
- Administration and management of
mental health agencies and organizations
- Research and publication in the
field of counseling
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5.
What does the future look like for graduates entering
the field?
The career openings and opportunities
for graduates of the program are many and varied. A key
factor in the career opportunities for graduates who
want to teach at the college or university level is the
impact of current widespread retirements of counselor
educators at the postsecondary level. In 1958, Congress
enacted the National Defense Education Act (NDEA) as
a reaction to the launching of the Sputnik satellite
by the Soviet Union, and the country's subsequent fears
that the U.S. was falling behind in scientific achievements.
The NDEA provided funding for higher education of guidance
personnel, resulting in a significant increase in the
numbers of counselor educators who then educated school
counselors who then counseled students toward postsecondary
study of math and science. For the last several years,
scores of university counselor educators trained under
the NDEA funding have been retiring from university teaching
careers, and the market for postsecondary counselor educators
is excellent. The Chronicle of Higher Education (http://chronicle.com/jobs/)
routinely posts numerous counselor educator positions
available across North America and foreign countries.
More and more people - adults, children,
and families - are seeking professional help with the psychological
problems that are common in the fast-paced and stressful
world of today. Seeking counseling for life problems
has achieved an unprecedented acceptance in our society;
to ask for help and counsel from a professional is no
longer perceived as the sign of weak character or lack
of fortitude that it once used to be. In fact, the growing
value of the skills of the professional counselor seem
to be embodied by a shift in language from "going
into therapy" to "getting some counseling." Consequently,
the need for well-trained and competent counseling professionals
persists. It is a fact that in some areas of the country,
an overabundance of mental health professionals exists.
However, professional counselors are trained to help
people with problems that are so often seen in outpatient
settings, such as marital and relationship issues, grief
and depression, substance abuse, anxiety, and developmental/adjustment
issues such as the impact of career changes, stage-of-life
issues, and loss; skillful counseling practitioners are
needed as more and more people are eager to seek improved
mental health for their life issues. Graduates of the
PhD program in Counselor Education and Supervision will
have many hours of advanced skills training to further
develop counseling skills acquired during master's level
training, and which graduates may choose to utilize in
a private practice after state licensure is secured in
states requiring such.
Additionally, as the number of Master's
level counseling graduates grows, the need for counseling
professionals who are trained and educated to supervise
those emerging counselors also grows. Graduates of the
Regent PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision program
are trained to perform these duties and by doing so,
open another avenue of possible income as well as give
back to the profession of counseling.
Another career-related aspect of mental
health counseling services lies in the provision of counseling
via mental health agencies. Graduates of this program
will be well-positioned to assume directorship and leadership
positions in mental health agencies. Again, graduates'
training and education in counselor supervision should
make them very attractive to agencies that utilize counseling
interns who require supervision of the counseling services
they provide to clients of the agencies.
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6.
What is the length and teaching format of the program?
The PhD-CES program is 60 semester
hours beyond a 51-hour master's degree and takes between
3½ and 4 years to complete. The program is offered
in a distance (online) format, which allows students
to matriculate from almost any location in the world.
There are three 10-day residencies during the course
of the program, during which students are required to
come to the Virginia Beach campus for intensive teaching,
orientation and workshop events. The Doctoral program
is a fulltime, lockstep program for the first two years
of the program, during which time students matriculate
along the specified course progression in a cohort model
and take 18 semester hours across three terms a year
(Fall, Spring, and Summer) each of the two years. Beginning
the third year, students may vary the course selection
for which they are enrolled each term to include choices
of electives. An internship is required, and students
sit for written and oral comprehensive examinations to
qualify for Doctoral candidacy to write a dissertation.
The maximum time allowed to complete
the program is seven years. In addition, Doctoral students
must maintain continuous enrollment in the program during
all academic years (i.e., three terms, including residency,
each calendar year). Each term is approximately 15 weeks
long, except the summer term which is 10 weeks long.
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7.
What is the path for licensure for graduates from your
program and in what areas are they eligible to be licensed
or otherwise professionally credentialed?
Professional counselors are licensed
and certified at the Master's level. Graduates of the
Doctoral program do not receive any additional licensure
or authorizing credential. However, students do receive
the education and training required by many states to
perform counselor supervision; graduates would typically
be eligible to apply for supervisor privileges from their
individual state licensing boards. Professional counselors
may also seek national certification as a National Certified
Counselor (NCC) through the National Board of Certified
Counselors; although the NCC credential is not required
for independent practice and is not a substitute for
the legislated state credentials, those who hold the
credential appreciate the opportunity to demonstrate
that they have met national standards developed by counselors,
not legislators. Due to the nature of the licensing process
in counseling, as well as the prerequisite of the master's
degree, it is assumed that the PhD in Counselor Education
and Supervision program will appeal to those individuals
who already have their licenses to practice professional
counseling, in that the concentration of skill training
received in the doctoral program is designed to increase
counseling skills to an advanced level.
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8.
What professional organizations or associations provide
information about the field your program prepares graduates
to enter? Where can I find more information?
The American Counseling Association
(ACA, http://www.counseling.org )
is the professional organization dedicated to the advancement
of the discipline of counseling. The division of ACA
that may most exemplify the professional identity of
Counselor Education and Supervision graduates is the
Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (ACES, http://www.acesonline.net/ ).
The ACA also has 19 divisions (http://www.counseling.org/AboutUs/DivisionsBranchesAndRegions/TP/Divisions/CT2.aspx)
devoted to the support of and education about the various
specialty areas that counseling professionals pursue,
often with state board-regulated licensure (i.e., Licensed
Marriage and Family Therapist [LMFT], Licensed Chemical
Dependency Counselor [LCDC]). Some of the ACA divisions
are the National Career Development Association (NCDA, http://ncda.org ),
Counseling Association for Humanistic Education and Development
(C-AHEAD), American School Counselor Association (ASCA, http://www.schoolcounselor.org ),
Association for Assessment in Counseling (AAC, http://aac.ncat.edu ),
National Employment Counseling Association (NECA, http://geocities.com/athens/acropolis/6491/neca.html ),
Association for Multicultural Counseling and Development
(AMCD, http://www.amcdaca.org ),
Association for Spiritual, Ethical, and Religious Values
in Counseling (ASERVIC, http://www.aservic.org/ ),
Association for Specialists in Group Work (ASGW, http://www.asgw.org/),
American Mental Health Counselors Association (AMHCA, http://www.amhca.org ,
and International Association of Marriage and Family
Counselors (IAMFC, http://www.iamfc.org ).
In addition, a number of counseling faculty and students
are members of the American Association of Marriage and
Family Therapy (AAMFT, http://www.aamft.org )
and the American Psychological Association (APA, http://www.apa.org ).
Although counseling faculty and students may be members
of the APA, graduates with the Ph.D. in Counselor Education
and Supervision are not psychologists and do not seek
recognition as psychologists.
The Council for Accreditation
of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP)
sets rigorous counseling program standards and is the
body that is responsible for conferring accreditation
on counseling programs in the U.S. This organization
is a good source of information about the profession
of counseling, as is the National Board of Certified
Counselors (NBCC, http://www.nbcc.org )
that administers the national certification process for
the discipline of counseling.
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9.
What sort of students typically enroll in your program?
What kind of training and preparation do they usually
have?
Individuals who have already earned
a minimum of a 51-hour master's degree in counseling
or significantly related educational program such as
psychology or social work, and typically have experience
in the mental health field will be candidates for the
program (those with less than 51 hours may have to take
additional coursework as a prerequisite to full admission). The
PhD in Counselor Education and Supervision requires the
Master's degree as a prerequisite. Students
may already have their licenses to practice as professional
counselors or may be in the process of fulfilling those
requirements. Potential students would include adult
learners who desire to augment the education and training
they received from their counseling-related master's
education and want or need the flexibility of an online,
nonresident program to meet their current commitments
to family or job.
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10.
What types of clinical or practica training experiences
do students gain in your program?
The PhD in Counselor Education and
Supervision program has been developed to meet all the
rigorous accreditation standards of the Council for Accreditation
of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP)
that are designed to ensure excellence in education and
training of those who seek to become counseling educators
and advanced practitioners. Doctoral students are required
to participate in advanced practica during which they
see clients in settings supervised by licensed site supervisors
as well as the doctoral faculty. As a capstone event
of the Doctoral program, in addition to writing their
dissertation, students engage in an internship during
which they provide direct client services in a supervised
setting.
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