Counseling (MA)

The student learning outcomes for the MA in counseling support the development of students as competent counselors in training. The learning outcomes are broadly divided into the following:

Core Counseling Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of the program, students will be able to:

1. Professional Orientation and Identity: Develop a professional orientation and identity as a counselor by applying sound ethical, legal, advocacy, and supervisory practices which lead to success as a mental health counselor.
2. Cultural Context: Identify the cultural context of relationships, issues, and trends in a multicultural society that impact the counseling process.
3. Human Growth and Development: Synthesize theories of human growth and development to develop culturally responsive counseling practices.
4. Career Development: Apply theories and models of career development to related life factors in multicultural contexts appropriate to an individual’s work, family, and lifestyle.
5. Wellness and Prevention: Develop an empirically based approach to counseling that emphasizes wellness and prevention by integrating theory and best practices.
6. Group Approaches: Apply theoretical and experiential understandings of group approaches to counseling to develop targeted interventions within a multicultural society.
7. Assessment and Evaluation: Apply individual and group approaches to assessment and evaluation in a multicultural society.
8. Research and Evaluation: Utilize statistical concepts, research methods, needs assessment, and program evaluation skills commonly used in the counseling profession.

Clinical Mental Health Counseling Emphasis Additional Learning Outcomes

1. Ethical and Legal Standards: Apply ethical and legal standards as well as knowledge of public mental health policy, financing, and regulatory processes to mental health counseling.
2. Counseling Principles: Implement mental health counseling principles and practices associated with education, prevention, consultation, and intervention.
3. Multicultural Impact: Describe how living in a multicultural society impacts clients and apply effective advocacy strategies to enhance mental health services.
4. Assessment Techniques: Employ various assessment techniques associated with professional mental health counseling to appropriately intervene in meeting the needs of diverse clients.
5. Evidence-Based Practices: Apply evidence-based research literature associated with professional mental health counseling to meet the needs of clients living in a diverse society.
6. Diagnostic Tools: Implement diagnostic tools appropriate for mental health counseling professionals to diagnose disorders in diverse clients.

Community Counseling Emphasis Additional Learning Outcomes

This emphasis is only offered at the Geneva, Switzerland, campus and is not interchangeable with or transferable to counseling program emphases offered at U.S. domestic campuses.

1. Ethical and Legal Standards: Apply ethical and legal standards as well as knowledge of public mental health policy, financing, and regulatory processes to community counseling.
2. Community Counseling Principles: Implement community counseling principles and practices associated with education, prevention, consultation, and intervention.
3. Multicultural Impact: Describe how living in a multicultural society impacts clients and apply effective advocacy strategies to enhance community counseling services.
4. Assessment Techniques: Employ various assessment techniques associated with community counseling to appropriately intervene in meeting the needs of diverse clients.
5. Evidence-Based Practices: Apply evidence-based research literature associated with community counseling to meet the needs of clients living in a diverse society.