Note that students will begin their internship placements in the summer of their first year even though they will not begin enrolling for internship credit until the Fall Semester. A minimum of 1,000 clock hours of supervised practicum and internship experience are required during the program. Training settings include public and special-need schools, community mental health centers, alcohol and substance abuse treatment facilities, college and university counseling centers, psychiatric hospitals, general medical hospitals, state correctional facilities, and specialized juvenile treatment centers. Students graduate with a minimum of 100 hours of individual and 100 hours of group supervision. In addition to course grades, student progress is continually monitored and periodically evaluated by the program faculty toward the end of each semester.
Priority is given to timely student feedback.
During the spring semester of their last year in the program, students sit for a two-part comprehensive examination. The first part is a nationally administered examination, the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination, which covers the eight core areas of counseling theory and practice listed above. Examination results provide students with feedback regarding their relative strengths and weaknesses as compared with other graduate students across the nation and serves to prepare them for state administered licensing examinations and the National Certified Counselor Examination. The second part of the comprehensive examination is a case presentation and oral examination over their clinical work administered by the program faculty. Students develop a clinical case study drawn from their internship placement.