School Counseling
Benefits of the Program
This program is designed to provide training in counseling practice informed and guided by counseling theory. The school counseling degree emphasizes thorough knowledge of counselees' developmental and social contexts as they pertain to the school setting. This program meets educational and practice requirements to obtain a Class 6 School Counselor Specialist License in the state of Montana.
After licensure students work in school settings counseling school-aged children. In this program, you are prepared to work with counselees, adults and families in the school setting. Additionally, with the 60 credit degree they may also pursue the requirements to be a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in the state of Montana.
About the Curriculum
Because school counseling requires high levels of professional maturity and interpersonal
skills, the curriculum offers a number of experiential learning courses which are
designed to foster students' personal development, relationship skills, and professional
orientation. The courses include self-exploration and skill acquisition regarding
personal values, professional issues, personal and professional relationships, and
group dynamics. The courses offer opportunities for development of cohesive relations
between students through self-disclosure, empathic listening, feedback, and role-plays.
School counseling students take a common core of classes with students from the mental
health counseling and marriage, couples, and family counseling programs. This core
of course work provides all students with the knowledge and skills necessary to be
a professional counselor and follows the standards developed by CACREP. In addition,
students in the school counseling program also study aspects of counseling germane
to the school setting. These include school counseling program development, working
with children and adolescents, professional issues in school counseling, and a 600-hour
internship within a schoolsetting. In addition to providing a core foundation in the profession of counseling,
the school counseling program promotes the development of a school counseling program
based upon national standards developed by the American School Counselor Association
(ASCA) through a variety of didactic and applied course experiences. The program track
emphasizes thorough knowledge and development of a school counseling program, and
theory-based approaches to individual, family and group counseling. During counseling
practica, students are closely supervised in their use of knowledge about school counseling
practice and theories. Supervised practice continues and is expanded during internship.
This program is an approved Western Regional Graduate Program. The WRGP allows master's, graduate certificate, and doctoral students who are residents of WICHE-member states to enroll in 900+ graduate programs at 60 public institutions outside their home state, and pay up to 150 percent of resident tuition. To learn more, please see the WICHE/WRGP website.
