Masters of Arts in Clinical Counseling
Program Director: Dr. Julia Davis, NCC
Field Education Director: Michelle Brandt, MSW, LSW
Professor: Dr. Freda Ginsberg, MBA
Associate Professor of Practice: Dr. Michelle Santiago
Program Mission: The Master of Arts in Clinical Counseling in Ë¿¹ÏÊÓƵ’s School
of Behavioral and Community Health is a state-of-the art, 60-credit, 20 course training program
offered in a blended curriculum utilizing online, hybrid, and live classroom formats, taught by
seasoned clinicians who are experts in the field. Graduates of the program will be trained to
demonstrate their commitment to evidenced-based treatment, life-long learning and counseling
practice that is committed to social justice. The program is designed to meet Pennsylvania’s
academic and practicum/internship requirements for Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC).
These requirements are outlined in PA Act 49.2. Graduates of the program will also complete 2
certificates that will be awarded upon graduation from the program including the: Trauma
Certificate, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Certificate, as well as the Tele-Health Certificate, which is
completed in the Practicum course.
Course Requirements
Clinical Counseling Courses
- MCC 500: Helping Relationships
- MCC 510: Professional Orientation: Ethics & Counseling
- MCC 520: Career & Lifestyle Counseling
- MCC 530: Human Growth And Development
- MCC 535 Assessment for Counselors
- MCC 545 DSM & Psychopathology
- MCC 550: Counseling Theory
- MCC 560: Social & Cultural Foundations
- MCC 570: Group Theory & Practice
- MCC 580: Research Design & Methodology
- MCC 640 Human Sexuality Across the Lifespan
Clinical Sequence
- MCC 680 Practicum* (tele-health micro-credential certificate completed in this course)*
- MCC 685 Internship Supervision I
- MCC 686 Internship Supervision II
The remaining 24 credits will be electives of your choosing, including courses like cognitive behavioral theory and techniques, addictions, child and adolescent counseling, forensic psychology, psychopharmacology, and special topics current to the field.
Certificate Courses
1. Trauma Certificate:
- MCC 600 Trauma Informed Practice
- MCC 605 Advanced Trauma Topics
- MCC 610 Grief & Bereavement
- MCC 615 Crisis Intervention
2. CBT Certificate:
- MCC 620 Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
- MCC 625 Third Wave Cognitive Behavioral Modalities
3. Tele-Health Micro-credential - completed in MCC 680 Practicum
Field Placement:
Before you begin your practicum and internship, you will meet with the Direct of Field
Placement to discuss areas of interest, skill development, and career goals. Most students
interview at several sites before deciding where they want to complete their field placement work. The Director of Field Placement can suggest a local partner or you can suggest and
explore potential sites of interest.
The supervision classes that you take concurrently with your field placement experience provide both supervisor and peer support to help you integrate and process experiences, learning, and understanding. To graduate, you must complete at least 700 hours of supervised clinical experience, which meets the Pennsylvania requirements for licensure as a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC).
Courses in Clinical Counseling (all courses 3 credits)
MCC 500: Helping Relationships: This course will teach students the fundamental techniques used in the helping processes so they may develop a proficiency in using them. Students will be required to reflect upon their use of the micro-counseling attending skills and critically analyze their work. The course will emphasize students’ ability to create an effective counseling relationship and professional counseling environment.
MCC 510: Professional Orientation: Ethics & Counseling: This course examines the history, professional roles, specializations, organizations, credentialing, and ethical and legal issues in the counseling field. The course addresses counselors’ professional identity formation, advocacy duties, self-care, and ethical decision making. The course will cover the American Counseling Association Code of Ethics and PA jurisprudence.
MCC 520: Career and Lifestyle Counseling: This course covers theories and research on career development, and methods of career counseling and assessment. The course will require students to both explore their own career development, as well as learn how to conceptualize and provide intervention for the career development of their clients. Attention will be paid in this course to the intersection of career and life issues, as well as how career work is informed by the multicultural identities of clients.
MCC 530: Human Growth and Development: This course examines the research and theories of human development across the lifespan, focusing on physical, emotional, cognitive, and psychosocial development. Normal development will be stressed, but aspects of atypical development, and developmental challenges will also be considered. Lifespan and developmental stages will all be contextualized through the lens of a multicultural framework.
MCC 535: Assessment for Counselors: This course will cover the practical, ethical, and multiculturally competent administration of individual assessment and testing instruments in counseling. Students will learn to use assessments and test results to enhance their clinical interventions. Course content will prepare students to analyze, interpret, and evaluate assessment reports and recommendations from third parties.
MCC 545: DSM & Psychopathology: This course will cover the current DSM psychiatric system, and specifically the characteristics, etiology and contributing factors of specific diagnoses. Students will learn how to arrive at a differential diagnosis. The course will address evidence-based interventions for these diagnoses.
MCC 550: Counseling Theories: This course provides an overview of the major classical and contemporary theoretical approaches to individual counseling and how counselors put these theories into practice. Students will consider counseling theories through a multicultural and feminist lens to understand their client’s behavior. Students will discern how to integrate counseling theories into their own counseling practice.
MCC 560: Social and Cultural Foundations: In this course students will explore multicultural theory, research and treatment modalities. Students will learn how to develop their knowledge, awareness and skills for working with diverse clientele in counseling. The course requires students to examine both their own and clients’ complex cultural identity with a particular focus on privilege and oppression and how these identities inform the counseling process. Special topics examined in this course include, but are not limited to: race, ethnicity, social class, ability, biological sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, language, religion, immigration, and nationality.
MCC 570: Group Theory and Practice: This course teaches the student to apply the theory and practice of group counseling as it is utilized in the mental health field. This applied course will focus on the facets of group counseling including: ethics, legalities, diversity, development, dynamics, process, methods, roles, and leadership styles and skills. Students will be required to co-lead a peer group in the classroom setting.
MCC 580: Research Design and Methodology: This course offers an overview of common research designs and analytical methods used in the behavioral sciences. The fundamentals of research will be covered including: the role of the literature review, theory, study construction, method design, and ethics. Students learn how to select appropriate research designs, employ data collection procedures, and write a research proposal.
MCC 600: Trauma Informed Counseling: This course serves as an overview of trauma-informed care in counseling. Course content will cover historical trauma treatment, as well as current approaches that include cognitive, neurological, psychological, biochemical, developmental, and interpersonal aspects of trauma work. Consideration will be given to trauma- based diagnoses, how trauma prevails in specific populations, and the sociopolitical realities that traumatize some more than others.
MCC 605: Advanced Trauma Topics: This course covers advanced trauma care topics that build upon the knowledge gained and skills developed in the MCC 694 Trauma Informed Care course. The topics covered in this course will include vicarious traumatization of the service provider, treatment strategies for insidious and complex trauma and related dissociative disorders, how the brain responds to trauma, how socio-political oppression informs individuals’ trauma, and how the intergenerational transmission of trauma presents in clients’ trauma narratives and presenting symptomatology.
MCC 610: Grief and Bereavement: This course explores the complexity of how people struggle with grief and bereavement. In particular, the course will cover the cultural, emotional, psychological, physical, and spiritual dimensions of grief and bereavement across the lifespan. Students will examine current models of grief theory and recovery treatment. Emphasis will be placed on therapeutic strategies for facilitating holistic grief work in counseling.
MCC 615: Crisis Intervention: This course is an overview of crisis intervention. Major theoretical models of situational crises are examined and operationalized across a variety of service delivery systems. Students will develop conceptual competency necessary for professionals engaged in crisis interventions. Special emphasis is given to contemporary research in suicidology, disaster psychology, and crisis management for public schools. Topics of discussion include emergency situations such as natural disasters, terrorism, school violence, abuse, and crisis interventions with diverse populations.
MCC 620: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy: This course covers the theory, principles, and interventions used in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). The course will explore Aaron Beck’s and Albert Ellis’ versions of CBT utilizing an applied perspective for case conceptualizations and treatment plans. The course will cover empirically based CBT interventions for common psychopathological disorders.
MCC 625: Third Wave Cognitive Behavioral Modalities: This course will provide a theoretical overview of the main Third Wave Cognitive Behavioral Therapies (CBT) including: Mindfulness, Acceptance & Commitment Therapy (ACT), Compassion Focused Therapy (CFT) and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT). Students will also learn how to ethically apply these approaches across a range of practice environments with diverse populations.
MCC 640 Sexuality Across the Lifespan: This course will cover human sexuality across the lifespan as it construes an important aspect of one’s identity and relationships with others. Course material will explore biological, social, and psychological facets of human sexuality, including development, identity, expression, and dysfunction. This course will not cover sex therapy.
MCC 680: Practicum: This weekly supervision course serves as the entry level field experience in the school counseling masters program. Students are expected to complete 100 hours of field experience in an approved school, institution, or agency. The Practicum requires a minimum of 40-direct service hours as well as indirect service hours. Each week students will participate in 3 hours of weekly instruction and group supervision with faculty and fellow Practicum students, as well as a minimum of 1-hour weekly on-site-supervision. Students will present cases, site updates, and ethical dilemmas to enhance self-awareness and clinical skills. The Practicum Instructor and Site Supervisor will oversee students’ performance to determine student’s satisfactory completion of the Practicum experience. Prerequisites for Practicum: MCC 500 Helping Relationships, MSC 510 Professional Orientation: Ethics and Counseling; MCC 530 Human Development; MCC 535 Assessment for Counselors, MCC 550 Counseling Theory, MCC 560 Social and Cultural Foundations.
MCC 685 & 686: Internship I & II: Clinical Counseling: This weekly clinical supervision course (Internship I or II) serves as the 2nd and 3rd in the clinical field experience sequence in the masters counseling program. Students are expected to complete 300 hours of field experience in an approved school, institution, or agency in both Internship I and II, totalling 600 hours. Each Internship requires a minimum of 120-direct client contact service hours as well as indirect service hours. Each week students will participate in 3 hours of weekly instruction and group supervision with faculty and fellow Internship students, as well as a minimum of 1-hour weekly on-site-supervision. Students will present cases, site updates, and ethical dilemmas to enhance self-awareness and clinical skills. The Internship Instructor and Site Supervisor will oversee students’ performance to determine student’s satisfactory completion of the Internship experience.