Degree Program
The Degree Program Program Objectives CACREP Accreditation Statement Important Facts About our Program MFT Licensure Preparation Advisement The Curriculum Classification and Advancement to Candidacy

The Degree Program

The Department of Counseling offers a Masters of Science in Counseling, emphasizing community counseling. Our program is approved by the California State Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) to meet the educational requirements preparing students for state licensure as Marriage and Family Therapists (MFT).  We are also nationally accredited by The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP).

Our emphasis is on the training of clinicians who can serve the needs of individuals and families in their communities. We train students to provide brief and long-term counseling while maintaining professional identities as counselors and marriage and family therapists. 

The program strongly emphasizes a multicultural perspective. We prepare counselors who will be sensitive to the diverse heritages, lifestyles and special needs of individuals and families. Both our student body and our faculty encompass a wide range of backgrounds and values.

Our theoretical orientation is grounded in humanistic, relational, and integrative principles. This means that we are respectful of different counseling philosophies, flexible in our approaches depending on client and student needs, and united in our belief that relationships remain at the core of all helping encounters. We also believe that counselors can best help people by understanding the relationship of emotional distress to family dynamics and to the social and cultural contexts that shape our lives.

Program Objectives

As a result of successfully completing the graduate program in counseling, students can expect to have gained didactic knowledge and supervised experience in skills, functions, beliefs and characteristics of effective counseling.  The following broad goals have been developed to assist students in gaining an overview of expected accomplishments:

1. Professional Orientation and Identity – Demonstrate an understanding of the counseling profession, develop an identity as a counselor and demonstrate a willingness to provide counseling services within the ethical guidelines of the counseling profession.
2. Counseling Theory – Gain significant knowledge of major counseling theories in the context of individual, group, couples, families and child counseling, and to apply this knowledge to the actual counseling process.
3. Helping Relationships – Demonstrate effective individual, group, couples, families and child counseling skills which facilitate client growth and to demonstrate the ability to evaluate progress toward treatment goals.
4. Social and Cultural Diversity – Develop an awareness of, and an appreciation for, social and cultural influences on human behavior and to recognize the impact of individual differences on the counseling process.
5. Human Growth and Development – Develop an understanding of developmental aspects of human growth and appreciation for the nature of human developmental behavior.
6. Career Development – Develop an understanding of career development and related life factors and the effects on an individual’s mental health and lifestyle.
7. Group Dynamics – Develop both theoretical and experiential understandings of group purpose, development, dynamics, counseling theories, group counseling methods and skills, and other group approaches.
8. Assessment – Gain knowledge and skills in assessment techniques and apply basic concepts to individual, group, couples, families and child appraisal.
9. Research and Program Evaluation – Develop the ability to read, critique, evaluate, and contribute to professional research literature.
10. Specialization – Demonstrate sufficient knowledge and skills associated with the student’s chosen specialty (i.e., agency, school) in the areas of service, prevention, treatment, referral, and program management.
11. Experiential Learning – Develop, through supervised practicum and internship experiences, an integration of the knowledge and skills needed to be successful as counselors.
12. Personal Growth and Understanding – Develop, through self-reflection and insight, an understanding of oneself and the use of self in the counseling process. Develop a personal approach to counseling and client advocacy with a clear understanding of counselor functions.

CACREP Accreditation Statement

The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), a specialized accrediting body recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), has granted accreditation until March 31, 2009, to the following program in the Department of Counseling at California State University, Fullerton: Community Counseling (M.S.). For more information on CACREP, please visit their web site, www.cacrep.org.

Important Facts About our Program

• We offer a 60 unit program, which can be completed in as little as two and-a-half years and up to four and-a-half years, depending on the pace chosen by the student.
• Fall and Spring classes meet once a week in late afternoons and evenings. Some daytime classes are available for students who prefer this time period. Summer classes meet twice a week.
• We encourage students to go through the program at a pace that fits with their family and work needs.
• Our program maintains strong links to community non-profit organizations throughout Southern California.
• Our students begin working as therapists in non-profit community agencies by their third or fourth semesters.
• Our graduates work in schools, community agencies, hospitals, government agencies, businesses and in private practice.
   

MFT Licensure Preparation

To practice as a Marriage and Family Therapist (MFT) in California, a license issued by the State Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) is required. Our 60-unit program with the MFT concentration is designed to prepare students to meet licensure requirements (Business and Professions Code, Section 4980.37).  Students should note that licensure requirements extend beyond those of the M.S. degree and include an internship and passing official examinations. It is the student's responsibility to keep informed about licensure requirements as they are subject to change from time to time. An authoritative source of information is "Laws and Regulations Relating to the Practice of Marriage, Family and Child Counseling, Licensed Clinical Social Work, and Licensed Educational Psychology" issued by the Board of Behavioral Sciences and available on the BBS web site.

For further information, write to the

Board of Behavioral Sciences,
Department of Consumer Affairs, 400 R. Street, Suite 3145,
Sacramento, California 95814-6240

or call them at (916) 445-4933.

The BBS may also be contacted on the World Wide Web at the following address:  http://www.bbs.ca.gov/

Students are designated trainees by the BBS and can accrue licensing hours after they have been classified by the Department and begin their fieldwork practicum. A student can count psychotherapy received after they have begun their first semester in the program (maximum of 100 hours of psychotherapy equals 300 hours towards the 3000 required to take the MFT license examination). Upon graduation, students have 90 days to register with the BBS as an intern. It is advisable to write to the BBS for a registration packet early (e.g., at the beginning of the last semester).

Advisement

All successful applicants are initially admitted to the program as conditionally classified graduate students. They are invited to attend an orientation session before classes begin and are encouraged to join the Graduate Counseling Students Association (GCSA).

Each student is assigned to an advisor upon admission to the Department. Advisors provide academic assistance, help students develop official study plans, recommend them for classified standing and advancement to candidacy, and monitor their progress throughout the duration of enrollment.

Students should consult their advisor on a regular basis. It is especially important to initiate contact with an advisor as soon as possible during the first semester of enrollment to verify enrollment in any remaining prerequisite courses and to discuss pre-classification requirements.

The Department recommends that students take at least six units per semester. Students working full-time are strongly advised against taking more than six units per semester because of the demanding nature of the program; however, students should be aware of time limits for completion of the degree and of the
possibility that they may be unable to enroll in a specific course the semester they wish to because of class size limits or other factors.

The Curriculum

The Curriculum comprises 60 units (plus an optional one-unit child abuse workshop required for licensure.) Full-time students  typically take four courses during the Fall and Spring semesters, and one or two Summer courses. Part-time students typically take two to three courses during Fall and Spring semesters and one course in the Summer.  In the semester prior to beginning their first practicum, students apply for Classified Standing. Classified students are designated trainees by the state MFT licensing board, and they can begin to provide counseling services and accrue hours towards the 3,000 hours required for state licensure.

The Curriculum

COUN 500 The Counseling Profession
COUN 511 Pre-Practicum (basic counseling skills)
COUN 518 Human Development & Functioning
COUN 502 Career Counseling

COUN 520 Modes of Individual Counseling
COUN 522 Techniques of Brief Treatment & Assessment
COUN 523 Counseling & Culture
COUN 524 Child & Adolescent Counseling

COUN 525 Psychopharmacology
COUN 526 Professional Ethics & Legal Issues in Counseling
COUN 527 Systems of Family Counseling
COUN 528 Groups: Process and Practice

COUN 535 Addictions
COUN 562 Couples Counseling
COUN 530 Beginning Practicum (fieldwork in a community agency)
COUN 521 Science of Human Inquiry (first half of the final research project)

COUN 560 Psychological Testing
COUN 590 Advanced Techniques and Case Conceptualization
COUN 584 Advanced Practicum
COUN 597 Final Project (second half of the final research project)

Classification and Advancement to Candidacy

Admission into the Department as a conditionally classified student does not guarantee advancement to classified standing. Each student undergoes two comprehensive evaluations; one after the completion of 12 units and prior to taking Practicum; and one at the completion of Practicum.

Advancement to classified standing or to candidacy requires a 3.0 GPA and the faculty's on-going assessment of the student's aptitude and suitability for the counseling profession, progress in skill development, interpersonal and cultural sensitivity, and ethical and professional conduct. A student in classified graduate standing may be declassified if his or her current academic, personal, and professional development shows a lack of suitability for continued training counseling. (See the "Graduate Regulations" section of the University catalog for details concerning advancement to classified standing or candidacy.)