Ánimo: Latinx Counseling Emphasis

 

The Ánimo: Latinx Counseling Emphasis is a new component of the California State University, Fullerton M.S. Department of Counseling program designed to address the professional, curricular, and training needs of clinical mental health counselors working with Latinx and Spanish-speaking clients. The Ánimo: Latinx Counseling Emphasis is grounded in clinical mental health competencies and provides trainees course curriculum that meets the requirements to pursue licensure as clinical mental health counselors in California. [The program also meets licensure requirements to seek licensure for marriage and family therapist in California.] The Emphasis is grounded in national-approved competencies: the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related-Educational Program (CACREP) and the American Counseling Association (ACA). Furthermore, the Ánimo: Latinx Counseling Emphasis focuses on developing self-awareness as bilingual and bicultural counselors, knowledge of Latinx cultures, and therapeutic Spanish skills. The courses emphasize bilingual/bicultural counseling skills and are held in both English and Spanish (primarily in English) to meet trainees’ needs.

In Fall 2022, the Ánimo: Latinx Counseling Emphasis earned national honors for supporting Latinx students. Excelencia in Education, a national non-profit organization focused on boosting Latinx student success, recently recognized the program as positively impacting and accelerating Latinx student success in higher education. Read more about the prestigious honor here. 

In October 2022, the Ánimo: Latinx Counseling Emphasis received the Innovative Counselor Education Program Award from the Western Association for Counselor Education and Supervision (WACES).

 

Need for Culturally Competent Training for clinical mental health services

The mental health profession currently lacks or has limited guidelines on teaching and providing supervision to bilingual (in Spanish) and bicultural counselors to serve the Latinx community. This community has a high need for competent clinicians who demonstrate cultural responsiveness and cultural humility, engage in social justice advocacy, and provide therapeutic-Spanish speaking skills. The mental health profession also has limited guidelines on engaging in research with the Latinx community in a culturally responsive way. Given the growing demographics in the United States of the Latinx population at the local, state, and national levels, this much-needed Ánimo: Latinx Counseling Emphasis is one of a handful of programs nationwide to provide counselor preparation that is specifically designated to serve and meet the clinical mental health needs of the Latinx community.

 

Description of the New Emphasis

The Ánimo: Latinx Counseling Emphasis is embedded within the wider M.S. Department of Counseling. Of the total 63-units for the Master’s degree, the Ánimo Emphasis consists of 5 core courses (COUN 511B, COUN 522B, COUN 527B, COUN 530B, and COUN 584B). These 5 courses have equivalent content and process than the non-Ánimo courses; however, the application of the material is focused on Latinx clients. Students must first be accepted into the Department of Counseling program before applying to the emphasis. There are also a pre-requisite and an exit-requirement of spoken-Spanish competency and the 5 courses are taught by bicultural and bilingual professors. The number of units required for graduation will remain the same as for non-emphasis students: 63-units. Courses will be taught primarily in English with plenty of opportunities to practice and build therapeutic spoken-Spanish skills.

 

Language Competency Requirement

Students applying to this emphasis will need to meet a pre-requisite of basic spoken-Spanish skills and an exit-requirement of at least intermediate spoken-Spanish. Given the nature of talk therapy, the focus will be on spoken-Spanish. The language pre-requisite and exit-requirement may be met in a number of ways. The pre-requisite may be met by completing: (1) a comparable undergrad Spanish-language course, (2) a competency verbal/spoken test with Counseling and Spanish bilingual faculty, or (3) SPAN 306. The exit-requirement may be met by completing: (1) SPAN 306, (2) SPAN 307 (if both SPAN 306 and SPAN 307 are completed, both CSUF courses, the student may earn the Spanish for Health and Human Services Professions Certificate), or (3) a competency verbal/spoken test with Counseling and Spanish bilingual faculty.

 

Courses

The five Ánimo Emphasis courses (of the wider 63-unit program) retain the same content as the non-emphasis courses; however in the Ánimo courses the focus of the discussion and application of the concepts will be within the context of the Latinx clients/community. The Ánimo Emphasis courses are as follows:

FALL (first semester):

COUN 511B: Pre-Practicum for Ánimo Emphasis

SUMMER (first and/or second summer):

COUN 522B: Diagnosis and Treatment Planning for Ánimo Emphasis

FALL (second fall smester)

COUN 527B: Systems of Family Counseling for Ánimo Emphasis

SEMESTER VARIES:

COUN 530B: Practicum for Ánimo Emphasis

COUN 584B: Advanced Practicum for Ánimo Emphasis


The Ánimo Emphasis will focus on clinical issues related to Latinx and Spanish-speaking clients, including: anti-Black racism within Latinx community, acculturation, immigration, cultural value systems, intergenerational family conflict, ethnic identity, similarities and differences among Latinx sub-groups, and intersectionality of identities (race, gender/gender identity, romantic/sexual orientation, disability, religion, social class, etc.).

At the completion of the Ánimo Latinx Counseling Emphasis, students will have their accomplishment noted on their degree/transcript and receive a special sash/stole to be worn during graduation.

 

Please Note: The Ánimo Emphasis is not currently offered in the  M.S. in Counseling Evening Cohort program.

 

For further information contact: Olga Mejía, PhD, Associate Professor, omejia@fullerton.edu