Clinical Mental Health Counseling

Beginning in fall 2011, NCU will offer a Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling degree (previously known as Community Counseling), which will train students in the art and science of counseling on a faith-oriented campus. The new program was recently approved by the Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists. The new program is equivalent to the curriculum standards of CACREP (Counsel for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs). Together with a Christian frame of reference and Christian faculty, our program is distinctive in several important ways.

First, students gain a solid foundation of counseling skills, procedures, and theories based on current research. Building upon that base, students are encouraged to develop a theoretical orientation to counseling that matches their own personality and value system. Students implement and refine their personal approach to counseling in their second year, seeing clients and undergoing clinical supervision in NCU's onsite counseling training center.

Additionally, students individualize their own program through choices of electives and internship site. By the end of their first year, students focus on a special population, clinical issue, or effective treatment modality. Thus, students gain a balance between a broad perspective of counseling and a "specialization" in an area of interest.

Graduates of the program meet the academic standards leading to Oregon licensure as a professional counselor (LPC).  LPCs offer counseling services to individuals, groups, organizations and the general public in private or other settings. These services may be in the areas of personal-social concerns, educational programs, and career decisions. Counseling services include the use of recognized counseling techniques, appraisal and assessment methods, and research activities.