Contact:
Dr. Jesus Aros (jaros@stmarys-ca.edu) - Program Director

Programs & Degrees Offered:
M.A. - Counseling (We currently offer coursework in five specializations - General, School Counseling, Marriage and Family Therapy, College Student Services, and Career Counseling - and are in the process of creating two more specializations - School Psychology and Art Therapy)

Accreditation:
WASC / CHTP / CCTC / BBS (approval for Marriage and Family Therapy program)

Admission Requirements:
Bachelor’s
Test:  NA
Other:  Interview / Personal Statement

Cost & Program Information:
$29,300
Online Degree Program Available:  No
On-Campus/External/Distance Leaning:  Campus
Public/Private:  Private
Year Established:  1973
Number of Faculty:  5 (FT), 20 (PT)
Thesis:  Thesis or Culminating Project Required
Admission Deadline:  (Contact Institution)

Enrollment:
Current Enrollment:  120
Part Time/Full Time:  Students may attend part- or full-time and all our our courses are offered after 4 pm or on Saturdays, to better accommodate working adults.
Female/Male:  85% F / 15% M
Alumni (1993-2003):  (Contact Institution)

Mission Statement:
The mission of the Graduate Counseling Program is to prepare counselors to be competent practitioners and agents for positive personal and social change.  The Graduate Counseling Program is designed for people who wish to work in schools, colleges, family service agencies, private practice, or a variety of other counseling settings.  The Graduate Counseling Program provides a supportive educational environment that encourages students' personal wellness as well as professional development as counselors.  As students seek to learn not only facts but also fundamental principles, they gain insight into their own life experiences and personalities.  They embark on a quest that touches the spirit as well as the intellect, illuminates connectedness as much as individuality, and provokes wonder as much as it instills mastery.  The program fosters the development of counselors who affirm and foster the essential goodness, dignity and freedom of all people.  Becoming an effective helping professional requires more than learning theories, techniques, and research methods; ultimately, counselors integrate academic knowledge and clinical experience with their own quality of being.  They become empathic listeners and potent allies, guided by awareness of gender and multicultural issues, and sensitive to the needs of the Nation's increasingly complex social milieu, including those victimized by social and economic injustice.  Such learning and preparation is a challenge; we therefore ask students to come ready to grow, with the struggle and exhilaration that such growth implies.  The program's faculty are also engaged in their own personal and professional development, thereby modeling as well as teaching the attitudes and behaviors that they value.  Students can expect faculty and staff to care about them, to treat them with respect, and to attempt to accommodate individual needs.  In the heritage of Saint Mary's College and the Lasallian tradition, students and faculty are expected to be as committed to a high standard of professional ethics and proactive social responsibility as they are to academic excellence.  To this end, the Graduate Counseling Program offers a synthesis of foundational information in counseling theory, values, history and research, as well as competency-based counseling skills, within a holistic, humanistic and systemic framework.  Finally, appreciative of the evolving nature of the counseling profession, the program works with students and graduates to provide experience and elective courses on innovative and proactive approaches that address the current needs of individuals, families, schools and communities.