Gain practical skills through the highest standards of training and with faculty who are real-world practitioners.
Our Mission
We strive to achieve the highest standards of training for clinical mental health
counselors, emphasizing applied clinical skill and professional readiness, counselor
identity formation, service to the underserved, multicultural development and awareness,
social justice through advocacy, reflective self-awareness, and exploration of spirituality
and values within a community environment.
What makes our program unique?
Dedicated, Dynamic Faculty
Our dynamic faculty members are real-world practitioners who are dedicated to mentoring students. Whether collaborating on research endeavors, reading groups, conference presentations and attendance or clinical supervision, faculty members are committed to preparing students to be strong clinicians.
Each student is paired with an advisor, and in addition to regular meetings each semester, each student receives continuous feedback regarding strengths and growing edges.
All faculty identify as professional counselors, which contributes to an active and engaging conversation about the work of counseling.
Ethical Standards in Counseling
Our students learn about the ethical standards of the counseling profession and the American Counseling Association. Mentors encourage and guide students in the formation of their professional counselor identity, nurturing innate gifts and strengths, while cultivating new skills and the capacity to hold the complexities of the human experience.
Cohort Model
Approximately 40 total students across three cohorts are enrolled in the program on a yearly basis. Most students complete the program in three years, including a summer session. Some students pursue the intensive track option and complete the program in two years, including a summer session. Students in either track are considered full-time students. We also accommodate students who are working professionals and need to extend their coursework/training by attending part-time.
In 2024, ten students were admitted to the program on the three-year track, and 9 were admitted on the two-year track. In fall 2024, fifteen students were admitted on the three-year track and 4 were admitted on the two-year track.
Program Features
The Graduate Counseling Program is a 60 semester hour CACREP-accredited Clinical Mental Health Counseling program designed for people with busy lives. Our students are working individuals who need to balance work or family while returning to school. Some commute from Roanoke, Winchester, Charlottesville and Washington D.C. to participate in our program’s cohort model and experiential training.
The two-day back-to-back course schedule (usually Tuesday/Wednesday or Wednesday/Thursday) during the academic year was designed to accommodate even the busiest schedule.
Program highlights include:
- Practical skills and training
- Approaches to Psychotherapy that include:
- Humanistic/Existential
- Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP)
- Interpersonal Process (IPP)
- Psychoanalytic perspectives
- Contemplative practice and mindfulness
- Expressive Arts and experiential therapies
- CACREP accreditation
- Cohort model of training
- Continuing education (CE) each year for regional clinicians and practitioners
Two degree options
• Clinical Mental Health Counseling: a 60-credit, CACREP-accredited master's degree that prepares students for clinical practice and meets educational requirements for Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in the state of Virginia.
• Dual seminary and counseling degree: a dual degree program that helps students earn both the MDiv and an MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling in approximately one year less and at a less expensive cost than if the degrees were pursued separately.
