Graduate Program of Study in Counseling
Mission Statement and Program Philosophy
Loyola's Counseling Program offers eligible counseling graduate students a carefully designed curriculum that will prepare them personally, academically and professionally to become skilled mental health counselors. One of the program's core beliefs is that effective professional counselor preparation requires a continuous blend of three types of learning: academic learning, experiential learning and learning about self. Thus this program, consistent with the Jesuit philosophy of educating the whole person, is designed to help students gain knowledge, understanding, and skills in a planned sequence that builds toward more advanced concepts and more sophisticated clinical interventions, all the while emphasizing ethical, social and cultural concerns.
Academic Learning
Completion of prerequisite course work ensures that beginning students have fundamental knowledge of the range of normal and abnormal human growth and development and possess basic computer utilization skills. The professional education core extends knowledge to include an understanding of the range of exceptionalities among young people and/or adults and a sensitive understanding of the nature of our pluralistic society. Within the professional education core, students also learn to conduct and evaluate research and become informed consumers of the research in their professional field. In the counseling core, students are introduced to the counseling profession in EDGR A830--Counseling Theories, EDGR A835-Counseling Practice, and EDGR A864--Ethics in Counseling. Subsequent core course work will provide students with specialized knowledge, skills and understanding about career development and counseling, diagnosis, appraisal and assessment techniques, group process in counseling, counseling theory, and legal, ethical and professional issues in counseling.
Experiential Learning
Laboratory or experiential learning is provided early in the student's program, and opportunities to advance and refine counseling skills continue throughout the program. EDGR A830--Counseling Theories, the introductory counseling core course, systematically teaches theory and basic clinical applications. EDGR A835--Counseling Practice builds upon this foundation and presents an opportunity for basic counseling skills and provides students an opportunity to assess their comfort with the role of counselor. EDGR A840--Group Counseling, also taught by laboratory method, enables students to learn group leadership and facilitation skills. Other courses in the counseling core and elective courses contain experiential components to ensure the continuous blend of the three types of learning. The laboratory learning sequence culminates in the Practicum and Internship. The entire sequence provides opportunities for students to observe counseling activities, develop counseling skills, and interact with clients. Students can expect constant feedback and supervision as they develop a unique and effective personal counseling style.
Learning About Self
The faculty believes that counselors are more effective when they are able to examine their own values, personal characteristics, motivations and relationships with others. Students are therefore expected to extend their personal philosophies and become sensitive to their outlooks and ways of dealing with others. Opportunities are provided throughout the program for students to maximize their self-awareness and self-understanding. The faculty believe that self-understanding contributes to personal and professional maturity as well as to the capacity for good judgment.
Finally, the faculty believe that personal and professional development are enhanced when close, cooperative relationships exist among students, between student and professor, and among professors. A close working relationship must exist between student and advisor to facilitate the selection of a sequence of studies that provides optimal preparation to meet the student's specific career goals. Class size and program size are limited to the number of students that can be adequately served to meet the goals of maintaining close relationships, providing quality clinical or lab training and enhancing self-understanding.
Program Objectives
In accordance with the program's mission to incorporate academic, experiential and intrapersonal learning, Loyola University New Orleans offers a carefully chosen curriculum that blends these three components of learning. The overarching goal of the Counseling program is to educate and train students to be ethical, competent, effective, and thoughtful mental health practitioners. The program's objectives include the following:
- To educate students to be clinically and theoretically competent in the practice of counseling.
- To insure that all counseling students are exposed to and that they understand the ethical principles that govern counseling.
- To insure that all students practice in an effective and ethical way.
- To provide a diverse and enriched collection of training experiences during the course of the student's academic preparation.
- To integrate course offerings so that students realize how each area of specialization is integrated into practice.
- To encourage students to pursue additional training and advanced certification throughout their professional careers.
- To pursue creative training methods that enhance student learning while honoring ethical concerns.