New graduate counseling degree to be offered this fall
Janel Shoun |
As Christian counseling becomes an increasingly essential segment of mental health care in Tennessee, the demand for counselors of faith is ever increasing.
Lipscomb University will now help meet that demand with the creation of a Professional Counseling master’s degree program designed specifically for those interested in Christian counseling. Classes will begin in fall 2007 and graduate work will be offered in three formats:
A 61-hour master’s degree for those planning to become Licensed Professional Counselors with Mental Health Services designation;
A 36-hour master’s degree for non-practicing counselors, such as ministers and educators who desire additional counseling education and a master’s degree; and
A post-graduate certificate for ministers and others who desire only additional counseling education.
Lipscomb’s counseling master’s programs will be unique in that they will integrate faith and scientific psychological methods to prepare clinicians to practice in both secular and Christian settings, said Shanna Ray, chair of Lipscomb’s psychology department.
Christian counseling has grown significantly in the past two decades as more and more Christians have begun to seek out therapy. In addition, church-sponsored counseling has proven an effective way to bring affordable mental health services to a broad geographic area, say experts.
“With more and more Christian clients, a great demand for licensed counselors in Christian practice settings has sprung up, but even people of faith have not had the opportunity to be trained to work specifically in Christian settings,” said Ray.
Lipscomb’s program will do just that, requiring a seminar titled “Integration of Psychology and Christianity” as a core course. Each course will explore that integration as part of the curriculum, and Lipscomb’s broad range of graduate Bible courses are also available as general electives.
In addition to the need for licensed, professional Christian counselors, many ministers – as well secular professionals such as educators and human resource officers – are discovering a need for more scientific, psychological methods within their jobs, whether it’s dealing with employee conflict, providing spiritual guidance for someone with emotional problems or recognizing substance abuse, said Roy Hamley, co-chair of the psychology master’s program and director of the Woodmont Hills Counseling Center.
This is the audience Lipscomb’s 36-hour master’s degree for non-practicing counselors will attract, and surveys by the university showed a strong demand for such a program.
More than 40 percent of ministers surveyed in summer 2006 were interested in the non-licensure program and numbers were similarly high for the certificate program, designed as a minister’s toolkit of two core courses and selected electives. Almost 75 percent of those surveyed listed the “faith-integration emphasis” of Lipscomb’s master’s as extremely important.
“A non-licensed minister can’t make a clinical diagnosis, but with a master’s degree in counseling, he can provide research-based advice and guidance toward positive behavior changes,” said Hamley. “In addition, ministers are finding they need to be able to identify serious emotional problems and make effective referrals to a licensed professional.”
While the state requires 60 hours of study to be licensed, many counseling graduate programs require fewer than 60 hours to earn the degree. Lipscomb’s program requires all 60 hours, plus the one-hour seminar on integrating Christianity and psychology.
For more information on Lipscomb’s counseling master’s programs, see the Counseling program website at counseling.lipscomb.edu or contact the Department of Psychology at 966-5753.