Master of Arts in Professional Counseling
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Program Description
Additional Program Information
University Mission Statement
The mission of Dallas Baptist University is to provide Christ-centered quality higher education in the arts, sciences, and professional studies at both the undergraduate and graduate levels to traditional age and adult students in order to produce servant leaders who have the ability to integrate faith and learning through their respective callings.
Program Mission Statement
The Master of Arts in Professional Counseling is a 60-hr graduate program that integrates faith with clinical mental health counseling theory and practice from a Christ-centered worldview to produce servant leaders for work as Licensed Professional Counselors (LPCs) and/or a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) in various clinical settings in Texas and for ministry to a diverse world.
Program Objectives
Provide Christ-centered quality counseling education in order to produce graduates who integrate faith and learning in a diverse world.
Produce graduates who demonstrate the appropriate knowledge, skills, and dispositions required for the successful practice of clinical mental health counseling.
Equip graduates with the requisites to pass the NCE (National Counseling Examination) and meet the qualifications for licensure as a professional counselor in Texas.
Cultivate a professional counselor identity among faculty through organizational involvement, research, publications, presentations, and community service.
Program Student-Learning Outcomes
Students will demonstrate the appropriate knowledge, skills, and dispositions of a successful clinical mental health counselor.
Students will practice and promote resiliency, optimal growth and development, and wellness for self and clients across the lifespan.
Students will apply ethical and legal standards responsibly as a clinical mental health counselor.
Students will develop and maintain a culturally competent professional identity as a clinical mental health counselor.
Students will demonstrate understanding of theoretical foundations, relationship dynamics, and therapeutic factors vital to assessing, diagnosing, and treating both individuals and groups.
ADMISSION
Admission Process
Applicants to the Master of Professional Counseling program will submit all required application forms to the graduate office. Application files will be forwarded to the MAPC Admissions Committee for review. The MAPC Committee will schedule personal interviews with applicants. The committee will consider each applicant’s (1) relevance of career goals, (2) aptitude for graduate-level study, (3) potential success in forming effective counseling relationships, and (4) respect for cultural differences. Committee recommendations will be sent to the University’s Graduate Admissions Committee for final admission decisions.
Orientation of New Students
At the beginning of each semester (fall, spring), new students will attend a student orientation scheduled by the MAPC director. At the orientation, the Program Director will (1) distribute and review the MAPC Student Handbook, (2) discuss students’ ethical and professional obligations and personal growth expectations as counselors-in-training, and (3) review eligibility requirements for LPC licensure in the state of Texas.
The orientation will also include a review of the MAPC Counseling Agreement Contract. By signing this agreement, new students are stating their willingness to be evaluated on nine characteristics deemed necessary for the development of an ethical and competent counselor. These characteristics are implied from the expectations of professional and personal competence and responsibility and are as follows: openness, flexibility, positiveness, cooperativeness, willingness to use and accept feedback, awareness of impact on others, ability to deal with conflict, ability to accept personal responsibility, and ability to express feelings effectively and appropriately. In addition, the student's signature on the contract expresses agreement to attend eight counseling sessions during the first two semesters in the MA in Professional Counseling Program.
Transfer Students
Applicants desiring to transfer from a Master’s counseling program at another university to the MA in Professional Counseling Program at DBU are required to submit an official letter which states that the applicant is a student in good standing and is eligible to complete that program as well as enroll in practicum classes. This letter should be from the Dean or the Program Director on school letterhead and is to be submitted with the application to the DBU program. Transfer courses can only be accepted from CACREP approved programs.
A grade of C- or higher is required for all requisites.
There are four undergraduate-level psychology requisites:
Introduction to Psychology or general psychology,
Statistics,
Six hours of upper-level psychology chosen from the following courses:
For the Master of Arts in Professional Counseling program, DBU offers a specialized Bridge program. Permission to pursue the program will be considered based on the following criteria:
Completion of 75 degree-applicable semester hours and enrollment in their final undergraduate semester (see individual degree requirements) with a minimum overall GPA of 3.0 at the time of filing a Statement of Commitment.
The 3.0 GPA criteria must be maintained to retain admission to the Master's program and to continue in the program.
Submission of a qualified application to the desired Master's program.
A filed Statement of Commitment, approved and signed by both the undergraduate advisor and the Master's Program Director. This should be complete.
Good academic standing in the applicant's undergraduate program.
Completion of all MA in Professional Counseling program requisites.
Permission to pursue a Bridge program does not guarantee admission to the Master's program. All requirements for admission to the Master's program must be met. Students may not enroll in 5000 or 6000-level courses prior to admission to the Master's program.
Prior to filing an application for the Master of Arts in Professional Counseling Bridge program, students must meet with their undergraduate advisor to review the requisites and obligations of the Bridge program outlined in the Statement of Commitment Form. Signing this form indicates the students' understanding and commitment to proceed with a Bridge Master's degree at Dallas Baptist University, and indicates the students full understanding of the ramifications associated with withdrawing from the bridge program after beginning Master's courses.
Admission to the MA in Professional Counseling Bridge Program
A student interested in the Bridge program should contact their undergraduate advisor to express their interest in the program. The student's academic advisor will review the student's transcript and will provide information regarding Bridge program commitment. In this time, the student will be required to review and sign the Statement of Commitment, which indicates the student's acknowledgement of the commitment of the Bridge program, as well as the consequences of withdrawing.
Once applicants have completed the above-mentioned requisites for admission, students may file an application for the Master of Arts in Professional Counseling Bridge program through the Graduate Office. Applicants to the Master of Professional Counseling Bridge program will submit all required application forms to the graduate office, and will follow the admissions process provided above.
Upon acceptance into the Master of Arts in Professional Counseling Bridge program, students will schedule an advising appointment with their new Graduate Bridge Program Advisor to ensure the appropriate Bridge courses are planned. Students should continue working with their undergraduate advisor concurrently with their graduate advisor to ensure all requirements are met for the students' undergraduate and graduate degree requirements.
*Please see Bachelor's to Master's Bridge Programs for full program policies and provisions.
The program of study provides students the necessary course work to meet academic requirements to become a Licensed Professional Counselor. Course requirements include 60-61 credit hours consisting of:
course: This course is designed for students who do not finish the 600 hours required for Internship at the end of course Internship II. Students may enroll in COUN6101 one time in order to complete the required hours. A final grade for course Internship II will be issued upon completion of the 600 hours.
course is required for students intending to pursue LMFT licensure in the State of Texas. This course satisfies the remaining requirement for coursework for LMFT licensure in the State of Texas. Students who complete this course will not enroll in course Theological Perspectives in Christian Counseling. Students who choose this track then have the opportunity to become dually licensed as a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and a Licensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Texas. Please see the LMFT link for more information.
After completion of the graduate counseling program, the graduate is eligible to apply for state LPC licensure. In order to become licensed in Texas, the program graduate must pass the appropriate licensure exam (NCE or AMFTRB) and complete a 3000-hour supervised counseling internship.
The Practicum/Internship experience consists of three courses, course Practicum (S-L), course Internship I (S-L), and course Internship II (S-L), completed sequentially. The Practicum/Internship is the culmination of the MA in Professional Counseling degree program and is intended to provide practical experience for students as they make plans to enter the counseling profession. The three (3) courses include supervised delivery of direct counseling services in an approved agency or institution. Students are evaluated on a wide range of personal and professional criteria which includes analysis of video-recorded counseling sessions and seminar discussions of counseling theories, methods, and techniques.
(S-L) = Course(s) with field-based service-learning component.
Students should enroll in the three (3) Practicum/Internship courses sequentially. In order to progress through the three (3) courses, a grade of “B” or higher must be earned. In the event of any grade below a “B,” the course will have to be repeated until at least a “B” is earned. The student is responsible for any remedial work that may be suggested by the faculty in order to successfully complete the Practicum/Internship course.
To proceed to Practicum, students must apply for candidacy for Practicum. To be eligible, students must complete the following steps:
Student must have completed the eight required personal counseling sessions.
Student must have completed the 12 hours of undergraduate prerequisite courses.
Student must have a current GPA of 3.0 or above.
Students must apply for candidacy to Practicum/Internship and be approved to enroll.
Students must pass the Comprehensive Counseling Assessment with a score of at least 75.
Students must have completed the following courses (39 hours):
Student must secure a Practicum site before enrolling in Practicum. Students must also purchase liability insurance no sooner than two weeks prior to the start of the Practicum semester.
To apply for candidacy, students must submit the candidacy application form to the Practicum/Internship Coordinator by the application deadline set for each semester. The Practicum/Internship coordinator will conduct a faculty review of the students’ progress in the program and will determine if the student has performed in a satisfactory manner in the program to that point. If approved by the faculty review, the student will sit for Comprehensive Counseling Assessment, an exam which measures knowledge attainment from the 10 Candidacy Courses. Upon passing the exam, the student will be granted candidacy for Practicum.
If the student fails the Comprehensive Counseling Assessment on the first attempt, the student must retake the exam. If the student fails on their second attempt, the student will meet with the Program Director to develop a remediation plan to prepare the student to retake the exam. If the student fails the exam the third time, the student will meet with the Program Director to again identify the two lowest content area scores on the exam and reexamine the remediation plan.
Minimum: 60 Total Credit Hours
Minimum with additional COUN 6101: 61 Total Credit Hours
Refer to individual course descriptions for course requisites.