FAQ | Department of Counseling, Leadership & Expressive Arts

What is a holistic approach?
We recognize that human beings are made up of body, mind, and spirit and that healing takes place when all aspects of the human experience are recognized and validated. The holistic graduate programs helps students learn and understand how to observe, evaluate, and incorporate the integration of body, mind, and spirit into their personal and professional lives. The program defines integration and wholeness as an essential expression of personal and system well-being, compassion, and social justice. We see the interconnectedness of organic systems. Holistic counselors in training are presented with the idea that personal and system wholeness depends upon connecting with the human community and with the natural world that supports it. In recognition of our interconnectedness, courses address approaches through the physical, emotional, and spiritual components. Emphasis is on wellness, with symptoms seen as calls toward self-realization and system wholeness.

Do you have any courses involving meditation, reiki, and other mind/body exercises?
We have a full semester course on the Body-Mind Connection. Meditation is interwoven into many of our courses and there is some attention to the role of mindfulness on the part of the counselor engaging in practice. Specific training in preparation for certification in these areas is outside the scope of our program, but all are recognized and welcomed as potential parts of the journey toward wellness.

What sort of positions are available to students who graduate with this degree?
You will be on track to sit for the licensing examination as an LMHC, so you get traditional credentialing and can work in agencies or in private practice. If you choose to pursue earning a license, there are several complexities to the process that can be explained in more detail when we speak.

Am I required to find my own internship or does the school have places for me to go to?
It is a shared process between the student and the department. We do have certain partnerships, and you also have some freedom to choose a location that suits you, provided it satisfies the requirements for an internship. Again, there are a few specifics that would depend on your requirements and that we would need to discuss.

How long are classes and how many times a week do classes meet?
Typically, they meet once a week from 6pm-8:30pm. Some courses are intensives that meet over the weekend.