Program Goals

1. Prepare counseling professionals with a breadth of knowledge and skills for prevention, intervention, and advocacy in private or public PreK-12 school settings.
2. Cultivate a school counselor professional identity and disposition aligned with ethical practice and the ASCA Code of Ethics.
3. Foster the ability to critically evaluate and consume research through a social justice lens to inform evidence-based school counseling practices.
4. Prepare counseling professionals to advocate for school needs at the individual, community, and policy levels.
5. Promote the development of critically reflective practitioners focused on wellness, self-care, and professional quality of life.

 

Student Learning Outcomes

1. Students will develop and maintain a strong counselor identity rooted in the profession’s ethics, values and principles. 
2. Students will be able to demonstrate competence in working ethically with clients of diverse backgrounds across the lifespan.
3. Students will be able to apply counseling skills and effectively deliver counseling interventions aligned with their theoretical orientation. 
4. Students will be able to analyze their own social location and lived experience, while mastering strategies to bracket and challenge 
5. Students will be able to evaluate counseling specific assessments, including career assessments, and administer assessments in the best interest of their clients. 
6. Students will be able to design a holistic counseling practice that aligns with their theoretical orientation and remain aligned with the Shenandoah University mission of being a lifelong learner committed to continuing education and service work. 
7. Students will be able to demonstrate an understanding of their role in an interdisciplinary team.
8. Students will be able to present scholarly research findings.
9. Students will be able to be employed as a school counselor. 
10. Students will be able to pass the Praxis exam.

Courses

All courses and their descriptions within the school counseling program are listed below. Please note the asterisks indicating their delivery method and which courses are electives.

*S Courses are online-synchronous
*A Courses are online-asynchronous
**Courses are electives

Course Number	Course Title	Credit Hours
COUN 501	Basic Counseling Skills
COUN 519	School Counseling Ethics and Profession
COUN 503	Group Counseling
COUN 505	Lifespan Counseling*A
COUN 506	Counseling Theory
COUN 507	Research Seminar I*A
COUN 508	Addiction Counseling*S
COUN 510	Career Counseling*A
COUN 511	Multicultural Counseling*S
COUN 512	Grief, Loss, Trauma, and Crisis*S
COUN 514	Human Sexuality in Counseling*S
OUN 517	Research Seminar II*A
COUN 527	Research Seminar III*H
COUN 550	Counseling Children and Adolescents**
COUN 560	Counseling Veterans and Military Personnel**
COUN 570	Case Management**
COUN 520	School Counseling Leadership, Advocacy and Consult
COUN 602	Systems Concepts in Counseling *A
COUN 522	Classroom Management
COUN 525	School Counseling Practicum
COUN 650	Field Placement I
COUN 660	Field Placement II

Course Number	Course Title	Credit Hours
COUN 502	Professional Counseling Ethics*A
COUN 504	Clinical Mental Health Counseling as a Profession*A
COUN	603 Assessment Processes in CMHC*A
COUN 601	Diagnostic Processes in Counseling*

 

Brittany Sager-Heinrichs, Ph.D.

Program Director, Division of Counselor Education

View Brittany Sager-Heinrichs’ Faculty Profile

Meet the Counselor Education Faculty

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The school counseling program admission requirements include:

• A completed application submitted through the Shenandoah University application portal located on the clinical mental health counseling website.
• A completed bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university with a recommended minimum grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 grade scale.
• Official transcripts from all colleges and universities attended (or previously attended).
• Two letters of recommendations that indicate applicant’s ability to participate in the rigors of graduate school as well as the traits applicants possess to be a future allied health practitioner. 
• A writing sample crafted as a response to a prompt.
• International students may be required to meet additional requirements.
• State and federal background checks.
• Personal liability insurance from the start of the program.
• Adherence to Shenandoah’s School of Health Professions and individual practicum and internship sites immunization and vaccination policies.

*Students who meet academic requirements will be invited to participate in an interview with Counselor Education Division faculty members.

To ensure you meet eligibility for licensure, please visit the Virginia Department of Education.