Degrees, Licensure & Certificates
Degree Requirements
Students must maintain a cumulative grade point average of 3.00 in the program's core curriculum and in all subsequent requirements. A total of 60 credits are required. In addition, two evaluative experiences are required to monitor the progress of matriculated students. The first follows the student's completion of 10 academic courses and precedes the internship placement. Before beginning the internship placement each student must formally demonstrate the academic and personal readiness to be an ethical and responsible counselor-in-training. The second is a capstone experience requiring MS candidates to demonstrate their ability to apply, integrate, and synthesize what they have learned. The nature of the capstone experience varies, as described below.
Rehabilitation Counseling
The primary goal of rehabilitation counseling is promoting the vocational achievement of those with disabilities. The unemployment rate over the past 20 years for those with disabilities is consistently over 60 percent. One fifth of Americans has some type of disability and one in ten has a severe disability. The need for rehabilitation counselors is clear with over twenty million Americans with severe disabilities. The Rehabilitation Counseling curriculum is organized to identify the potential and to facilitate the development of its students and the individuals with disabilities with whom they work. The emphasis is on developing empathy and respect for the social foundations and cultural diversity of all persons by fostering each individual's self awareness, respect, and esteem, and through its hiring policies of faculty and recognition of multicultural students. Students are provided opportunities to recognize, develop, and promote their own resources as a means of adapting effectively to their own environment and life conditions, which, in turn, as tools they may share with the individuals with disabilities with whom they work. The curriculum attaches particular importance to the role of adaptation in a person's life. Students are prepared to make significant practitioner-oriented contributions to rehabilitation counseling and prepare them for further study at the doctoral level if they so desire.
Accreditation and Licensure
The Rehabilitation Counseling curriculum is fully accredited by the Council on Rehabilitation Education, CORE. It prepares students to meet the academic requirements for licensure in the state of Massachusetts and achieve national certification as a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC).
Required courses (60 credits)
Graduate courses in research in psychology, medical aspects of disabilities, foundations of rehabilitation counseling, principles of assessment, ethical standards and professional issues in counseling, abnormal psychology, case management, vocational rehabilitation and job placement, vocational development, counseling theories and practice, individual counseling, group counseling, lifespan human development, family therapy theories, and multicultural counseling such as:
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COUNSL 601 Research & Evaluation in Psychology |
COUNSL 608 Abnormal Psychology |
COUNSL 615 Counseling Theory & Practice II |
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COUNSL 602 Medical, Psychological, and Educational Aspects of Disabilities |
COUNSL 610 Case Management & Planning in Rehabilitation |
COUNSL 616 Group Counseling & Group Dynamics |
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COUNSL 603 Foundations of Rehabilitation |
COUNSL 612 Vocational Rehabilitation & Placement |
COUNSL 620 Clinical Application of Human Development |
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COUNSL 605 Principles of Vocational, Educational & Psychological Assessment |
COUNSL 613 Vocational Development & Career Information |
COUNSL 622 Family Therapy Theories |
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COUNSL 606 Ethical Standards & Professional Issues in Counseling |
COUNSL 614 Counseling Theory & Practice I |
COUNSL 653 Perspectives in Cross-Cultural Counseling |
Required field experience: COUNSL 688R (Practicum) (100 hours) and two semesters of COUNSL 698R (Internship) (300 hours per semester, 6 credits per semester/600 hours and 12 credits total)
Required capstone
Rehabilitation Counseling students may choose one of two capstone options: a case analysis or a research project.
The clinical case analysis includes a taped and transcripted counseling session and a detailed analysis of contextual, developmental, discrimination/exclusion, ethical, medical, psychosocial, treatment, counter-transference, vocational, and rehabilitation issues as they apply to the case.
The research project involves writing and presenting original research addressing an issue of concern in the field of rehabilitation counseling. The work is initiated during the early part of the internship and includes discussing the identified issue and linking it to potential solutions. A primary focus is on whether the proposed solution is feasible for further implementation in the field of rehabilitation counseling. Faculty approval of the project is required at all stages.
