Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy, Ánimo: Latinx Counseling Concentration M.S.

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(63 UNITS)

Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Marriage and Family Therapy

The Master of Science in Counseling is approved by the California State Board of Behavioral Sciences (BBS) to meet all of the educational requirements preparing students for state licensure as Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors (LPCC) and as Licensed Marriage and Family Therapists (LMFT). It is also nationally accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). The program emphasizes training clinicians who can serve the needs of individuals and families in their communities and provide evidence-based brief and long-term counseling while maintaining professional identities as counselors and marriage and family therapists. It strongly emphasizes a multicultural perspective; preparing counselors who will be sensitive to the diverse ethnic and religious heritages, lifestyles and special needs of individuals and families.

Admission Requirements

The Department of Counseling welcomes applicants from diverse academic and cultural backgrounds. Preparation for the counseling profession is rigorous and multifaceted, necessitating the student’s development in interpersonal, self-reflective and academic realms. Students must meet the CSU requirements for admission to a master’s degree program. Please consult the Graduate Admissions section in this catalog for complete information.

In addition, admission to the program is based upon indicators of the applicant’s potential for becoming an effective counseling practitioner, including but not limited to grade point average (GPA), letters of reference, personal statement and departmental interview. A minimum GPA of 3.0 for the four undergraduate prerequisite behavioral science courses (or equivalent) is required. The prerequisites are as follows:

Counseling theories: a course that surveys the major theoretical frameworks in counseling and psychotherapy.
Abnormal psychology or psychopathology.
Human development or developmental psychology.
Research methods or statistics.

At least two of the four prerequisite courses must be completed prior to the time of entrance into the program. Admission is not based on any single factor, but on a composite assessment of all factors and is at the sole discretion of the Counseling Department’s Admissions Committee.

Students interested in the Ánimo: Latinx Counseling Concentration need to first apply to the program and answer an additional question in their personal statement related to Ánimo. If accepted into the program, then they will be evaluated for the concentration. If not accepted into the concentration, they are still accepted into the traditional program.

For further information, including deadlines and the admissions process, please visit the Counseling website.

Advancement to Practicum

Students undergo a comprehensive evaluation in the semester prior to their first practicum (COUN 530A or COUN 530B ). This evaluation determines advancement to practicum. Advancement to practicum requires:

3.0 GPA for graduate courses.
A “B” (3.0) or better in COUN 526 .
Successfully passing the faculty’s ongoing assessment of the student’s aptitude and suitability for the counseling profession, progress in skill development, interpersonal and cultural sensitivity, readiness to see clients, and ethical and professional conduct.

A student may be: (a) advanced to practicum; (b) required to postpone practicum and complete remedial steps required by the faculty; or (c) disqualified from the program. Students in practicum (COUN 530A or COUN 530B , COUN 590 , COUN 584A or COUN 584B or COUN 591 ) and who are seeing clients at their agency site are designated as Trainees by the BBS.

Probation and Disqualification

Students may be placed on academic or administrative-academic probation. They may also be disqualified for a variety of reasons. See the Graduate Regulations section of this catalog for university policies and the Student Handbook for departmental policies on the Counseling website.

Core (45 units)

Culminating Experience (3 units)

The culminating experience marks the end of a graduate program. It demonstrates mastery of disciplinary materials and meets requirements from Section 40510 of Title 5 of the California Code of Regulations. Please consult the Culminating Experience section in this catalog for more information.

COUN 597 - Project (3) (second half of the final research project)

Ánimo: Latinx Counseling Concentration (15 units)

The Ánimo: Latinx Counseling concentration addresses the professional, curricular and training needs of mental health counselors working with Latinx and Spanish-speaking clients. The program provides trainees course curriculum that meets requirements to pursue licensure as Professional Clinical Counselors and Marriage and Family Therapists in California, and is grounded in nationally approved competencies: Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related-Educational Programs (CACREP) and the American Counseling Association (ACA). Furthermore, the Ánimo concentration focuses on developing self-awareness as a bilingual and bicultural counselor, knowledge of Latinx-cultures and therapeutic-Spanish, familiarity with interventions appropriate to Latinx and Spanish-speaking clients, and social justice advocacy for issues relevant to the Latinx community. Although there will be ample opportunities to build therapeutic Spanish-speaking skills, the courses emphasize bilingual/bicultural counseling skills and are taught in English and Spanish (primarily in English) to meet the trainees’ needs.

Students must complete an exit requirement of at least intermediate spoken-Spanish. This may be met by completing: SPAN 306 and/or SPAN 307 (if both SPAN 306 and SPAN 307 are completed, students may earn the Spanish for Health and Human Services Professions Certificate); or a competency verbal/spoken test with Counseling and Spanish bilingual faculty.