Holistic Counseling: Master of Arts

On Campus

Accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC).

Message from the Director

Master of Arts in Holistic Counseling
With specializations leading to:
Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Mental Health with a Holistic Concentration;
Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in the Professional Applications of the Expressive and Creative Arts.
Certificate of Graduate Studies in the Professional Applications of the Expressive and Creative Arts.

Master of Arts in Holistic Leadership;
Or specializations leading to:
Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Holistic Leadership;
Certificate of Graduate Studies in Holistic Leadership

The Holistic Counseling Program is designed to develop counselors and leaders who value integration of body, mind, and spirit and who see integration as wholeness, an essential expression of personal health. The holistic counselor or leader understands that personal health also depends upon individual experiences of connectedness with the human community and with the natural world that supports it.  They are aware that many of today’s mental, physical, and social illnesses stem from a lack of integration – disintegration, resulting in persons dissociated from themselves, the community, and the environment.

The program’s primary goal is to develop well-trained master’s level practitioners capable of working effectively with individuals and groups in ways that reflect the program’s philosophy. Holistic studies facilitate student mastery of theoretical material related to the holistic perspective, as well as the counseling process as a practical art.

The successful applicant will demonstrate a personal philosophy and character that reflect the ideals of the Holistic Counseling Program.

Holistic Counseling Early Entry Graduate Program
The Holistic Counseling Program offers an early entry option to the graduate program similar to the University’s five-year programs. However, because the Master of Arts in Holistic Counseling consists of 48 credits including a two-semester internship, an additional two years are required to complete the master’s degree after receiving the baccalaureate. This program is designed for the University’s highly-motivated, academically talented and qualified undergraduate students with a recommended 3.30 or better cumulative grade point average who have demonstrated interpersonal skills required for the profession. Students may apply for this early entry graduate program upon completion of their fifth semester of undergraduate study. Part of the admissions requirements of the program is an interview with the members of the holistic counseling faculty. Upon acceptance, enrollment begins on a conditional basis in the senior year. Students who have been accepted will meet with a member of the holistic counseling faculty who will mentor them and help them to plan their holistic course sequence. They must take HLC573 Human Relations Laboratory during the first semester of their senior year. Upon completion of the first two graduate courses of their senior year, they will again meet with members of the holistic counseling faculty to determine their suitability for continuing in the program. The next two graduate courses, taken during the second semester of the senior year, require a grade of B or better in each course in order to be fully accepted into the graduate program. Students who do not continue in the program may use the credits already accrued towards their undergraduate degree. Those students who are accepted into this program may take up to 12 credit hours of graduate work in the senior year (six of which may be applied towards the B.A. degree). They complete the remaining 36 credit hours over the next two years.