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MS application deadline is December 1
CAGS applications accepted on a rolling admissions basis

Click here for the MS Counseling Psychology handbook (pdf)

Overview
The Master of Science in Counseling Psychology (MSCP) at Northeastern is a 60 semester hour program. This competitive program seeks to educate master level practitioners. The Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study (CAGS) is a 30 semester hour program for those who already hold a master’s and who want further study to enhance their abilities and career prospects.

The MSCP program at Northeastern is committed to the development of competent Licensed Mental Health Counselors (LMHC) through the disciplinary studies and contemporary professional practice of counseling psychology.  Recent program revisions comply with licensing regulations for Mental Health Counselors in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.  The program philosophy is shaped by an ecological model of development and intervention, attending to the ways in which individuals interact with their environments (family, cultural background, social, economic, and political structures) to develop health and/or pathology, and embracing the need to attend to these multiple levels when intervening.  The program consists of two years of classes and clinical training. At the conclusion of this program some graduates seek employment and some seek doctoral study.

The clinical training is student selected from sites approved by the department, and represents a full range of practice settings for mental health counselors.  These sites include: college and community counseling centers; inpatient psychiatric units, behavioral medicine, emergency, and other services within hospital settings; comprehensive community-based programs as well as services for identified populations (e.g. battered women, persons with AIDS, persons with substance abuse, and members of the justice system--adults and adolescents).  Typically students will develop and practice skills in individual counseling, assessment and diagnosis, and group work as well as psychoeducational programs with remediative, preventive and health promotion emphases.

Our clinical seminars are no larger than eight students; group courses are no larger than fifteen. Only occasionally does a class size reach 20.  Our program expects discussion and participation in the courses and so small classes are important. 

Required classes provide grounding in theory, strategies, and application of counseling skills relating to human development and sources of difference, psychopathology, individual and group counseling, vocational counseling, and assessment. 

The MSCP program at Northeastern is unique in that we offer students a choice of specific concentrations within the general master’s program.  The concentrations are exciting because they offer the opportunity for students to gain additional depth in selected areas.  We believe that having a concentration in training should make our graduates especially successful in admission to further graduate study and jobs after graduation. These concentrations take advantage of interdisciplinary training and perspectives in areas of:

Health Psychology

Forensic Counseling

Early Intervention

Child and Adolescent Psychology

Cultural, Gender, and Political Psychology

Curriculum
The master’s program requires two years of full-time study; part-time schedules are also available. Concentrations consist of three courses and one clinical placement.

Read the curriculum. 

Download the Counseling Psychology viewbook (PDF). 

Read Frequently Asked Questions.

Experiential Learning
Boston is one of the world’s foremost centers for health treatment and research, and we have excellent relationships with numerous hospitals, clinics, health centers, shelters, and community service agencies. Over the course of your two years of study, you may choose to return to the same placement site or gain a variety of experiences at different sites.

Your adviser will work with you to find an appropriate placement in a:

• federal prison
• court clinic
• victim’s assistance program
• battered women’s shelter
• rape crisis center
• community service agency
• mental health center
• health promotion program
• mind-body clinic
• complementary medicine clinics
• another setting that matches your interests

Faculty and Staff
Carmen G. Armengol, Associate Professor
Mary Ballou, Professor, Director of Master's Counseling Psychology Program
Jessica Blom-Hoffman, Assistant Professor
Monique Clarke, Office Assistant
Debra Franko, Professor
Deborah F. Greenwald, Associate Professor, Executive Committee of School Counseling and Psychology Doctoral Program
Vanessa D. Johnson, Assistant Professor, Director of College Student Development and Counseling
Gila Kornfeld-Jacobs, Lecturer
Louis Kruger, Associate Professor, Co-Director of the Certificate Program in Early Intervention
Chieh Li, Associate Professor, Executive Committee of School Counseling and Psychology Doctoral Program
Karin N. Lifter, Professor, Director of the Certificate Program in Early Intervention
Emanuel J. Mason, Professor
Barbara F. Okun, Professor, Executive Committee of School Counseling and Psychology Doctoral Program
William Quill, Associate Professor, Director of School Counseling Program
Tracy Robinson, Professor
William Sanchez, Chair
James F. Scorzelli, Professor
Diane Sheehan, Administrative Coordinator
George Thompson, Assistant Professor
Ena Vazquez-Nuttall, Professor, Assistant Dean for Multicultural Education
Robert Volpe, Assistant Professor

 Fall Orientation

Tuesday, September 9

9:00:               Registration - All Students
                      Room 750 BK

9:30 - 10:45:    Counseling Psychology Orientation Meeting
                      Director: Dr. Mary Ballou
                      Room 320 BK

11:00:                  Bouvé College Graduate School Orientation Meeting
                       20 West Village F
       
12:00:                  Bouvé College Luncheon 
                       Cabot Gymnasium

Fall 2008 New Student Registration Information:

Registration starts on July 14.
For information on how to register: http://www.northeastern.edu/customerservice/registering.html

Courses: