More Students Enroll After Changes to Counseling Psychology
The School of Education’s counseling psychology program’s emphasis on marriage and family therapy, long a mainstay among USF’s graduate studies, is experiencing a surge of new interest.
After program alterations instituted two years ago, including a focus on older adult psychology as well as multicultural perspectives, the nearly 30-year-old degree offering has attracted more students than ever. This year the program enrolled 42 students in just its fall cohort, almost as many as last year’s total enrollment of 46 for both fall and spring.
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Changes to the program essentially eliminated curriculum divisions between the marriage and family therapy emphasis and the adult counseling emphasis. Now, students take a varied menu of classes that incorporate many perspectives of adult, child, and family life.
“We’re offering a functional educational experience based on theory and practice,” said Joan Avis, a professor in the program. “Our students are getting the best in terms of individual and family development.”
Societal needs, such as the aging of the Baby Boomer generation, has brought about an emphasis in the field on older adults, and has generated new program courses on later-life transitions (such as retirement or loss of a loved one). The program was also altered to reflect the field’s move toward a problem-solving model rather than the more traditional practice of treating a person’s psycho-dynamics.
“The focus is on the present, with less attention to the past,” Avis said. “It’s helping individuals change the way they think and the way they behave.”
Another program focus is incorporating more multicultural perspectives into coursework. “Traditional therapy was not developed to address the needs of diverse client populations,” Avis said. Students’ work with San Francisco’s diverse populations is an important part of their preparation, she said.
In addition to their courses, students undergo a traineeship during their second year, working with underserved populations in community or nonprofit mental health organizations for at least 20 hours per week. Those hours transfer to the requisite 3,000 hours of field training required before licensure as a therapist.
Brittany Harder, a second-year student in the program, said she feels well prepared to pursue a counseling career working with young adults. She and a fellow student plan to form their own agency in San Francisco. “I’m interested in focusing on the transition to adulthood,” Harder said. “I’d like to do private practice part-time and do community health part-time.”
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