School of Education’s Counseling Program Receives Landmark Accreditation

The School of Education’s community counseling program has the distinction of being one of the first in Pennsylvania to receive the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program accreditation by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP).

This level of accreditation opens more opportunities for program graduates, according to Dr. Jered Kolbert, professor and director of the counselor education program.

“This is a more rigorous level of accreditation, grounded in outcomes-based assessments in comparison to the more informal, consumer-satisfaction assessments that were previously required by CACREP,” Kolbert explained. “It enables our students, as licensed professional counselors, to work in Veterans Administration (VA) facilities.

“Some students already do field work with the VA, but previously, most VA counselors had to be veterans themselves,” he said. “Furthermore, it may enhance graduates’ ability to be recognized as approved providers by insurance companies.”

The success of the counselor education program in attaining national recognition for the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program is a testament to the faculty’s commitment to excellence in preparing counseling professionals,” said Dr. Susan Munson, associate dean. “Further, it is representative of the School of Education’s commitment to prepare educational leaders in the Spiritan tradition of caring through a continuous improvement process benchmarked against national standards and documented with student performance data.

“This national recognition assures that current students are engaged in a high-quality curriculum and assures employers and clients that our program graduates are highly effective counselors,” Munson said.