Views of historic buildings on UVM's campus

The mission of the Counseling Program at the University of Vermont is to prepare students to work as counseling professionals in culturally and socially diverse school, mental health, and community settings and to act as facilitators of personal and social change.

Students have the option to enroll in a 60-credit-hour School Counseling (SC) program, a 60-credit-hour Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) program, or a Dual Program option consisting of 76 credits. Our program requirements include 100 hours of practicum and 600-1200 internship hours in a field setting. To get an idea of what a typical program of study might look like, please see Model Programs of Study (pdf).

Program Methods of Instruction

The counseling program includes classes oriented towards theory and others towards practice. Theory-based classes are typically larger (approximately 25 students) and utilize lecture, break-out group activities, role-plays and online discussion board threads for the purposes of exploring the professional knowledge base of counseling. Clinical classes are typically smaller (6-12 students) and are structured as seminars with a heavy emphasis on skill attainment. Methods of instruction within our clinical seminars include triadic supervision, group supervision, video review of counseling sessions with follow up discussion, role play, sand tray exercises, and small group discussion. Evidence of our methods of instruction within these classes can be evidenced by both syllabus content and student course evaluations.

Program of Study

See more information on the sequence of classes on the Program of Study (pdf).

Core Beliefs

The Counseling Program provides students with a foundation of knowledge and skills necessary for helping others.  Students are also challenged and supported to pursue their own personal and professional growth through feedback and self-reflection, as healthy individuals make the most effective professionals. We also believe that our role of counseling in the community is to identify and redress processes of oppression in order to promote equity and justice.  These core beliefs are emulated throughout our program objectives and curricular experiences.

Program Objectives

  1. Students will demonstrate the ability to engage in ethically informed practices relevant to the setting in which they are working.
  2. Students will display of a wide variety of advanced counseling skills relevant to the professional setting in which they are working.
  3. Students will demonstrate the ability to engage in developmentally informed and theoretically sound case conceptualizations relevant to the context in which they are working, including, when appropriate the ability to provide accurate differential diagnoses.
  4. Students will demonstrate the ability to engage in a culturally informed manner with clients from a wide variety of backgrounds and from whom they differ in terms of race, ethnicity, sex, gender and gender expression, sexual orientation, religious affiliation, political beliefs and ability status.
  5. Students will engage in strategies for identifying and addressing barriers, prejudices, and processes of intentional and unintentional oppression and discrimination.
  6. Students will be aware of, or are willing to explore, how their own intrapersonal dynamics impact their professional practices.

Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

UVM Counseling Program faculty are committed to teaching a diverse body of students and are continually seeking ways to attract students with diverse backgrounds who have a wide range of personal, educational, and professional work and volunteer experiences. We are committed to recruiting and training students who represent a broad spectrum in terms of age, race, ethnicity, (dis)ability status, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and cultural background.

Just as our faculty has experience working in diverse settings nationally and internationally, they are committed to preparing students to work in a variety of counseling positions and to meet the needs of our increasingly diverse population.

In addition, the Program’s adherence to Vermont licensure laws as well as CACREP accreditation standards help to assure that our students are well prepared to work as licensed professionals both in and out of Vermont.