Counseling, M.A. (Hybrid-Online Program)

60 Semester Credits Required

The six-semester program provides a low-residency, blended and mixed model of distance learning, where students join a cohort of fellow students studying together on-line and meeting together with faculty at the beginning of each semester for residential conferences. Students can complete their degree without relocating and without leaving their current career. Students can choose either a Fall semester or Spring semester start date.  Students who follow the 6-semester plan of 10 credits per semester can complete their degree in three years or six semesters. This plan includes some summer course work.

A portion of the 60 credit program includes three semesters of field work referred to as Practicum, Internship I and Internship II. Students locate appropriate practicum and internships and supervision in their geographic area, working in conjunction with Saybrook’s faculty and the Director of Clinical Training. Faculty support and supervise year-round practicum and internship training so that students can accrue clinical training hours at their field experience sites during summer and semester inter-sessions.

Transfer Credit

MA Counseling students can transfer up to 9 approved semester credits from an accredited academic institution. To transfer hours earned at another institution to the MA Counseling Program, the student must provide an official transcript from the institution where the credits were earned. The student must also provide evidence that the course was approved for graduate credit at the institution where the course was completed. To determine course equivalency, students will need to submit the official transcript, course title, course description and (when required) the course syllabus. No more than 9 semester hours that have been transferred from another accredited institution may be used for meeting the credit hour requirements of a master’s student’s program. The Program Director and appropriate program faculty will review each course transfer request on an individual basis. Clinical courses such as practicum and internship are not eligible for transfer review.

The MA Counseling program is designed to address national counseling standards. To this end, the curriculum includes the following ten competency areas:   

1. Professional Orientation and Ethical Practice
2. Social and Cultural Diversity
3. Individual and Family Development
4. Career Development and Life
5. Helping Relationships and the Counseling Process
6. Group Counseling and Facilitation
7. Assessment in a Multicultural Society
8. Research and Program Development
9. Professional Clinical Practice
10. Clinical Mental Health Counseling

All students will be required to complete a comprehensive exam in the last semester of their program. The exam is in essay format, and prompts and guidance are provided by program faculty through the process.

The following required workshops, intensives and experientials are completed at the residential conferences. These workshops are designed to ensure that students in the state of California meet all of the requirements for the LPCC. In addition to meeting the CA requirements, we have found that all of our students benefit from the depth of conversation in these critical areas. Except where noted, these workshops are required for students that plan to pursue a license in CA, and will be optional for all other students. The workshops are:

The experiential training courses are offered as required companion courses to the online course of the same name. These two day experientials allow students to practice their skills, engage in group work, and discuss these topics in depth and in person. The experientials are:

The ProSeminar courses take place for the last two days of the residential conferences. Each ProSeminar is designed to build on the student’s developmental level, and they are also used for Practicum and Internship supervision. The following is a list of ProSeminars: