Master of Arts in School Counseling 

Program Director:  Dr. Julia Davis
Field Education Director: Michelle Brandt, MSW, LSW 
Professor: Dr. Freda Ginsberg, MBA 
Associate Professor of Practice: Dr. Michelle Santiago

Program Mission:

The Master of Arts in School Counseling program in Moravian University’s School of Behavioral and Community Health provides students with state-of-the art training utilizing online, hybrid, and live classroom formats,  taught by seasoned school counselors and clinicians who are experts in the field. Graduates of the school counseling program will be trained to demonstrate their commitment to evidenced-based treatment, life-long learning, and counseling practice that is committed to social justice. The School Counseling degree requires 60 total credits/20 courses. As of March 24, 2023, the program was Certified by the Pennsylvanian Department of Education such that graduates of the program will be Certified School Counselors. The School Counseling Program is also designed to meet Pennsylvania’s academic and practicum/internship requirements for Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC). These requirements are outlined in PA Act 49.2. Graduates of the School Counseling Program will also earn 2 certificates upon graduation from the program including the: Trauma Certificate and the Tele-Health Certificate that is completed in the Practicum course. School Counseling students who choose to complete the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Certificate and would complete their degree with 66 credits instead of 60. 

Course Requirements

School Counseling Courses 

  • MCC 500 Helping Relationships 
  • MSC 510 Professional Orientation: Ethics and School Counseling
  • MCC 520 Career & Lifestyle Counseling 
  • MCC 530 Human Growth & Development 
  • MCC 535 Assessment for Counselors
  • MSC 545 Counseling Students with Disabilities and Diagnoses
  • MCC 550 Counseling Theory 
  • MCC 560 Social and Cultural Foundations 
  • MSC 570 Group Theory and Practice for School Counselors
  • MCC 580 Research Design & Methodology 
  • MCC 640 Human Sexuality Across the Lifespan 

Certificate Courses

1. Trauma Certificate:

  • MCC 600 Trauma Informed Practice
  • MCC 605 Advanced Trauma Topics 
  • MCC 610 Grief & Bereavement 
  • MCC 615 Crisis Intervention 

2. CBT Certificate*: (taken only if graduating with 66 credits)*

  • MCC 620 Cognitive Behavioral Therapy 
  • MCC 625 Third Wave Cognitive Behavioral Modalities 

3. Tele-Health Certificate - completed in MCC 680 Practicum

Clinical Sequence

  • MCC 680: Clinical Practicum
  • MSC 685 Internship Supervision I: School Counseling
  • MSC 686 Internship Supervision II: School Counseling 

Field Placement

Before you begin your practicum and internship, you will meet with the Direct of Field Placement to discuss areas of interest, skill development and career goals. Most students interview at several sites/schools before deciding where they want to do their field placement work. The Director of Field Placement can suggest a local partner or you can suggest and explore potential sites of interest. 

The supervision classes that you take concurrently with your field placement experience provide both supervisory and peer support to help you integrate and process experiences, learnings, and understandings. To graduate, school counseling students must complete at least 700 hours of supervised field placement experience, which meets the Pennsylvania requirements for licensure as a Licensed Professional Counselor. As well, to become a Certified K-12 School Counselor upon graduation from the program, school counseling students must complete a placement in an elementary school setting, as well as one in a highschool setting. 

School Counseling Courses (all courses 3 credits each)

MCC 500: Helping Relationships: This course will teach students the fundamental techniques used in the helping processes so they may develop a proficiency in using them. Students will be required to reflect upon their use of the micro-counseling attending skills and critically analyze their work. The course will emphasize students’ ability to create an effective counseling relationship and professional counseling environment.

MSC 510: Professional Orientation: Ethics & School Counseling: This course examines the history, professional roles, specializations, organizations, credentialing, and ethical and legal issues in the counseling field. The course addresses counselors’ professional identity formation, advocacy duties, self-care, and ethical decision making. The course will cover the American Counseling Association Code of Ethics and PA jurisprudence. 

MCC 520: Career and Lifestyle Counseling: This course covers theories and research on career development, and methods of career counseling and assessment. The course will require students to both explore their own career development, as well as learn how to conceptualize and provide intervention for the career development of their clients. Attention will be paid in this course to the intersection of career and life issues, as well as how career work is informed by the multicultural identities of clients.

MCC 530: Human Growth and Development: This course examines the research and theories of human development across the lifespan, focusing on physical, emotional, cognitive, and psychosocial development. Normal development will be stressed, but aspects of atypical development, and developmental challenges will also be considered. Lifespan and developmental stages will all be contextualized through the lens of a multicultural framework.

MCC 535: Assessment for Counselors: This course will cover the practical, ethical, and multiculturally competent administration of individual assessment and testing instruments in counseling. Students will learn to use assessments and test results to enhance their clinical interventions. Course content will prepare students to analyze, interpret, and evaluate assessment reports and recommendations from third parties.

MSC 545: Counseling Students with Disabilities and Diagnoses: This course will cover the current DSM Diagnostic system, and the characteristics, etiology and contributing factors of specific disabilities and diagnoses found in school aged children. The course will address evidence-based interventions for these disabilities and diagnoses, and in particular, school-based consultation practices. Students will also learn the DSM categories that are relevant for adults, and specifically, those with which their parents or family members may be struggling.

MCC 550: Counseling Theories: This course provides an overview of the major classical and contemporary theoretical approaches to individual counseling and how counselors put these theories into practice. Students will consider counseling theories through a multicultural and feminist lens to understand their client’s behavior. Students will discern how to integrate counseling theories into their own counseling practice.

MCC 560: Social and Cultural Foundations: In this course students will explore multicultural theory, research and treatment modalities. Students will learn how to develop their knowledge, awareness and skills for working with diverse clientele in counseling. The course requires students to examine both their own and clients’ complex cultural identity with a particular focus on privilege and oppression and how these identities inform the counseling process. Special topics examined in this course include, but are not limited to: race, ethnicity, social class, ability, biological sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, language, religion, immigration, and nationality.

MSC 570: Group Counseling for School Counselors: This course teaches the student to apply the theory and practice of group counseling as it is utilized in elementary and secondary school settings. This applied course will focus on the facets of group counseling including: ethics, legalities, diversity, development, dynamics, process, methods, roles, and leadership styles and skills. Students will be required to co-lead a peer group in the classroom setting.

MCC 580: Research Design and Methodology: This course offers an overview of common research designs and analytical methods used in the behavioral sciences. The fundamentals of research will be covered including: the role of the literature review, theory, study construction, method design, and ethics. Students learn how to select appropriate research designs, employ data collection procedures, and write a research proposal.

MCC 600: Trauma Informed Counseling: This course serves as an overview of trauma-informed care in counseling. Course content will cover historical trauma treatment, as well as current approaches that include cognitive, neurological, psychological, biochemical, developmental, and interpersonal aspects of trauma work. Consideration will be given to trauma- based diagnoses, how trauma prevails in specific populations, and the sociopolitical realities that traumatize some more than others.

MCC 605: Advanced Trauma Topics: This course covers advanced trauma care topics that build upon the knowledge gained and skills developed in the MCC 694 Trauma Informed Care course. The topics covered in this course will include vicarious traumatization of the service provider, treatment strategies for insidious and complex trauma and related dissociative disorders, how the brain responds to trauma, how socio-political oppression informs individuals’ trauma, and how the intergenerational transmission of trauma presents in clients’ trauma narratives and presenting symptomatology.

MCC 610: Grief and Bereavement: This course explores the complexity of how people struggle with grief and bereavement. In particular, the course will cover the cultural, emotional, psychological, physical, and spiritual dimensions of grief and bereavement across the lifespan. Students will examine current models of grief theory and recovery treatment. Emphasis will be placed on therapeutic strategies for facilitating holistic grief work in counseling.

MCC 615: Crisis Intervention: This course is an overview of crisis intervention. Major theoretical models of situational crises are examined and operationalized across a variety of service delivery systems. Students will develop conceptual competency necessary for professionals engaged in crisis interventions. Special emphasis is given to contemporary research in suicidology, disaster psychology, and crisis management for public schools. Topics of discussion include emergency situations such as natural disasters, terrorism, school violence, abuse, and crisis interventions with diverse populations.

MSC 640: School Counselors Working with English Language Learners: This course prepares future school counselors to work with English language learners (ELLs) in K-12 school settings.  The course will teach students the techniques, ethical decision making, and assessment methods effective for use with this unique student group. The course will help students to develop their multicultural competence and advocacy skills in their work with ELLs, their families, and other professionals in the school environment.

MCC 640 Sexuality Across the Lifespan: This course will cover human sexuality across the lifespan as it construes an important aspect of one’s identity and relationships with others. Course material will explore biological, social, and psychological facets of human sexuality, including development, identity, expression, and dysfunction. This course will not cover sex therapy.

MSC 650: School Guidance Program Administration: Students will be introduced to the theory and practice of school guidance programs. Students will develop an understanding of the history of school guidance programs and will be given the tools to design, implement, and evaluate a comprehensive guidance program. Students will also learn how to put technological tools to practice in school guidance programs and across school settings.

MCC 680: Practicum: This weekly supervision course serves as the entry level field experience in the school counseling masters program. Students are expected to complete 100 hours of field experience in an approved school, institution, or agency. The Practicum requires a minimum of 40-direct service hours as well as indirect service hours. Each week students will participate in 3 hours of weekly instruction and group supervision with faculty and fellow Practicum students, as well as a minimum of 1-hour weekly on-site-supervision. Students will present cases, site updates, and ethical dilemmas to enhance self-awareness and clinical skills. The Practicum Instructor and Site Supervisor will oversee students’ performance to determine student’s satisfactory completion of the Practicum experience. Prerequisites for Practicum: MCC 500 Helping Relationships, MSC 510 Professional Orientation: Ethics and Counseling; MCC 530 Human Development; MCC 535 Assessment for Counselors, MCC 550 Counseling Theory, MCC 560 Social and Cultural Foundations.

MSC 685 & 686: Internship I & II: School Counseling: This weekly clinical supervision course (Internship I or II) serves as the 2nd and 3rd in the clinical field experience sequence in the masters of school counseling program. The internship offers the opportunity for school counseling students to synthesize and apply what they have learned in an actual school counseling setting. Students are expected to complete 300 hours of field experience in an approved school in both Internship I and II, totaling 600 hours. Each Internship requires a minimum of 120-direct client contact service hours as well as indirect service hours including: intake sessions, individual and family and group counseling, classroom guidance, and psycho-educational outreach programs. School counseling students must complete one internship in an elementary school setting, and the other in a secondary school setting. Each week students will participate in 3 hours of weekly instruction and group supervision with faculty and fellow internship students, as well as a minimum of 1-hour weekly on-site-supervision from a Certified School Counselor. Internship students will present cases, site updates, and ethical dilemmas to enhance self-awareness and clinical skills. The Internship Instructor and Certified School Counselor Supervisor will oversee students’ performance to determine student’s satisfactory completion of the School Counseling Internship experience.