Doctor of Philosophy

General Description
Purpose
Program Overview

General Description
The program of study is designed to carry the student through three levels in the educational process: praxis, theory, and philosophical foundations. Praxis enhances understanding of psychotherapeutic techniques and is an extension of the technical training received at the master's level. Theory deepens the student's understanding of the dynamics of the psyche and demonstrates the character, strength, and limits of and the relationship between various psychotherapeutic theories. Philosophical foundations enable the student to explore questions that undergird most theories in one way or another. Finally, each student will examine foundational issues and relate them to his/her own life and the practice of psychotherapy. It is the attention to the foundational level in relation to the theory and praxis that promises to make this doctoral program unique, and will best reflect the influence of our Judeo/Christian heritage and its most profound values.

The Ph.D. in Counseling for those entering with a Master's degree consists of a minimum of 78 credit hours. The Ph.D. program is structured for full time study of approximately three years. Students complete a substantial portion of their course work in the first two years of full time study, and then remain in residence for a third year, completing the dissertation and the 12 month internship.

The program for those entering without a Master's degree consists of a minimum of 118 semester hours. This program is designed for full time study only and requires approximately four years to complete.

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Purpose
The primary purposes of the doctoral program are to develop clinical counseling practitioners who are able to provide effective counseling and therapeutic services/interventions to a variety of client populations in human service agencies in the public and the private sector and to develop competent, knowledgeable, counselor educators. To accomplish this objective the clinical counseling practitioner's educational process includes practice and techniques of counseling, theories of counseling, and exposure to the Judeo-Christian philosophical values and beliefs that form the foundation of the educational process at St. Mary's University.

The program embodies the broad-based educational tradition which follows the professionally accepted model of practitioner/educator/researcher. The development of clinical counseling and therapeutic skills is emphasized. While research is an integral component, the objectives of the program are to produce highly skilled professional counseling practitioners and educators.

Broadly speaking, the intent is to produce counselors and educators who are thoroughly knowledgeable of the study of human problems, predisposing factors, and the implementation of therapeutic solutions. The first impulse of these types of counselors is to study what makes a thing what it is before acting upon it. They are skilled in helping those clients with whom they work to discover and to recover their subjectiveness. They are capable of achieving congruence in their personal needs, and are sufficiently secure in their own persons to commit themselves to the giving of self in order that individuals may become more fruitful because of their presence.

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Program Overview
The Ph.D. in Counseling is a traditional doctoral program, assembling a series of tasks which culminate in the awarding of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. These tasks, somewhat in chronological order, include:

• Admission to the program
• Assignment of a Doctoral Program Adviser
• Development of a plan of study
• Completion of the Graduate Battery
• Completion of all prerequisite courses
• Ongoing and continuous professional review
• Completion of all core course work
• Completion of all other course work
• Successful completion of the comprehensive examination
• Completion of the internship experience
• Application for and acceptance to candidacy
• Development and execution of a dissertation

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