Counseling

Doctoral Degree Program

Opportunities for graduate studies

The counseling program at the University of North Texas offers professional training at the bachelor's, master's and doctoral levels. This training is designed to prepare you for a variety of counseling settings, such as a school or university, community agency, church, private practice, or business and industry.

The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs [CACREP, 1001 North Fairfax Street, Suite 510, Alexandria, Va. 22314, 703-535-5990, http://www.cacrep.org], has conferred accreditation on the Ph.D. track as well as the elementary school counseling (M.Ed. and M.S.), secondary school counseling (M.Ed. and M.S.), college and university counseling (M.Ed. and M.S.), and community counseling (M.Ed. and M.S.) tracks. CACREP is a specialized accrediting body recognized by the Council on Postsecondary Accreditation.

The UNT counseling program has won several honors and awards. It was the first in the nation to receive the Association for Counselor Education and Supervision's (ACES) Outstanding Program Award and earned that recognition again in 2000. The counseling program faculty members also received that Association's "Publication in Counselor Education and Supervision" award for their 2004 book, The Professional Counselor: Portfolio, Competencies, Performance Guidelines, and Assessment (third edition). In addition, since 1998 when U.S. News and World Report began ranking counseling and counseling psychology programs housed in colleges of education, the UNT program has been ranked for seven consecutive years among the top 20 programs in the U.S. and first in Texas.

The Ph.D. with a major in counseling is designed to stimulate student inquiry, develop advanced knowledge and enhance counseling skills. With a Ph.D. in counseling, you are prepared to function as a counselor educator; counselor supervisor; counselor in colleges, universities, agencies and private practice; director of guidance and counseling programs in schools; researcher and administrator upon graduation.

The academic core emphasizes counseling and counseling-related areas while giving you sufficient flexibility to develop expertise in your area of specialization. A research core and either a minor or an elective are included in the course of study.

The doctoral track is theoretical and experiential. All first-year students are required to take a two-semester, on-campus advanced practicum under direct supervision. A two-semester internship is required near the end of the doctoral program.

The doctoral track meets academic specifications for Texas licensure as a professional counselor.

Admission requirements

You must meet the admission requirements of the Toulouse School of Graduate Studies You are responsible for knowing and meeting all conditions and deadline dates in the graduate catalog, which is available online at www.unt.edu/catalog. You must also meet the specific requirements for the counseling program:

• completed application for admission to the doctoral program in counseling
• master's degree from an accredited college or university that, alone or with deficiency course work, constitutes the equivalent of a CACREP-accredited counseling program master's degree (You must send official transcripts from all graduate institutions attended.)
• a minimum 3.5 GPA on all graduate course work
• GRE verbal score of at least 340, a quantitative score of at least 370 and completion of the analytical writing portion with no minimum required score - for advising purposes only
• three professional references completed on forms provided by the program
• resume including professional experience and creative endeavors
• written permission from the counseling program doctoral admissions committee chair to participate in the doctoral admissions examinations only when the foregoing items are on file in the counseling program office
• completed written and oral doctoral admission examinations (Admission examinations for the counseling program are offered once each academic year early in the spring semester.
• completed the counseling practicum (COUN 5690) or equivalent with a grade of B or higher

Degree requirements

The Ph.D. degree requires a minimum of 66 semester hours beyond the master's degree, of which approximately 45 hours are specified. An additional 9 hours are required in approved tool subject courses, but the requirement can be waived in some cases.

Core courses (45 hours)

• COUN 6021 Advanced Practicum in Counseling I
• COUN 6022 Advanced Practicum in Counseling II
• COUN 6031 and 6032 Internship (Placement is selected in cooperation with the internship director and the major adviser. Placement in the setting must be approved by the program.)
• COUN 6090 Counselor Supervision
• COUN 6130 Research in Counseling
• COUN 6651 Advanced Theories of Counseling
• COUN 6652 Teaching Counselor Education
• COUN 6680 Ethical, Legal and Professional Issues in Counseling
• COUN 6950 Doctoral Dissertation (12 hours)
• EPSY 6010 Statistics for Educational Research
• EPSY 6020 Research Methods in Education

Counseling specialty (9 hours)

Adolescent and adult counseling, biofeedback, career/vocation development, college/university counseling, couple/family counseling, group counseling, play therapy, rehabilitation counseling or school counseling

Elective or minor (12 hours)

Counseling and/or non-counseling courses

Tool subject courses (9 hours)

Computer science, educational research and/or psychology courses (May be waived in some cases.)

You may enroll in counseling core courses only after you have been admitted to the doctoral program.

Services of the counseling program

Counseling and Human Development Center

The center offers individual counseling for clients of all ages as well as couple, family and group counseling. Low-cost counseling services are provided by counselors-in-training under the supervision of counseling program faculty members using the latest in audiovisual technology.

Child and Family Resource Clinic

The clinic provides diagnostic and remedial services to children, adolescents, adults and families experiencing difficulties at home or school. Graduate students in the counseling program acquire valuable field experience by providing the low-cost services of the clinic under the supervision of counseling program faculty members.

Center for Play Therapy

The center conducts research, provides a directory of play therapy training programs in the U.S., publishes The World of Play Therapy Literature: A Definitive Guide to Authors and Subjects in the Field, and offers special workshops and courses in play therapy. With eight fully equipped play therapy rooms and video equipment, the center has the world's largest play therapy training program.

Biofeedback Research and Training Laboratory

Through the laboratory, biofeedback treatment of a variety of stress-related disorders is available on a sliding-scale fee basis. Biofeedback treatment is provided under counseling program faculty supervision by graduate counselors-in-training who are preparing to become nationally certified as biofeedback therapists.

Center for Animal-Assisted Therapy

The center trains professionals and volunteers to work with their pets to facilitate the development of students in kindergarten through 12th grade with pet-assisted educational programs and to enhance the emotional well-being of people of all ages through positive human-animal interactions. Workshops and courses are offered for national certification training for people who wish to work with their pets to perform animal-assisted volunteer service or provide professional animal-assisted therapy.

Continuing education opportunities

Each year the counseling program offers conferences at which nationally known speakers present current perspectives on issues in counseling. Licensed professional counselors, nationally certified counselors and Texas licensed marriage and family therapists may earn continuing education credit by attending these conferences:
Animal-assisted therapy training workshops (September and April)
Play Therapy Conference (October)
Summer Play Therapy Institute (July)
Institute in Counselor Supervision (January or February)