Over the past two decades, Gordon College has been expanding its educational opportunities, providing a multitude of postgraduate programs. With the now 25 available programs, Gordon College has given students an easy way to transition into an opportunity for further education, including the continuation of faith-based educational growth. Even though many Master’s programs here can have psychological implications, we have yet to see the initiation of a program that directs towards therapeutic occupations, this is until this past year. What many of you may not have known is that over the past few months, the Psychology department has been focused on starting a brand new Master’s in Counseling Program to start this upcoming fall semester, 2026.
I had the wonderful opportunity this past week to speak with Psychology Department’s Chair, Professor Kaye Cook, who is taking on the role of faculty lead for the program’s development, and Dr. David Cook, the program director for the Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. Dr. D. Cook also worked at an inpatient facility, along with teaching a few classes here, giving him lots of experience with different psychology career paths. Both professors have worked at Gordon extensively for many years, and Dr. D. Cook expressed his excitement to have a more involved role at Gordon.
We began our meeting by breaking down the program, starting with the basic aspects of what to expect once you decide to apply. These first steps involve a written paper application, and then followed by an interview with both Dr. D. Cook and Dr. K. Cook, along with the other coordinators of the program, in which they are still looking to fill these roles. The process of getting into graduate school is simple, but the material you are learning and the positions you are to fill can be time-consuming and challenging. “It matters in your undergrad how responsible you are, but grad school, this is why we are doing the interviews, because we don’t want just anybody…” Dr. K. Cook on the reason behind the interviews for acceptance. Their goal is to make sure that the people enrolled in the program want to be there.
Once the interview process is over, the next step is to take a two week inentsive the summer before you start your first graduate semester. Once you begin your first semester, the steps are all to help prep and train you for your practicum and eventually your internship that goes along with the program. Because this is a graduate-level practicum, the organizations you are placed in expect your help and want you to be prepared to help successfully. It’s important to take the time and prep students with work ethics in psychology, proper terminology, and proper awareness of in-field work first, before they begin their practicum in semester two of their first year. The practicum requires 100-hours and your later internship requires 600 hours over the two-year program.
Dr. D. Cook helped clarify the potential counseling educational directions of the program as well: “The degree is designed to provide the academic component of licensure for both tracks. One of them is more clinically focused in the hospital. For example, if you have a counseling inquiry, it’s not as easy to work in a hospital, so there are two sets of licenses, but it opens up more space in which to practice…” What he means here is that both tracks, the counseling track and the clinical track, give you the education and the license to work in an
array of different psychological positions; the difference is that each path’s approach is focused differently. Even though some psychology students might know they just want to work in a private practice doing one-on-one therapy, the counseling path will most likely be the route for you. But if you are interested in working in a hospital or medical environment at any point, the way the clinical track is taught, teaches you the approach used in those environments.
The program’s length is a 2-year program priced at only $700 a credit, with each class being 3 credits, bringing you to a required total of 60 credits in just two years in the program, along with a 20% discount for Gordon students who are accpeted into the program. The highest-rated graduate school pricing can be set at $1700 a credit, making this program a reasonable option for many students in comparison to other schools. There will be, similar to Covid times, an asynchronous choice for individuals who choose to participate in the program online, but depending on licensing, some states require in-person attendance to get approved for licensing.
This leads us to the importance of understanding what you should know going into the program. Due to the difference in counseling licensures from state to state, it’s important that you have an understanding of what the laws are around this in the state you plan to practice in. “For example, only 2 states offer the master’s at the psychology level. But another 19 states and the jurisdiction of DC offer what’s called a licensed practice….”, Dr. D. Cook on the complexity of these legal requirements in counseling. If you are unaware of what they state in which you want to practice requires for licensing, you could potentially complete you masters with not all the requirements you need to counsel in that state.
The program is designed to support your career needs. If you are planning to start your practice in Vermont, the program will make sure that you meet all the requirements to ensure your practice is applicable in Vermont. Even though there is support for this, you must take the steps and communicate with your advisor about these details.
Some other ways this program is unique are through its accessibility and accommodation for success. New Gordon+ classes to be offered in the fall, when the program begins, will replace a few classes currently offered on campus, but allow you to get the undergraduate credits you would normally get for the class, while also getting credits fulfilled for your potential master’s program. This allows students to get ahead of credits before even applying for the program. Another extremely important factor here that all students should know is that all you need is a bachelor’s degree to apply for the program; no specific degree in psychology is necessary. Whether your focus is Christian theology or music, you could add a two-year understanding of the brain, and create even more accessibility in your chosen path.
What makes this program so different from other psychology programs is the flexibility you have in your career choices. Many counseling masters only offer the philosophical approaches to counseling, which is a huge piece in understanding the methods in therapy, but not. Also, give you the clinical and medical approaches that go with counseling. Because these qualifications are interlaced into both pathways, you have the education to have more career opportunities, and all for a reasonable price in comparison to other graduate schools. “I feel like from other places, one of the distinct things of the program is going to be the advisors you are available to work with… this has not been my experience in some other grad program…” Dr. K. Cook on the ways this program is unique from other graduate programs.
Dr. K. and Dr. D. Cook recommend three initiatives to take if this program sounds interesting to you. First, determine what path you would be interested in: education taught in Mental Health counseling, Clinical counseling, or health services. This will help your advisors determine which master’s path to take and the requirements you will need. The second important initiative is to look into the location where you want to be licensed. Even if you are not positive on where you will end up living after grad school, narrowing down the locations you will help your advisors rule out what specific requirements you need to accomplish here, so you can effectively get licensing in those states. Finally, if this program could be of interest to you, talk with your advisor, who can help plan your possible transition from school into the program. “If you do have any questions, feel free to reach out to Dr. Kaye, or myself…”, as Dr. D. Cook says here, both Dr. Cooks are happy to answer any possible questions you have regarding the program. With all the excitement about this new opportunity, it would be highly worth it for psychology, social welfare, and even other interested majors to invest some time into the program and see if it would be a good fit for your educational journey.
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