Students emerge from our program with training experiences that make them highly competitive to attain positions in academia, mental health organizations, and other related occupations across community contexts.
This program began when a handful of visionaries decided to leverage the enormous strengths of Boston College and the vibrant Boston psychological community to train Counseling Psychologists equipped to advocate for social justice through their clinical work, research, teaching, leadership, and outreach. They succeeded.
We aspire to cultivate the highest level of competence in our students to conduct rigorous and cutting-edge research, to refine their clinical skills based in multiple theoretical orientations, and to ensure that all students have opportunities to advocate for social justice through their research, clinical work, teaching, and outreach. Our aim is to produce the next generation of counseling psychologists who are poised to make critical advances in our field that expand beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries and clinical settings.
This program consists of 24 courses.
You'll need a minimum of five years of full-time study. Students entering without a master's degree in counseling or a related field often need longer.
You can begin the program only in the fall semester.
median number of years to complete the program
The program is designed to qualify candidates for membership in the American Psychological Association (APA) and its Division 17 (Counseling Psychology), and to provide the pre-doctoral educational requirements for licensure as a psychologist in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and for inclusion in the National Register of Health Care Providers.
1. Students demonstrate foundational knowledge, and identification with, the field of psychology, generally and counseling psychology, specifically.
2. Students demonstrate competency as theorists, researchers, and scholars, who are knowledgeable of the ways in which practice influences science.
3. Students demonstrate competency as practitioners and are knowledgeable of the ways in which science influences practice.
4. Students demonstrate social justice practices in their professional work.
The Counseling Psychology Ph.D. program at Boston College has been accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of the American Psychological Association (APA) since 1982 when it received full accreditation. The program has been continuously accredited since that time. For more information, contact the American Psychological Association.
As part of this accreditation, the program is required to disclose specific educational/training outcomes and other information to prospective doctoral students.
Our APA accredited program achieves its mission and aims by remaining steadfastly committed to providing outstanding training in the scientist-practitioner model, which emphasizes a developmental contextual perspective with attention to the intersectionality of multiple forms of diversity, and a firm commitment to social justice and community-based practice. Our degree candidates have access to a breadth of top-notch practice opportunities in diverse mental health settings, including universities, schools, hospitals, and outpatient community mental health facilities. They are closely mentored by our internationally recognized counseling psychology faculty, who are applying their cutting-edge and purposeful research to address some of the most complex and challenging questions facing our society. Students are exposed to areas of research spanning school, workplace, community, and international concerns, including immigration, trauma resiliency and recovery, domestic violence, the psychology of working, bias-based bullying, culture, race, and gender issues, youth mentoring, and positive youth development.
Questions related to the program’s accredited status should be directed to the Commission on Accreditation:
Office of Program Consultation and Accreditation
American Psychological Association
750 1st Street, NE, Washington, DC 20002
Phone: (202) 336-5979 / E-mail: apaaccred@apa.org
Web: www.apa.org/ed/accreditation
Direct admit students will be required to take 2-3 courses (3 credits each) in addition to those listed in the program of study. (They may also need to take 1-2 prerequisites courses depending on their background.) At the end of their second year and the successful completion of the master's comprehensive exam, they will receive their master's degrees. Additionally, direct admit students will be required to complete three years of practicum training. Students will work individually with their advisor and the Program Director to determine their specific plan of study.
Seminar: Counseling Theory
Deepens students' understanding of psychological theory, and facilitates a life-long journey of integrating theory with practice. Provides knowledge and understanding of traditional and contemporary theories of psychotherapy, and helps students develop a critical perspective that will enable them to evaluate the usefulness of these theories for their clinical work with clients. Class discussions cast a critical eye on the development of the discipline, including its philosophical and contextual roots, and analyze the values inherent in mainstream psychological practice. Considers strengths and limitations of each school, and uses case examples to gain expertise in applying theory to practice.
Seminar: Professional Issues in Counseling Psychology
This course traces the development of school counseling as a profession, and helps students understand the major functions of school counselors. Students gain an understanding of schools as dynamic organizations and learn to recognize and appreciate the intersection of family, school, culture, and community. Professional issues related to the practice of school counseling are examined, and recent innovations in the field are reviewed.
Seminar in Career Development
Advanced doctoral-level seminar on career development theory and research and on the psychology of working. First part of course consists of critical review of major approaches to understanding career behavior and development, empirical support for prevailing theoretical constructs, and empirical efforts related to career interventions. Special attention to issues specific to persons of color, women, gays, lesbians, individuals with disabling conditions, working-class adults, and non-college-bound youth. Examines space between work and interpersonal relationships.
Seminar: Counseling Psychology in Context: Social Action, Consultation, and Collaboration
Accompanying the First Year Experience (FYE) practicum, exposes students to research and practice at the meso- (community, organizations) and macro (government, policy, social norms) levels, in addition to the more traditional micro (individual) level. Students discuss their personal experiences within their FYE placement and read and discuss a series of articles and chapters central to the developing fields of critical psychology, liberation psychology, or counseling with a social justice orientation.
Critical Perspectives on the Psychology of Race, Class, and Gender
Using social and critical psychological frameworks, introduces multiple strategies for thinking culturally about select psychological constructs and processes (for example, the self, family and community relations, and socio-political oppression). Also pays particular attention to race and class as sociocultural constructs important for the critical analysis of the relationships of culture and psychology. Explores the implications of these constructs for intercultural collaboration, advocacty, and action.
Students will take the below 7 courses will choose one (3-credit) advanced course in statistics and research.
Intermediate Statistics
Prerequisite: APSY/MESA6410 Introductory Statistics
Topics and computer exercises address tests of means, partial and part correlations, multiple regression, analysis of variance with planned and post hoc comparisons, analysis of covariance, repeated measures analysis, elements of experimental design, and power analysis.
General Linear Models
Addresses the construction, interpretation, and application of linear statistical models. Specifically, lectures and computer exercises cover ordinary least squares regression models; matrix algebra operations; parameter estimation techniques; missing data options; power transformations; exploratory versus confirmatory model building; linear-model diagnostics, sources of multicollinearity; diagnostic residual analysis techniques; variance partitioning procedures; dummy, effect, and orthogonal coding procedures; and an introduction to structural equation modeling.
Quantitative Research Design in Counseling and Developmental Psychology
In this year-long seminar, students examine quantitative research designs and application employed in the Counseling and Developmental Psychology literatures, including randomized, nonrandomized, cross-sectional, and longitudinal designs. Students present and critique published research exemplifying specific designs, propose empirical studies that could advance counseling and developmental psychology, and present findings from their own empirical work.
Qualitative Research Methods
Introduces the foundations and techniques of carrying out qualitative research. Topics include philosophical underpinnings, planning for a qualitative research project, negotiating entry, ethics of conducting research, data collection and analysis, and writing/presenting qualitative research. Requires a research project involving participant observation and/or interviewing.
Dissertation Seminar in Counseling/Developmental Psychology
This course is designed to assist students in the preparation of a formal doctoral dissertation intent. All aspects of dissertation development will be discussed. Students must present a series of draft proposals for faculty and student reaction. An acceptable dissertation intent is required for completion of the course.
Dissertation Direction
Dissertation related course work for advanced doctoral students.
Advanced Psychological Assessment
Provides an introduction to a variety of assessment tools commonly used to diagnose psychological disorders and inform treatment planning for children, adolescents, and adults. Assessment tools covered in this course include projective and personality tests, intelligence tests, tests of achievement, neuropsychological tests, and symptom checklists. Focus will be upon the theory, administration, scoring, and interpretation of these tools. Critical issues in the use of these measures, including ethical, psychometric, social, and legal concerns will be addressed. Students will complete and present integrated test batteries.
Advanced Seminar in Psychopathology
Prerequisite: APSY7543 Psychopathology or equivalent
A developmental approach to understanding psychological disorders across the life span. The course will examine the emergence of a range of disorders in children, adolescents, and adults (e.g., depression, violent and abusive behavior). Particular attention will be paid to factors that increase risk and resilience. The implications for prevention and intervention strategies will be discussed.
History of Psychology
This course surveys the philosophical roots and the development of psychological thought from the Grecian and medieval periods to the present. Topics include: doctrines of human nature in early Greek philosophy; emergence of science in the post-Renaissance period; contributions of Descartes, Locke, the British empiricists and associationists to mental philosophy; major developments in nineteenth-century physiology; Darwin's evolutionary theory and its implications for psychology; emergence of psychology as an independent discipline; the rise and demise of the major systematic schools in psychology--structuralism, functionalism, Gestalt, behaviorism and psychoanalysis and, an overview of recent theoretical developments and controversies in contemporary psychology.
Biological Bases of Behavior
This course reviews a variety of topics within the biological bases of bahavior, employing a neuroanatomical starting point. Students learn neuroanatomy in some detail; moreover, course explores basic mechanics of the nervous system, basic psychopharmacology, and sensation and perception. Also examines cognitive functions associated with different regions of the brain as well as neurodevelopmental, psychiatric, and neurological disorders. In addition, students will have opportunity to read some of the more contemporary writings in the field of neuroscience.
Cognitive-Affective Bases of Behavior
This course discusses theories of human development and examines empirical research on cognitive and affective processes underlying behavior. In addressing the cognitive bases of behavior, it explores key mental processes (e.g., attention, memory, problem solving) and constructs (e.g., schemas, heuristics) that have been instrumental in understanding everyday functioning. The socio-affective bases of behavior addressed in the course include emotions, temperament, and self-concept. The students in this course explore fundamental theoretical questions, such as the role of biology and environment in development, and consider practical applications of current theoretical and empirical knowledge concerning the bases of human behavior.
Advanced Topics: Social Psychology
An advanced seminar covering the scholarship of social psychology.