Department of Counseling - Gallaudet University

Gallaudet University's Department of Counseling, founded in 1971, prepares highly qualified M.A.-level counselors eligible for licensure as professional counselors in most states. The training provided in this department uniquely prepares graduates to work with individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing, with or without additional disabilities, by developing a core set of competencies in all students with specializations in school and mental health counseling.

The programs of study are broadly designed to include formal classes and extensive supervised practicum and internship experiences leading to the master of arts degree. The curriculum includes courses from the departments of Counseling; ASL and Deaf Studies; Educational Foundations and Research; and Hearing, Speech, and Language Sciences. Elective courses are also available through the Consortium of Universities of the Washington Metropolitan Area. All counseling programs are open to deaf, hard of hearing, hearing, physically disabled, and physically able people who are eligible for admission to the Graduate School. Provisions are made to facilitate participation of deaf and hard of hearing students in all phases of the programs, via the use of sign language and notetakers.

In addition to the teaching faculty, a large number of outstanding professionals from the Washington, D.C., area lecture and participate in the training programs. Practicum sites are available on and off campus. They include mainstream, day, and residential schools for deaf students as well as public and private agencies serving deaf people. Internship sites are located around the country and include residential schools and postsecondary programs, community-based counseling centers, and mental health agencies.

Federal grant funds, stipends, and tuition assistance have been made available for students in the mental health counseling program through the Rehabilitation Services Administration, and for school counseling and guidance majors (including summers-only) through the U.S. Department of Education.

Successful communication with deaf, deaf-blind and hard of hearing clients who utilize sign language as their preferred mode of communication requires professional counselors to achieve a minimum ASL proficiency level. Therefore, all Department of Counseling students are expected to demonstrate a required level of proficiency in American Sign Language on the GU-ASLPI (Gallaudet University American Sign Language Proficiency Interview) before being allowed to begin fieldwork.

Department History

Gallaudet University's Department of Counseling was established in 1971, we were the first academic department to offer postgraduate training in counseling with deaf, deaf-blind, and hard of hearing individuals. Program development and expansion have always been guided by the desire to equip counselors to respond to the psychosocial and developmental needs of these individuals. In response to the need for professional school counselors at residential schools for deaf children, most the department established the School Counseling and Guidance MA program.

By 1975, the Rehabilitation Counseling MA program was added to address the personnel shortages in both State Vocational Rehabilitation agencies and the emerging community-based counseling programs serving young adults and adults. In 1986, the Department added an MA program specialization in Mental Health Counseling. This program has sought to prepare counselors to work with the segment of the population that has severe and chronic mental health issues. Finally, in 1997 the Department elected to replace the Rehabilitation Counseling program with a Community Counseling specialization. The Community Counseling Program remained open until 1999. In 2006, the Department of Counseling created the Certificate Program in Cultural Diversity and Human Services.

Mission

The Department of Counseling prepares graduates to be multiculturally competent professional mental health or school counselors, able to work skillfully with deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing clients of diverse backgrounds in a variety of settings. Our training models emphasize the development of cultural self-awareness, sensitivity, knowledge, and skills essential to becoming effective and ethical practitioners who are able to influence individual, group, organizational, and systemic changes that promote health and well-being for all persons in the context of social justice and multiculturalism. Faculty members are committed to promoting interpersonal values which support our professional relations with others. These values include compassion, self-awareness, genuineness, commitment to social justice, and an authentic appreciation of diversity.

Department Objectives

To develop and promote a learning environment that encourages critical thinking and self-evaluation, inquiry, teamwork, and the discovery of new knowledge and insight.
To encourage and create meaningful didactic and experiential learning opportunities among students and faculty for multicultural relationship building through interpersonal and intergroup reflection, dialogue, and action for social change on individual, group, and systemic levels.
To have students be able to recognize their own personal biases, assumptions, values and beliefs and how they impact in either ways that hinder or enhance their relationships with others who are culturally different from them.
To have students recognize the cultural values implicit in traditional Western European counseling theory and practice, and be open to multiple perspectives inclusive of indigenous and alternative helping approaches.
To have students understand the socio-political forces of oppression that have impacted the identity and perspective of culturally diverse individuals, and social identity groups in the United States, particularly those who are deaf/hard of hearing.
To have students apply multiple theoretical perspectives, skills, and intervention techniques that are culturally relevant and consistent with the client's life experiences and cultural values.
To have students learn how to effectively balance within their practice the individualistic unique needs (of clients) with the collectivistic reality that our identities are embedded in multiple contexts of our families, communities, cultures, and so forth.
To have students learn how to effect change not only on the individual and family level, but also on the organizational and systemic levels for the purpose of achieving social justice and equity in school and mental health settings that are inherently oppressive and discriminating toward culturally diverse minority groups.
To promote students in the development of a professional identity as multiculturally competent mental health or school counselors and members of relevant professional organizations

Accreditation

Full program accreditation continues to be a priority with the Department of Counseling. As a result, graduates of the counseling programs have the opportunity to become fully certified and licensed in their fields after graduation. The MA program in School Counseling is fully accredited by the District of Columbia, the National Council on the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), the National Association of State Directors of Teacher Education and Certification (NASDTEC), and the Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). The MA program in Mental Health counseling earned full CACREP accreditation on its first application in 1992 and, to this day, continues full accreditation status.