About the Dual Degree Program
This dual degree enables graduates to implement both individual and systemic change in the mental health and public health fields, by integrating the tools of the counselor with the tools of public health. The Master of Arts in Counseling (MAC) prepares students to become competent and ethical mental health practitioners with a focus of training on assessment of and intervention with individuals, couples, families, and small groups. The Counseling program is accredited by the Masters in Psychology and Counseling Accreditation Council (MPCAC) and prepares graduates to become licensed as professional counselors (LPCs) in Pennsylvania. The Master of Public Health (MPH) is accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) and educates community health professionals to promote the health of individuals, families, communities, and the environment. The program prepares students to become public health practitioners with knowledge and skills applicable to the broad reach of the discipline and multidisciplinary needs of community health. Dual degree candidates must be accepted to each of the programs in order to enroll in the dual degree (only one application is required). With dual degrees, students gain knowledge in two fields as they prepare for their unique professional careers.
Public Health (MPH) Goals and Objectives
Our Master of Public Health (MPH) has a Community Health Concentration, and is offered through the College of Health Sciences. The MPH degree extends clinical health orientation by incorporating broader knowledge and action related to preventing disease and disability and improving individual and population-level outcomes. Public health is centered in achieving health equity and reducing disparities, including understanding and addressing the social and community context of disease, illness, disability and recovery, as well as health promotion and health research. Our MPH trains students to work effectively as public health professionals in local and global communities through a wide variety of health-related organizations.
Highlights of our program curricula includes the following:
- Program planning and evaluation
- Healthcare and broader public health policy
- Epidemiology, research methods, and biostatistics
- Public health communication for the community
- Capstone projects that integrate practice and research
- Internships that give students first-hand experience in public health settings
- Domestic and international service projects and internship opportunities
- Interprofessional education experiences
- Four dual-degree programs: Physician Assistant; International Peace and Conflict Resolution; Physical Therapy; and Counseling.
The MPH program educates future community public health professionals to promote the health of individuals, families, communities, and the environment. This is accomplished through a program that integrates education, research and practice in a globally-minded environment. Our goal is that our students:
- Understand community public health and develop the skills needed to succeed in a public health career.
- Are engaged in an academic, applied environment that integrates community public health education with research and practice.
- Recognize the connection between health status and human rights and act to improve outcomes.
- Translate knowledge into practice through collaborative service projects and internships, both domestically and internationally with community-based organizations, health facilities, government organizations, and local health departments.
- Employ scientific investigation to advance public health knowledge of the relationship between health and the structural environment within which individuals live and work.
Our program allows for broad interests in public health but we also encourage students to focus their coursework on a specific area of interest, choose an Internship experience that emphasizes their individualized interests, and plan a Capstone project focused in the same area. In this way, each student can develop a specialized knowledge base about public health issues related to his or her specific area of interest.
Our dual-degree programs train health professionals in the core areas of community-based public health. The application of the public health skill set added to the skills learned within the clinical and behavioral primary degree instills a public health perspective to blend and build an interdisciplinary career.
Counseling (MAC) Goals and Objectives
The Master of Arts in Counseling (MAC) educates and socializes students to become practitioners skilled in the art of behavior assessment and change. This is accomplished through a program that integrates theory and practice (both within and outside of the classroom) from the beginning of the program.
The program is structured to develop professional-level competence in:
- Applying an evidence-based model of counseling
- Integrating multicultural practice in counseling
- Developing the professional skills to pursue specific careers in counseling
- Incorporating self-care into their counseling careers
The Counseling program is a primarily in-person program. That is, a majority of courses and other educational and training experiences are offered in-person on campus. However, several courses, including all summer courses, are offered virtually. Of note, the format of students’ off-campus fieldwork (Practicum and Internship) depends on the specific site where students are training. Some sites are fully in-person, whereas others are primarily remote, and some operate in a hybrid form. The Counseling program cannot guarantee that students will be accepted to train at a site with their preferred format.
The GPC is accredited by the Master’s in Psychology and Counseling Accreditation Council (MPCAC). This dual degree satisfies current Pennsylvania course and credit requirements to sit for the NCE and to apply for licensure in Pennsylvania, after passing the NCE and after accumulating 3,000 hours of supervised work experience.
Dual Degree Goals and Objectives
Arcadia students will:
- Learn about public health and counseling principles from a global perspective.
- Integrate their public health education with their clinical counseling training through community projects/internships that enhance their clinical and community-based skills within the United States and/or internationally.
- Enhance understanding of the scope of public health issues surrounding individual patients and their relationships to their families and their larger communities.
- Combine the advocacy agendas proposed by both the public health and counseling fields to most effectively address individual and group problems.
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