Orlando Master of Arts Counseling Approach
COMMUNITY LIFE
"Life in Christ is by nature communal." - J. Knox Chamblin
1. Limited and selective enrollment.MAC enrollment is limited to 25 students per class with approximately one in four applicants being admitted to the counseling program. We keep our classes small in order to facilitate relationships among the students, enhance the classroom experience and provide intensive supervision once students enter the clinical component of the program.
2. Mandatory full-time, cohort-based program.All students admitted to the program must maintain full-time status for the duration of the program. Students progress through all core counseling courses as a group, or "cohort". Most of the courses have interactive and small-group discussion components that enhance class cohesion. The program is not designed for students looking to complete a degree by taking classes online or on a part-time basis.
3. Cohort-based clinical experience.MAC students enter the clinical practicum and internship experience at the same time in the same on-site clinic. By going through this experience together, students have the opportunity to counsel together and consult or pray with each other before and after sessions.
4. Gospel life-in-community.Students engage in regular community activities such as process groups, retreats and numerous group activities in the classroom. Students experience the joys and challenges of the MAC program together and support one another emotionally and spiritually.
ACADEMIC RELEVANCE
“[A seminary is] a safe place where great issues can be explored — where you can bring the gospel to life.” - Liam Atchinson
1. Integrating the study God and the study of those who bear his image. The MAC program emphasizes theology and psychology by requiring all counseling students to take several biblical and theological courses, including multiple courses related to the integration of psychology and theology. The program also emphasizes the two disciplines by approaching the theory and practice of counseling as a theological enterprise in all core counseling courses and in students' clinical experience.
2. All truth is God’s truth. Students in the MAC program will study biblical texts about soul care as well as counseling text books and psychological journal articles sometimes written by unbelieving authors. Students will learn to discern God’s truth and apply whatever is helpful as they are exposed to a wide-range of theories and literature.
3. Commitment to academic merit. Coursework in the MAC program meets or exceeds regional and national accreditation standards, so students are equipped to achieve mental health licensure, pursue further graduate studies in counseling or enter a wide-range of vocational options. Graduates have become mental health counselors, pastors, missionaries, consultants, doctoral students and professors.
RELATIONAL ORIENTATION
“Praying is no easy matter. It demands a relationship in which you allow someone other than yourself to enter into the very center of your person, to see there what you would rather leave in darkness, and to touch there what you would rather leave untouched.” – Henri Nouwen
1. God made us for relationship, and it is in relationship that sin-damaged souls are healed. Unlike the dominant secular models that often emphasize quick-fix remedies, we view counseling as a relational process where Gospel realities are realized not only through the relationship, but because of the relationship.
2. Redemptive relationships reflect God’s original design. As the Trinity, God has lived forever as Father, Son and Holy Spirit in perfect union and communion. As image-bearers of a Triune God, we have the extraordinary privilege of participating in this eternal joy. Counseling helps to unleash these desires.
3. Jesus lived and ministered in relationship. The incarnation of Christ reflects God’s heart to enter into redemptive relationship with his people. Rather than leaving us alone or prescribing a quick-fix, he entered the mess of sinful humanity to invite redemption and restoration. This becomes a model for our restorative work in the counseling room.
EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences… will have resonances with our own innermost being, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.” – Joseph Campbell
All MAC students counsel people from the community at the Oviedo Counseling Clinic, a mental health facility located at the seminary. Students receive supervision as individuals and in groups from professors and other licensed mental health counselors.
1. The “participatory” nature of Gospel living. The MAC program emphasizes more than intellectual or skill development. Our desire is to see our students men and women formed through an honest journey with God and each other. Students will be challenged on every level, and will experience a vast array of emotions in the classroom, the clinic and the student community.
2. Soul-churning compassion for others. Counselors are not emotionless conduits of information, but participants in a person’s struggle to become more whole. Clinical interns are exposed to a wide range of human suffering, and are guided into understanding their own emotions as they relate to clients.
3. The enlivening of the human heart. Through experiential retreats, classroom activities, clinical experiences, personal self-care, group activities and more, students are challenged to become more of who they were created to be in Christ. This aliveness spills over into rich and rewarding counseling relationships.
