Over the years, the word “counselor” has been used to describe any person who performs counseling.  But the term ‘professional counselor’ qualitatively distinguishes those professionals who provide therapeutic services from others who may use the title counselor with other services such as credit counselor, sales counselor, or investment counselor. Professional counseling is a unique therapeutic profession in the mental health field.  The mental health field encompasses several professional disciplines each distinguished by its unique training programs and therapeutic profession specialties such as psychology, counseling, psychiatry, social work, education, medicine and nursing.  What distinguishes professional counseling from other therapeutic professions  is its preventive, developmental holistic approach to helping people.  Counselors deal with human development concerns through support, therapeutic approaches, consultation, evaluation, teaching, and research. Simply stated, counseling is the art of helping people grow.  For more information about the counseling profession, click here.

The purpose of the Counselor Education Program is to prepare students to be professional counselors. The development of a strong professional identity, a rich knowledge base, and expertise in the skills of counseling are essential to respond to the multitude of societal changes and to the ever-expanding counseling profession.  Specifically, this program prepares quality counselors for community agencies and other mental health settings, for public schools in K-12 settings, and student affairs counselors for working in college settings such as advising, residence halls, and career centers.  

The coursework for the degree programs corresponds to the academic and experiential standards outlined by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) and prepares students to be eligible to receive licensure as a professional counselor or certification as a professional school counselor.  The certification programs are consistent with the Experienced School Counselor Standards established by the Kentucky Education Professional Standards Board and/or with standards adopted by the CACREP for school counselors.  Courses are offered during the late afternoon, evening, Saturday, and summer semesters to accommodate students with full-time employment.

Office of the Counselor Education Program

The Counselor Education Program is administered by the Department of Counseling, Human Services, and Social Work, located in the Business-Education-Psychology Center (BEP), Suite 203.  For additional information visit www.nku.edu/~mscounseling or contact Dr. Jacqueline Smith, Director at (859) 572-6149 or via email at smithjac@nku.edu.  For information regarding the school counseling degree-certification-renewal programs contact Dr. Doris Coy, School Counseling Program Coordinator, at (859) 572-5943 or via email at coyd2@nku.edu.