David Hebert
Loan Phan
Janet Thompson

Has anyone told you that you're a good listener? Ever thought about working in a school?  To learn more about the Graduate Program in Counseling click here....

GPC Flyer - Fall 2012

The Graduate Program in Counseling (GPC) prepares students to meet school counseling certification requirements.  We support and follow national training standards and initiatives of the American School Counselor Association's National Model and National Standards, and the American School Counselor Association Ethical Standards for School Counselors (http://www.schoolcounselor.org/). We meet standards required by the New Hampshire Department of Education for the preparation of school counselors.  The GPC is fully accredited by the New Hampshire Department of Education.

The professional education unit at the University of New Hampshire seeks to prepare practitioners who will become leaders in their own practice settings and within their profession, applying knowledge to improve education for all students and enrich the lives of clients. Immersion in subject matter, research, theory, and field-based experience provides a base for our graduates to make well-reasoned judgments in complex situations, render informed decisions, model exemplary practice, and take initiative for planned change. Students learn to establish caring environments which celebrate individual differences and backgrounds while fostering cooperation and educational improvement. We stress reflective critical inquiry as a mode of study and community-building as a means for promoting change. We value and support both our students' local practice and their broader leadership within the profession.

The University of New Hampshire's Graduate Program in Counseling offers an M. Ed. degree for graduate study in counseling. This degree has core courses as well as specialized learning experiences. This degree program requires field internships appropriate to the student's professional goals. Curricula are designed to meet state and national educational standards for the preparation of school and human services counselors.

The Graduate Program in Counseling is administratively housed within the Department of Education within the College of Liberal Arts, with campuses in both Durham, NH and Manchester, NH. Students may apply to one of the two campuses. The Durham campus offers both a full-time and a part-time degree program. The Manchester campus offers a part-time program designed to meet the needs of the working professional. All courses are offered in the late afternoon or early evening at both campuses.

Program History

The Graduate Program in Counseling (GPC) graduated its first Master of Education (MED) students in 1966. It was also necessary to expand the MED to 48 credits in order to match national standards, and this was accomplished in 2004. As of 2011 there have been over 1375 degrees granted through our program. An important mission of the university as a land-grant institution is to address the needs of the residents of the state. To meet this responsibility the GPC offers both full-time and part-time programs of study.

The GPC on the Durham campus has a history of offering graduate courses in Manchester that dates to 1967. This 30+ year history led to the development of a UNHM part-time MED program that had its inception in 2003.

Mission of the Graduate Program in Counseling

Our program is psychologically oriented in its preparation of the professional counselor. Therapeutic counseling is reflected in course content, and in the supervised internships required for all students. The program is committed to providing a fundamental body of knowledge and competencies, with awareness of their application to increasingly pluralistic client populations.

The program prepares counselors to function in diverse institutions and organizations dedicated to the educational, social, vocational and psychological development of the person. Graduates are typically involved in team delivery of services and work in collaboration with other human service professionals. Students are encouraged to develop a fundamental counseling approach that can be applied to different client populations engaged in the process of change. Students may also individualize their program of study to serve the needs of a particular clientele. This can be accomplished through selected readings and projects in required courses, the internship experience, elective courses, and independent study or research projects.

The on-site internship enables students to develop a professional identity and to apply their knowledge to actual counseling relationships. Internships take place in a wide variety of K-12 schools and human service settings. They include weekly on-site supervision by professional counselors or other credentialed human service practitioners. During the internship experiences, students are enrolled in concurrent internship seminars on campus to review their counseling and address professional issues arising from these experiences.

Program Goals and Outcomes

♦ Our graduates are knowledgeable of counseling as a field. Our graduates are able to demonstrate depth of knowledge of counseling theory and its professional sophisticated applications as a defined therapeutic process with a beginning, middle, and an end.
♦ Our graduates are able to identify their own values that influence practice. Graduates are employed in a variety of settings that enable these values to be expressed.
♦ Our graduates demonstrate dispositions of increasing self-awareness. They understand when their counseling behavior serves clients and when it serves themselves.
♦ Our graduates are committed to their clients' learning and development. Our graduates recognize the importance of counseling as their primary role function.
♦ Our graduates understand and utilize the research evidence that guides successful practice. Graduates keep current with research developments through journals and workshops which accompany professional memberships.
♦ Our graduates demonstrate their ability to effectively use assessment tools. Graduates are able to make judgments about clients based upon best instruments available rather than counselor subjectivity.
♦ Our graduates demonstrate expertise in the preventative and remedial aspects of psychological disorders. In order to be an effective contributor and leader in the counseling profession, graduates are prepared to provide expertise in this area of need.
♦ Our graduates are able to work cooperatively with others. Our graduates are able to be part of a professional team that cares for the needs of persons. As team members they are able to take leadership for effective collaboration among team colleagues.
♦ Our graduates are able to translate theory into practice and develop theory from practice. Graduates report on how each expands and refines the other.

Manchester Campus

The Graduate Program in Counseling offers the Master of Education degree at the University of New Hampshire’s Manchester campus, as well. The Manchester program is for part-time students, who are admitted on a cohort basis each year. Applications are available online at: www.gradschool.unh.edu, or stop by the Manchester Graduate Office located at 286 Commercial Street, 4th Floor, Manchester, NH 03101. Phone number is: (603) 641-4313.