Program Director: Maureen Stewart, Ed.D.
Email: maureen.stewart@vermontstate.edu
Program Description
The Certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies (CAGS) in School Counseling program provides the skills and resources to support graduate students in developing competency in the myriad roles of a professional school counselor. The program is designed for individuals who currently hold a master’s degree in counseling or a related area. Through successful completion of required coursework, including fieldwork and internship, participants will be prepared to serve as school counselors, Pre-K-12. The curriculum addresses the standards for school counselors in VT as well as the standards from the American School Counselor Association. Students will demonstrate appropriate content knowledge, professional responsibility, and the practical application of interpersonal skills within school counseling. Students are expected to maintain professional membership with the Vermont School Counselor Association and the American School Counselor Association. A plan of study will be developed for each student based on review of transcript.
Program Objectives
Students who successfully complete a CAGS in School Counseling will:
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Knowledge: Use academic study to develop content area knowledge in the common core areas in school counselor education, as well as for specializations in clinical mental health and substance use disorder counseling.
This includes counseling and helping relationships; history of and orientation to the counseling profession; ethical practice; social and cultural diversity; human growth and development; group counseling; diagnosis, assessment and testing, and research and program evaluation.
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Counselor Disposition: Demonstrate, in the classroom and in field placements, growth towards a counselor disposition grounded in a strengths-based, person-centered, wellness and recovery-oriented and ethical approach.
This includes empathy, respect, genuineness, acceptance, openness, and professional behavior.
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Counseling Skills & Practice: Demonstrate, in the classroom and in field placements professional counseling practice, grounded in culturally relevant, evidence-based and promising approaches.
This includes foundational counseling skills, teaming and collaboration, and state-of-the-art interventions in integrated mental health, health, and SUD counseling. (Evidence-based and promising approaches includes an understanding of the value of peer-run services and community-involvement and inclusion.)
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Ethics: Develop a personal code of ethics, grounded in the ASCA codes, which reflects an understanding of diverse world views, cultural competence, equity and ethical practice.
This includes self-awareness, personal growth, self-care, supervision, and ethics related to the professional school counselor, research and academic honesty.
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Leadership & Systems Change: Demonstrate ability to critically analyze information for purposes of program evaluation, advocacy, consultation, systems change and personal and organizational leadership.
Information includes: the research literature, data collected to evaluate personal practice and programs, first-person accounts, and client satisfaction.
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