How to Choose a Master's in Counseling Psychology

Choosing a master's program in counseling psychology is choosing the foundation for how you'll show up as a healer and changemaker. Before researching programs, consider your emerging philosophy: 

• Do you see the body as central to healing?
• Are you drawn to creative expression?
• Does your vision include addressing social justice? 

These questions point toward which specialization matches your calling.

Understanding Program Philosophy

Look beyond course listings to understand how a program conceptualizes therapy. At CIIS, our relational approach views the therapeutic relationship as the cornerstone of healing. If psychological patterns form through relationship—including those marked by trauma and oppression—then healing must also happen through relationship. Experiential learning helps you embody therapeutic presence, not just understand it intellectually.

CIIS' Five Specialized Concentrations

At CIIS, we offer five distinct concentrations within our M.A. in Counseling Psychology, each grounded in our relational approach while emphasizing different therapeutic modalities.
 

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Community Mental Health: Leading Through Social Justice

Developed with public and nonprofit agencies, this program integrates psychotherapy with cultural humility and understanding of how trauma and social systems impact well-being. The curriculum incorporates social justice perspectives, psychodynamics, Family Systems Therapy, and trauma-informed therapies. Choose this path for working with underserved populations and creating structural change alongside individual healing. Weekend format available.
 

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Drama Therapy: Facilitating Change Through Embodiment

For 40 years, this program has pioneered theatre-therapy integration as one of the first two approved drama therapy programs nationally. Training is rigorous and experiential, using action methods, role play, improvisation, and theatrical performance as pathways to psychological health. Choose this path if you believe in embodied action and creative play as transformative forces.
 

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Expressive Arts Therapy: The Scholar-Artist-Practitioner

This program's Scholar-Artist-Practitioner model unites academic knowledge, clinical practice, and community engagement through all artistic disciplines—visual and digital arts, music, dance, poetry, spoken word, and drama. The online hybrid curriculum emphasizes collaborative, liberatory-focused learning. Choose this path for working fluidly across multiple creative modalities in community-engaged practice.
 

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Integral Counseling Psychology: Mind-Body-Spirit Integration

For over 50 years, this program has combined Eastern and Western spiritual traditions with contemporary practice. The curriculum incorporates family systems, attachment theory, trauma theory, and transpersonal concepts, with coursework in Gestalt therapy, psychodynamic approaches, meditation, and yoga. Three formats available: weekday on-campus, weekend on-campus, and hybrid. Choose this path for honoring contemplative practices and spiritual dimensions alongside clinical rigor.
 

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Somatic Psychology: Embodied Wisdom and Whole-Person Healing

As a forerunner in somatic psychology, this program explores how embodied emotion, expression, identity, and interaction form in individuals and communities. The pedagogy combines academic rigor with experiential learning and global spiritual traditions. Choose this path for working with sensation and movement as primary healing pathways.

Choosing Your Path

All five programs share CIIS' commitment to social justice, cultural humility, and relational healing. Consider what draws you to this work: structural change points toward Community Mental Health; consciousness and spirituality toward Integral Counseling Psychology; embodied wisdom toward Somatic Psychology; theatrical processes toward Drama Therapy; multimodal arts toward Expressive Arts Therapy.
Practical factors matter too. Consider format needs—most programs offer weekend options, while Integral Counseling Psychology provides three format choices and Expressive Arts Therapy offers online hybrid learning. Ensure your program meets licensure requirements for your target license. CIIS maintains a 98% pass rate on California's MFT exam, ranking first in the state over the last six exam cycles. We work with over 200 clinical training sites across diverse populations and settings.

Trusting Your Discernment

Choosing a program requires discernment beyond comparing spreadsheets. Visit campuses, attend information sessions, and speak with current students. Notice how you feel when engaging with each program's community. The right program will challenge you intellectually while supporting your growth as a whole person, honoring your lived experience while expanding your perspective. Choose the path that calls you toward becoming the practitioner you're meant to be.