Alright.
Good evening, everybody.
First, thank you for joining our webinar.
My name is Tom Brooks, and I am the, hold on a second here, vice president for enrollment and marketing at Divine Mercy University.
I'll also be, the admissions adviser, if you will, for our first class in our PhD in counselor education supervision.
Around here right now, we're calling the CES program, and, I'll be guiding you through basically the beginning of this.
We are still in kind of the build phase on a few areas.
One in particular being the actual application process.
We are not going to take applications until, early next week, And, I'll give you more information on that as we we go through the the, interview deck here.
So, basically, today, I'll just be giving you some basic information, answering what questions I can, and then, ultimately, you'll be directed to the program director and a few other folks for some of the more in-depth questions you may have.
I recognize several of the names, so welcome, alum to the program.
Hopefully, you enjoyed your, master's in counseling program and will enjoy this as well.
We're gonna go ahead and give it just another minute or so to wait on any stragglers, and then we'll go ahead and get started.
Alright.
Again, welcome.
And, again, my name is Tom Brooks.
Today, we're gonna talk about the, PhD in counselor education supervision.
For those that would be joining us, the first class is in January.
So this is the inaugural class, and we're looking forward to a lot of our graduates from our counseling program coming into this, but we've actually got a lot of interest outside of of our own graduates.
So, if any of you were coming to us from a different program, please ask your questions.
Those that came through the master's in counseling at Divine Mercy University, some of this you'll already know.
So bear with me on it, and I appreciate your patience.
Divine Mercy University embraces the Catholic Christian vision of the person flourishing and educate educate students on the core knowledge, skills, and dispositions to be the leaders in professional counseling field.
A PhD in counselor education and supervision, which I'll refer to going forward as a c CES program as part of the DMU Global Campus School of Counseling.
The vision of the PhD CS program is to train global transformational educators, clinical supervisors, researchers and scholars, and leaders and advocates who are passionate about their role in the overarching professional counselor education supervision.
Graduates are compassionate and ethical in their work as trained professionals that honor and respect the innate dig dignity of every person in a global diverse population.
The online, CES program at Divine Mercy University provides rigorous training in counselor education to prepare students for academic, research, clinical, consulting, and leadership careers.
The program uniquely designed is it uniquely designed to facilitate a deeper and holistic understanding of the flourishing person by integrating the wisdom of of philosophy and theology with a cutting edge research in counselor education, enabling students to make a difference in a variety of settings across the world.
Students will acquire the necessary skills to engage in a scholarly examination of counselor processes and theories with integration in the practice of counseling and the Catholic Christian vision of the flourishing person, the science and art of counseling and supervision, development of teaching methods and roles, and responsibilities related to educating counselors.
Regional research in the areas of interest, receive faculty support, interact with students and researchers from diverse areas of expertise, and present their research in a variety of settings to advance the field of professional counseling and counselor education.
The science and art of leadership and administration for the counseling profession, professional organizations, counselor education, and their local community, the global community, and communities of Catholic Christian faith.
These are CACREP standards, part of the doctoral curriculum.
Program overview.
It's a 90 credit doctoral program built on DMU's masters in counseling and clinical mental health counseling program as a foundation incorporated incorporates 30 credits from the program for the 90 credit doctoral program.
Basically, what that means is you can transfer in 30 of your credits to satisfy the 90 so you would be taking sixty credit hours of coursework moving forward, addressing five professional roles in five areas, counseling, supervision, teaching, research and scholarship, and leadership and advocacy.
Additionally, students are required to complete the internship experiences advancing counseling, supervision, and teaching, and the doctoral dissertation of original research.
Students are also required to travel to complete three extended weekend residencies in the duration of the program.
So, obviously, it's an online program, but there are three residencies.
I get asked questions about our residencies all the time.
You'll get more information on that in a few minutes.
But the residencies are designed as working residency residencies where students gather to encourage each other, practice skills they are learning, and focus on the completion of their dissertations.
State of the art technology is used for both asynchronous traditional online learning with significant use of videotaping of various clinical and professional skills to be reviewed by peers and faculty and synchronous learning where students will have virtual face to face interactions in their learning process.
So, again, the asynchronous allows you to work kinda at your own pace what you do you know, on your own time.
And then the videotaping is a little different, from maybe the master's level.
There's a lot more of it, and there's a lot more interaction with your stew your peers and your faculty.
So some of that requires face to face interactions.
So that's where you're gonna have a little bit more of the synchronous learning, if you will.
A doctorate in counseling and supervision equips you with advanced skill knowledge and skills in counseling theory, research, and practice.
This degree opens doors to a variety I'm sorry.
I need to move this one thing here.
I keep cutting off words.
This degree opens doors to a variety of fulfilling career paths.
Here's some of the common career opportunities.
If you're interested in academia, it's a professor faculty member, teach graduate and undergraduate counseling courses, conduct research, and supervise students.
Department chair or program director, lead counseling departments or programs, oversee curriculum development, and manage faculty.
Curriculum developer, create and implement new counseling programs or curriculum.
This is important.
As many of you know, in order to be able to teach in the future, you're gonna need this doctorate, to teach counseling.
So, obviously, we have a great deal of emphasis placed in this area.
In addition, you'll, clinical practice and supervision, licensed professional counselor, provide direct counseling services to individuals, couples, families, or groups, clinical supervisor, oversee and mentor other counselors ensuring quality care and ethical practice, And then a mental health administrator in a mental health agency or programs developing policies and procedures.
Alright.
Research and evaluation.
Be a research scientist, conduct research to advance the field of counseling, publish findings in academic journals.
Program evaluator, assess the effectiveness of counseling programs and interventions.
Grant writer, develop and secure grants to support counseling research and programs.
Leadership and administration, higher education administrator, work in student affairs, academic advising or counseling centers, nonprofit administrators, lead counseling or mental health organizations, developing programs and services, Government agency administrator, work in government agencies related to mental health or education.
And other potential roles, consultant, provide expertise in counseling and supervision organizations or individuals.
And then our Arthur is an, Arthur or speaker write books, articles, develop workshops on counseling topics.
So in addition to teaching, you can see there's quite a few other areas you can you can use this, degree in.
This one disclaimer is being a new program.
We are not create CACREP accredited for the PhD in the CES program yet.
We will obviously submit for that when the time comes.
And much like our masters in counseling, pretty much everybody gets started right now should be covered when it comes time for the KCARP accreditation.
As a matter of fact, we have a shorter runway to apply for that accreditation than we did our master's program.
So we're we're pretty confident in that.
I won't go through all the others.
Most of you know this.
Other than say, in the middle there, we our school is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the commission on colleges called SACSCOC, and, that's what allows our school to operate as an accredited university.
And then, obviously, we're licensed through the state of Virginia, which is a state council of higher education of Virginia, SHEV.
Go on to the next.
I just mentioned some of this, but we wanna draw attention one more time.
The PhD in counselors education supervision program and curriculum is aligned with premier industry programmatic standards.
The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs or CACREP, a specialized accrediting body recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation or CHIA, grants accreditation for master's and doctoral programs and professional counseling.
The CES program, at DMU is not yet accredited by CACREP.
DMU can hold not cannot hold any promise or guarantee of becoming CACREP accredited.
However, DMU is committed to following any CACREP standards in the design, preparation, and deployment of the program, and then applying for CACREP accreditation.
And, again, our master's program went through accreditation just not too far back, and we did very well with that.
So we really don't see, you know, any issues here.
Let's talk a little bit about admissions requirements.
And everybody I and I meant to tell you this in the beginning, so I apologize.
If you have questions, put them in the chat.
And at the end of this, brief, presentation, I'll, answer all your questions as best I can, or we'll get answers for you.
So in order to, apply and be accepted into the program, you have to hold a master's degree in counseling or a related mental health field from an institution accredited by an agency recognized by the US Department of Education.
Preference will be given to applicants who are professionally credentialed in a mental health occupation, clinical or school counseling, marriage and family therapy, social work psychology, etcetera.
Those accepted without such credentials will need to take the necessary extra courses and internships for those credentials before graduating from the PhD in CES.
You need a three point o GPA on a four point o scale.
You need to keep complete your application process, which includes the following.
And And I'll tell you quickly, we have what we call a two step process.
The initial step is to complete the application for admission document, and that's what allows us in admissions and the rest of the school to kinda be alerted that you're here, and we need to start working with you to help you in all the other different areas.
Once you complete that application and submit it, you will then need to secure a recommendation form from an academic reference, submission of official transcript from all postsecondary institutions even if a degree was not awarded.
That's important to understand.
Submission of essays as noted in application for admissions document, and two video clips of clinical work, role play and a teaching slash presentation minimum of twenty minutes each.
And your current curriculum vitae or or resume, And then his $55 application fee should have, accompany the initial application.
You can use a code called CCMMP1999 to waive the fee.
So you can actually submit your application by using that code and not have to pay the application fee.
The availability for two video conference interviews after submission of all application material, and that's actually a little bit of an incorrect statement.
I apologize for that.
The first interview will be with me, and I'll do that once you submit your actual application, initial application.
I don't need to wait for the recommendations or the videos or any of that.
That, though, will have to be turned in when you, interview with the CES faculty.
So everybody understands.
There's two parts.
First part is the application itself, which comes to me and my staff, and then we will set up a one on one, Zoom interview with you and then kinda answer your questions, go through the rest of the, application process, what to expect for the group interview, those kind of things, and then answer any other questions you may have.
Then you'll be set up with a group interview once all the, information here is provided, and then we'll be able to, get you, set up for a group interview.
Let's talk a little bit about the program requirements.
The, CES consists of a ninety credit hours of coursework and noncredit course and library and information use and research.
The 90 credit program consists of thirty credit hours at the master's degree level and at the doctoral level.
The seven core content courses, which is 21 credits.
There's three courses and internships, which is which is seven credits.
There's two courses on integration, which is six credits.
There's three courses in research, which is nine credits, and there's 17 credits in dissertation research and writing.
There is a degree time limit.
This program obviously shouldn't take this long, but from an accreditor's perspective, all students admitted to the CES program must complete all degree requirements within seven calendar years from the date of admission to the PhD program with an academic year comprising of a fall semester, spring semester, and summer semester.
Doctoral students must remain continuously enrolled until they have complete all program requirements, including the dissertation.
A doctoral dissertation must be completed and successfully defended.
This requires a minimum of twelve credit hours.
The doctoral dissertation takes the form of an independent and original research project in the field of counselor education.
Again, as we mentioned up top, that's worth nine credits.
Right.
So that's the basics of the program.
What I will share with you also is, the cost per credit is $975, and the assumption is it's a pretty good assumption.
Everybody has to come into the program with their masters in hand, and they do have to be licensed or provisionally licensed.
So that's that may be a question that somebody has.
So that is a necessary thing.
If you've not obtained your license or completed your degree, you may be a little early to this process, and that's okay.
You're at least learning what you need to do when that time comes.
So, again, you do have to have your masters, and you do have to be licensed or provisionally licensed.
So the assumption is you're carrying in 30 credits of the 90 credits, those credits coming from your masters.
So everything we kinda talk about from here really is relevant to the 60 credits that you'll be taking for the rest of the program.
So, again, $975 per credit.
If you're doing the math, that's about $58,500.
If you, your internships I'm sorry.
Your residencies are 1,650 each, and there's three of those.
And then, you have tech fees and a few other things that, all of them you're running at about 60, 5 to $66,000.
Those are what we call your direct costs.
And then you have indirect costs, you know, which you all are aware of.
These things, you know, your living, food, all these other things.
This program, unlike some of of of the other programs out there, was designed for the worker in mind so that the goal is really not to have people not working if they're currently working, if you have a practice, if, you know, those things.
Ideally, you're still able to do all those things that you would normally do for your work and then be able to take this program.
It was designed with the thought process of of people being employed full time and being able to go to school.
So, again, about, say, 66,000, I'll get specific costs when I do the one on ones with everybody, and, we'll go from there.
The I apologize.
I'm gonna find one more thing here.
The, there is smaller fees like graduation fee, library fee, those kind of things, and those are all those will all be shared once we get there.
Unfortunately, today, I set up this pro this webinar so that I can at least get to those of you that have already started asking questions.
We haven't really even started marketing this, nor have we actually opened up the application process.
The first application, won't be accepted until next Tuesday or Wednesday.
So, our hope is that everything will be and right now, all the content is online, but you cannot apply today.
You can go online, to divinemercy.edu, and you can learn more about the program if you'd like.
You can read the program content, coursework, all those kind of things.
And, my hope is that when we have the one on one, you'll bring questions, and and I can answer those questions for you.
And then we are gonna have a couple more webinars where we're gonna invite the program director, doctor Steven Sharp on, and then maybe one other individual, VP of global campus, doctor Harvey Payne.
So you'll be hearing directly from those that are, you know, licensed and and and answer some of the more technical questions, if you will.
So, you know, today, it was just designed to help those, what I call early birds, understand where we're at in the process, gain a little bit of information on the program, and then, allow you to start looking online.
Up until about a week ago, we really weren't even online yet.
So you can find the program under the academic section of divinemercy.edu, and, you can, start researching again everything from accreditation, coursework, content, all those kind of things.
So let me see what I got here.
We got some questions.
I'm sorry.
Can you guys hear me?
I am hearing somebody saying talk a little bit louder.
Are there any scholarship dollars?
The answer is yes.
This program has an early admit scholarship, opportunity up to $2,000, and that will, end October 23.
So anybody that applies from basically October 1 up to October 23 can get the $2,000 early admit scholarship.
And then if you go on to our scholarship pages on the website, you'll find a a ton of other scholarships, first responders, religious.
I mean, we have a ton of them.
I I don't even have it memorized anymore.
I apologize, but the best thing to do is actually go online to to our website, find financial aid scholarships, and see which ones may, you may qualify for.
In addition, we have what we call tuition reduction agreements or memorandums of understandings with close to a 120 different organizations around the country, parishes, diocese, religious organizations, universities, all kinds of different organizations.
So we do have a listing of those as well.
And if you don't see something you think may qualify or you would like to get qualified so you can get a reduction, please, you know, let us know.
But if they're on that list, you can earn up to another 15% tuition reduction.
So early scholarship opportunity for the other scholarships and then potentially tuition reduction or MOU scholarship, you can get quite a bit off.
And then if you, you know, obviously, if you're military, if you're, you know, part of a a company that has tuition assistance programs, all of those apply.
We even have a program where it's a a matching scholarship.
So if you can find, you know, somebody outside of tuition assistance from your employer, if you can find somebody that wants to donate to your cause, let's say $2,000 will match up to $2,000 there.
So that's another $4,000.
There's ample opportunity to find funding, to attend school.
Let me see if I got all the questions down here.
So that was all the scholarship questions.
Let's see what we got over here.
Q and a.
Is it possible to attend the program part time, halftime, or three quarter time?
Yes.
Yes and yes.
Anthony, So could he answer live?
Yes.
Did you hopefully, everybody heard that.
If we obtain the master's in counting at DMU, does that mean that the PhD program is effectively sixty credit hours?
Yes.
I answered that question, hopefully.
I have LLCMHCA.
I have fit 150 left to get my a up.
Do you qualify to start the program?
What I would tell you is let's tackle that one, one on one because I'm gonna need to ask some questions, and then be able to get some answers from the faculty as to when you can, actually apply.
What will the application process be for students who are in the middle of a CES program elsewhere and wish to transfer into this program?
So I think the, that's a little bit more technical because you're already in a CES program.
So I think the easy answer is you're only gonna be allowed to bring in 30 credits transferred in.
Beyond that, you'd have to talk to the program director on how any of your CES your current CES courses may be handled.
In some cases, it may be and and I may don't quote me on this, but it may be as simple as maybe you don't have to take all the parts of a certain course, but do certain things to qualify, you know, for those credits.
So, that one, again, we'll tackle one on one because there's there's just specific things that have to be discussed, and then we have to get feedback from the program on that one.
We have another question.
Is it possible defer to defer admission?
That's a tough question coming in before we even started admitting anybody.
So I would say we we do defer admission on on, you know, specific situations.
We try to not actually put somebody to put somebody in a start date that doesn't make sense for them to actually stay away from these kind of things.
Life happens, though, and people, sometimes need to to take a break or a minute to before they can get started.
So the the easy answer is yes.
But, ideally, we put you in the right start.
Our first start, again, is in January.
Our next start is going to be in the fall.
We're only admitting nine students into the January session, and then in the fall, we're only admitting 12 students.
So we really do feel that, you know, we can put people in the right start.
There There'll only be two starts a year unlike, our counseling program where there's three.
Our master's in counseling, there's three.
The only other program that has less starts is our PsyD program, which only starts in the fall each year.
And another question is, what does an internship in a PhD program consist of?
That's a great question.
And rather than give you an answer that, I don't know the answer to today, I talked to the VP of the global campus.
There's a variety of things you can do on as in a in an internship.
So, that's something we'll talk about one on one if you schedule it, with me.
And, again, my calendar will open up for next week for one on ones.
How many applications are we accepting?
We're accepting all applications as long as they meet the application requirements.
But, again, you will go through an interview with myself and ask to qualify all the documents, all the submission of of everything.
But, ultimately, the program chooses who actually gets accepted into the program.
So we are taking all applications as long as they meet the application process.
They'll be sent for, a group interview.
And then during a group interview, would it be determined whether or not they will be able to move forward into the program?
When will this program launch again if we cannot start this one?
Again, I think I mentioned that earlier, January and fall.
That's when we will be doing all the dates for the next several years.
So each January and each August, we'll we'll, start our programs.
What is the schedule of courses for a part time student?
That's a that's a one on one question, and, actually, that's a really good question for the group interview process because there's several variables to it, and it it really requires maybe the program giving you a better answer once they've had, the opportunity to ask you some some questions to make sure that they get an understanding of your situation.
K.
Right now, I don't see any other questions.
Hopefully, I've answered everybody's questions.
Again, this was not designed to be your typical, webinar.
This was strictly an informational webinar, and it was designed to really get all those of you that when I call the early birds again, I appreciate your your interest.
You're a little ahead of the schedule for us, but I I wanted to make sure you had some idea of what was going on and then kind of a timeline, of what we're doing.
There's another question.
With the tuition match, does it need to be a business?
It does not need to be a business per se.
That's something that I'll talk to anybody about if they're they feel they can get matching funds.
Some people get support from a diocese or a parish.
Some people do get support from, individuals.
There's you know?
But they have to actually there's a process that you have to go by for that to work, and I I'll explain one on one as I work with each one of you.
I think it's a great program because we can go out there and hustle a little bit.
You got some folks that really believe in what you're doing, especially, you know, for those of you that that have graduated from our program and you're out there our master's program and you're out there working.
Some of you are already working in parishes or or or a diocese, and you're you're you're you're maybe able to go back to them and say, hey.
I'm going on for this PhD in CES program.
Could I get your backing a little bit?
And I'll provide some work back to the parish or diocese.
And so and we we get a lot of that.
So, you know, that's something I'll talk to you guys about, again, one on one because it's really relevant to your personal situation and what you're doing.
Okay.
So I think I've answered all the questions.
If there are no more questions, what I'll tell you is we're gonna have another webinar, not next week, but the following week.
And, I will have a guest on there that will be a little bit smarter about the program content than I am and may be able to answer some of the more technical questions, specifically going from a master's level license, you know, clinical mental health person to now this doctorate in in CES and, you know, the real value behind it in what you can do with it.
Many of you already know of it, but some of you may have some questions, and I wanna make sure you hear from people much smarter than me.
Let's put it that way.
Again, applications will start next week.
You can keep checking.
My opinion is by Friday, we'll actually have the application signed up, worst case Monday.
But I'll be reviewing applications on Tuesday, October 1 for any that have already come in.
And then my expectation is those that are interested will start applying by October 1.
We have roughly a little over three weeks for the early admit scholarship, which I'm hoping you all want to take advantage of, and, we'll get your applications in if you're interested.
And then the first group interview will not be until October 22.
So, it'll be basically from seven to 9PM.
And the reason it's a little later for the East Coast folks is so that we can accommodate any West Coast folks.
So, if you write that down again, October 22, seven to 9PM.
And then every week after that, we'll be doing group interviews if there's enough folks.
The idea is to have three to four people on each group interview because there's there's some things that are done doing those that allow you to work with other folks during that process.
But, they'll be each Tuesday and Thursday, throughout, the end of October and into November, through November.
We will shut off applications sometime at, right around, Thanksgiving.
So there's really not a big window for this.
But, again, we're not, you know, we're not looking for a a a ton of students to start the first program.
And, you know, we do know that we have a large alumni that may want to join in this program, after graduating from their their accounts their master's program.
So, you know, I would tell you if you're interested, start getting your application in next week, get the first part done so I can start talking to you, and then you can work on the second part and get ready for that first group interview.
Alright.
If there's no other questions, I will go ahead and end this for everybody.
Thank you all for attending.
We will make sure that we send you out some information for attending tonight.
And, I am available.
If you need to ask me other any other questions, my contact information is below in addition to my email.
I see somebody raising their hands.
Oh, okay.
I just wanted to let everyone know that if in fact, there's anyone else that you know I we put this together very quickly.
I think I gave it to all the right people.
But needless to say, Tom's information is on that original email that we sent out, so you don't have to scurry and copy that down.
But I also wanted to thank you as the alumni director for you all attending all this and your gift of time.
So this has been put together because many students have asked for this and, so thank you.
Thank all of you.
Thank you, Michelle.
And, again, thank you all.
And we I appreciate you guys all coming into this first one because, again, we're just getting started, and we'll learn a lot along the way.
You'll learn a lot, and, hopefully, this will be as exciting of a program as we think it's going to be.
And, I look forward to hope helping a lot of you get into the program, and I look forward to watching you guys walk across the stage.
So thank you all for attending.
And, again, I am available.
You have my contact information.
I will not be available, unfortunately, from tomorrow through Friday.
I'm attending a conference, but all of next week, I'll be setting up interviews and answering any questions.
You can definitely shoot me an email if you have a pressing question, and I will either get an answer for you or provide the answer myself.
I am checking my email every day.
I'm just not available for calls for the next three days.
So, thank you all.
I look forward to hearing from you guys, and I look forward to working with you.
Have a great night.