Department of Counseling

Be the light that helps improve lives

Our CACREP-accredited, standards-based graduate counseling programs prepare students to take on society’s big issues and improve quality of life for individuals and communities.

With strong demand for clinical mental health counselors and school counselors in every community, our students have the opportunity to make a widespread impact. Because the calling is so vital, we prepare our graduate students with a high degree of counseling competence, technological skills, and a minimum of 700 hours of supervised field experiences addressing issues like college & career readiness, social-emotional learning, academic achievement, autism, depression, cyberbullying and substance abuse — all in local schools and agencies throughout SW Florida, and now, in our on-campus Student and Community Counseling Center.

Your clinical and field experiences will help you identify a need in the community that is going unmet. As your capstone project — known as the Closing the Gap project — you’ll meet that need, giving you the self-driven leadership skills required to shine as your career progresses. Our cohort-based model, in addition to our passionate faculty, will give you the support you need to remain balanced as you move through this challenging and rewarding program. Because our students are so well prepared, 100% are employed within three months of earning their degree.

Learn about our department-operated training clinic.

FGCU Community Counseling Center

Learn about our master's degree programs.

CLINICAL MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELING M.A. SCHOOL COUNSELING M.A.

Learn about our post-master's certificate programs.

Enhance your professional qualifications with one of our three programs

Transition to Mental Health Counseling Certificate TRANSITION TO SCHOOL COUNSELING RELATIONSHIP AND FAMILY COUNSELING

Certificate overview
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Our certificate programs are intended for:
- Individuals with a master's degree in community or school counseling who are interested in transitioning to mental health counseling.
- Individuals with a master's degree in community or mental health counseling who are interested in transitioning to school counseling.
- Individuals who have a master's degree in counseling or a closely related practice field who are interested in relationship and family counseling. This certificate will help you add on the requirements for licensure in marriage and family therapy if you are already academically prepared or licensed as a clinical mental health counselor. If you are not licensed (e.g., you are certified as a school counselor), the certificate will help you gain valuable understanding and new skills to work with families, although it will not lead to a marriage and family therapy license without taking additional courses in mental health counseling.

Meet our team: Department of Counseling Faculty and Staff Members

Gain greater career flexibility with our dual majors

Earn a single master's degree with both the Clinical Mental Health Counseling major and the School Counseling major by meeting initial admissions requirements of both programs. You may elect the dual major any time prior to the receiving your M.A.

More information on dual majors
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Students initially admitted into the School Counseling major will take an additional 21 credits as part of elective and/or credits beyond the minimum required 60. Students initially admitted into the Clinical Mental Health Counseling major will take an additional 16 credits as part of elective and/or credits beyond the minimum 63. Students must complete all degree requirements for both majors including passing all subsections of the FTCE, General Knowledge, Professional Educator Examination and the Guidance and Counseling Subject Area Exam prior to graduation. Contact the Department of Counseling for additional information.

Transfer Notes and Acceptable Substitutes

The department limits the transfer of coursework into its graduate programs to a maximum of 12 credits or three courses. To be considered, courses must have been completed with a minimum grade of B and no more than 7 years prior to the date of entry into the graduate program and no more than 10 years prior to graduation from the graduate program.

Request for Dual Major

Beginning Fall 2018: Current Plan of Study

Archived: Dual Majors Plan of Study

FGCU Student and Community Counseling Center Ground Breaking Ceremony 2018 from Russell Sabella on Vimeo.

Department of Counseling Recent News

On November 4, 2020, the Department of Counseling celebrated the one year anniversary of its training clinic, known as the Community Counseling Center (CCC). What an amazing journey it has been since the groundbreaking ceremony in October 2018! Students enrolled in our Clinical Mental Health Counseling master's degree program have the opportunity to complete internship hours at the CCC while providing outstanding counseling services to members of the southwest Florida region.

Advising

Counseling students progress through the program as a cohort established each fall. Every student is provided with a plan of study that specifies their course sequence and when each course will be completed. These are signed by the student and a program advisor, and copies are maintained in the student's file.

All courses are offered in sequence and most are available once per year. Students whose lives force change or interruptions from the program schedule or plan of study to which they have committed are required to work with an advisor to revise their plan of study. This revised plan of study must be signed by the student and a program advisor. Students are assigned an faculty advisor in the department upon admission.

Current advising assignments

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Student’s last name begins with:	Advisor	Telephone	Email	Office
A-D	Dr. Sean Hall	239-745-4683	sbhall@fgcu.edu	SCCC - 209C
E-I	Dr. Ann Tilman	239-745-4444	atilman@fgcu.edu	SCCC - 209J
J-O	Dr. Molli Mercer	239-590-7798	mbachenberg@fgcu.edu	SCCC - 209K
P-T	Dr. Russell Sabella	239-590-7782	rsabella@fgcu.edu	SCCC - 209H
U-Z	Dr. Yaro Garcia	239-590-1373	yagarcia@fgcu.edu	SCCC-209G
As assigned	Dr. Alise Bartley	239 590-1380	abartley@fgcu.edu	SCCC - 201C

All students must apply to graduate early in the term in which they plan to graduate and are responsible for monitoring the application. Students must be registered for at least one course during their graduation semester.
All students must complete a comprehensive exit exam during the fall of their final year.
Clinical Mental Health Counseling graduates are eligible to apply for registered intern status upon graduation and identification of a post-graduate supervisor. For more information contact the Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Marriage & Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling.

Application to graduate