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Welcome
From Program Coordinator, Stuart Chen-Hayes & Clinical Coordinator, Laura Roberts
Welcome to the Counselor Education: Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Counselor Education: School Counseling master degree programs. For five decades we have prepared thousands of counseling professionals serving the Bronx, other NYC boroughs, surrounding counties in New York, Connecticut, multiple other states and countries including Cameroon, China, and Spain. Graduates of our program work as bilingual and monolingual K-12 school counselors, college access/admission counselors, career counselors, and in nonprofit community settings. Clinical Mental Health Counseling candidates work in private practice, substance misuse counseling, not-for-profits, community-based organizations, business, government agencies, and healthcare. The Counselor Education: School Counseling M.S.Ed. program is a 60-credit, year-round, part-time, hybrid, cohort-model graduate degree completed in three years. Bilingual candidates may, for 3 additional credits, complete a Bilingual School Counseling Advanced Certificate. The program is nationally accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). The Counselor Education: Clinical Mental Health Counseling M.S program is a 60-credit, year-round, full-time, hybrid, cohort-model graduate degree completed in two years on Saturdays. Graduates are eligible for a Limited Permit on the road to becoming Licensed Mental Health Counselors in New York State.
Counselor Education began at Lehman in the late 1960s as Lehman emerged from Hunter-in-the-Bronx with a focus on community and school counseling. In the 1990s, the focus shifted to school counseling with a partnership through the National Center for Transforming School Counseling. In 2002, the program was redesigned to meet national CACREP accreditation standards, adding a 100-hour practicum, 600-hour internship and was accredited by CACREP in 2008. Lehman was the first public Counselor Education: School Counseling program in New York City to receive this designation. In 2009, the program partnered with the National Office for School Counselor Advocacy to infuse college access/affordability/admission counseling in coursework and fieldwork.
In 2014, Lehman faculty and alumni were on the leadership team for New York State Education Department’s first statewide School Counselor Summit, which led to five key recommendations for changing school counselor practice. Lehman faculty co-chaired the Higher Education committee and led the writing of the 2019 school counselor state regulation changes and new school counselor education state regulations. From 2014-16, Lehman faculty partnered with and presented at White House Reach Higher/School Counseling and College Access Convenings and received a grant through CUNY Central to create the College Access Counseling class in 2015. The Bilingual Counselor Education: School Counseling Advanced Certificate was added in 2015 and is open to current CE:SC candidates and Lehman CE:SC alumni.
In 2021, New York approved our 60-credit Counselor Education: School Counseling M.S.Ed. program with increased emphasis on community, family, ability/disability, sexuality, bilingual, anti-racism, and anti-oppression work in school counseling.
In 2022, New York state approved the 60-credit Counselor Education: Clinical Mental Health Counseling M.S. program to start in August of 2023.
Faculty include five full-time and ten part-time instructors with decades of school and clinical mental health counseling experience in elementary, middle, high school, and college settings and experience in community agencies. Faculty encourage student involvement in professional organizations and conference presentations. Faculty research and scholarship interests include: anti-racism/anti-oppression, ability/disability/neurodiversity, the adolescent brain, advocacy, college access/affordability/admission, consultation, family counseling, intercultural communication, leadership, mixed-race families; play therapy, queer and trans issues in counseling, research mentorship, sexuality counseling, social justice, spirituality, and transition planning for students with disabilities.
Counselor Education at Lehman prides itself on a family-like atmosphere where kindness and compassion are valued. We welcome you to explore our website, visit our campus, and/or email us to learn more about our programs. Admission deadline for our programs is March 15, the online application in Apply Yourself opens November 1, we review candidates for school counseling fall admission only and clinical mental health summer admission only group interviews for select qualified candidates on a weekend in late April, decisions are announce in Apply Yourself May 1, and classes begin for the School Counseling program on Wednesday evenings (5 and 7pm) the last week of August and for the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program on Saturdays in the last week of August.
