Loyola College in Maryland's Ph.D. in Patoral Counseling Receives CACREP Accredidation

The Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs (CACREP), the accrediting arm of the American Counseling Association (ACA), has accredited Loyola College in Maryland’s Ph.D. in Pastoral Counseling under the 2001 "Counselor Education and Supervision" standards. The decision was reached at CACREP’s January 2008 board meeting and culminates three years of deliberate effort and diligence by the department's faculty, staff, and administration and embodies countless faculty conversations, deliberations, and inspection since the degree program’s inception twenty years ago. 

The Ph.D. program in Pastoral Counseling was originally conceptualized in 1987 by the department’s founder, Dr. Barry Estadt, who has since retired from the department as Professor Emeritus. Dr. Estadt had always intended from the beginning that our graduates be eligible for some form of professional credentialing and he, prophetically, saw professional counseling as the avenue for that goal. Moreover, Dr. Estadt recognized that the study of spirituality and mental health could add, and indeed has added a rich component to the counseling field and is vitally necessary to understand the human mind in all of its complexity. With a 55 credit Master’s program accredited under the 2001 Community Counseling standards, the department’s faculty and the administration, under the leadership of Dr. Joseph Ciarrocchi, Chairperson, envisioned that the next logical step was to accredit the department’s doctoral program through the counseling profession.

“The department will maintain a vibrant interdisciplinary faculty committed to spiritual integration in the training of pastoral care and pastoral counseling students,” commented Dr. Ciarrocchi. Preserving an academically rigorous curriculum was a top priority of the faculty and the department will continue to produce empirical research and scholarship with a focus on both quantitative and qualitative research methods.  Equally so, the department will maintain in-depth clinical training for individual and group counseling, and continue to train students in the art and practice of clinical supervision.  In terms of the curriculum, the department introduced in 2005 a 45 credit hour doctoral core program that streams the student into one of two 12 credit hour advanced concentrations. Within the 45 credit hour core, students are provided with scholarly insight and research into the Religious domains. The two 12 hour concentrations build from the core and have been designed to advance the student’s individual professional abilities and preferences.

The department's primary narrative is one that describes a journey of mental health, theological, and social scientific professionals who have committed themselves to teaching methods and practices that integrate spirituality and faith in the healing process of pastoral care and counseling. The department is excited about the future and believes that the decision of CACREP further validates the years of service, scholarship, and teaching that has been the hallmark of the program.