MA - Community Care

The mission of the M.A. in Community Care program is to provide a Christ-centered, academic-experience that enhances the services provided by students in diverse vocational contexts.  It is a counseling-related degree that prepares people helpers to support others with non-clinical life circumstances. It specifically aims to equip students who are not seeking state professional counseling licensure with the ability to compassionately respond to mental health concerns and wholistic wellness needs with education, collaboration, and referral to appropriate behavioral health professionals when presented with concerns beyond their scope of practice and competence.

A student who has completed the Community Care program should, with graduate-level competency, be able to:

• Utilize appropriate strategies to promote health and well-being at the community level. 
• Explore the role of spirituality in the context of community care and its impact on holistic personal wellness. 
• Demonstrate effective verbal and nonverbal communication that reflects empathy, attunement and rapport building (helping skills). 
• Foster skills for evaluating professional literature and scientific data that pertains to mental wellness and human flourishing. 
• Demonstrate self-awareness about the personal impact they have on individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds. 
• Effectively utilize ethical principles to guide their helping skills in maintaining an appropriate scope of care.

Admissions

• A baccalaureate degree from a college or university that is accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by both the U.S. Department of Education (ED) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) verified on original transcripts sent by the institution directly to Indiana Wesleyan University.
• An undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 or higher from the baccalaureate degree-granting institution at which a minimum of 30 credit hours was completed. 
• Graduate Record Exam (GRE) taken within five years of application to the program. Verbal (V) score of at least 146 required. NOTE: If you have earned a cumulative GPA of 3.00 or higher for your baccalaureate program and/or if you have 15 credit hours of completed graduate coursework in good standing, you are not required to take the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) for admission to our program. 
• Demonstrate writing proficiency based on evaluation of submitted writing sample. 
• Three recommendations on provided form, with at least one from a professional (supervisor, professor, etc.) 
• Applicants whose application documents demonstrate potential for success in the Graduate Program in Counseling will participate in a personal interview.

Transfer of Credit

• Credit may be allowed for courses equivalent in content, credit hours, and course title. Only course work that is completed at a college or university that is accredited by an accrediting agency recognized by both the U.S. Department of Education and (ED) and the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) with a minimum of “C” or higher is acceptable for transfer credit. A maximum of 9 credit hours of equivalent coursework earned within the last 7 years at another institution or within another IWU division may be transferred in by students new to the Division of Counseling in order to meet program requirements. Students who are transferring from another MA degree program within the Division of Counseling are eligible to transfer all courses with a “C” or higher that were both previously approved and are held in common between the two degree programs.

Program Requirements

The basic requirements of our 36 credit hour program include: 

• 33 hours or eleven (11) core counseling classes. 
• 3 elective hours of CNS courses within the Division of Counseling.
• All new students are required to take CNS-500 Orientation during their first term of enrollment. A grade of NC (No Credit) will require the student to take CNS-500 again the next term. Additionally, students who are inactive or withdrawn and seek readmission will be required to retake CNS-500 upon their return. CNS-500 includes a Bible Exam which must be satisfactorily passed to receive credit for the course.
• Online students are expected to attend one (1) onsite intensive as part of the requirements of their program. There are no online options for intensives.

Graduation Requirements

• Successful completion of the required major courses and electives with a minimum grade of "C" in each course and a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0. 
• All degree requirements must be completed within six years of enrollment. 
• Payment of all tuition and fees is required to receive a diploma.

MA - Community Care - Program of Study

Major Courses

CNS-501	Human Growth and Development	3
CNS-502	Multicultural Counseling	3
CNS-503	Theory and Techniques in the Helping Relationship	3
CNS-504	Theory and Techniques in Group Counseling	3
CNS-505	Theory and Techniques in Career Counseling	3
CNS-507	Research and Evaluation of Methods and Practice	3
CNS-508	Legal, Ethical and Professional Issues	3
CNS-509	Integration of Christian Faith in Professional Counseling	3
CNS-511	Issues in Addiction Recovery	3
CNS-524	Ecological Counseling and Prevention	3
CNS-541	Foundations of Marriage and Family Therapy	3
-	Elective	3
Total Credit Hours:		36