When it comes to preparing for a career in counseling, accreditation isn’t just a badge of accomplishment — it’s the foundation for our students’ success. As ours is a nationally accredited program through the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), we have designed a program that meets both the rigorous state and national standards that ensure that students receive high-quality training, ethical preparation and the hands-on experience required to make a real difference in people’s lives. This includes being transparent about our outcomes.
Mission Statement
The Counselor Education program at the University of Central Florida educates and prepares competent professional counselors and counselor educators from varied backgrounds to advance the profession through practice, scholarship, research, leadership, advocacy and service. Through a trauma-informed reflective-practitioner model, we integrate the use of intensive clinical experiences, research, intellectual and creative resources, community engagement and current technology to work within the larger global society.
Program Objectives
Master’s
- To attract, enroll, and retain well-rounded students and to create and support a learning community that respects individual differences.
- To provide opportunities that encourage students to grow personally and engage in self-reflection and self-awareness.
- To contribute to local, regional, national and international communities by:
- Providing professional development opportunities for practicing counselors.
- Training, consulting and working with local schools and community agencies.
- Providing counseling services to the community free of charge.
- To provide master’s students with experiential and didactic learning opportunities to acquire the necessary knowledge, skills and dispositions to:
- Practice according to the codes of ethics, legal precedence, and other appropriate standards relevant to the counseling profession.
- Work within a society of those from varied backgrounds and traditions.
- Work with the spectrum of behaviors found in individuals, couples, families and groups across the lifespan.
- Use technology in treatment planning, learning and career exploration, personal growth, research, and other appropriate applications.
- Demonstrate excellent helping, communication, problem solving, conflict resolution, consultation, and other intrapersonal and interpersonal skills.
- Design and facilitate group interventions to serve clients in various settings.
- Select, administer and interpret assessment tools.
- Utilize a variety of research methods, statistical procedures, needs assessments and program evaluations designed to improve counselor effectiveness.
- Develop a professional identity appropriate to their chose career path.
Doctoral
- To provide doctoral students with advanced didactic and experiential learning opportunities to acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and dispositions to:
- Implement research-informed clinical practices through the integration of counseling theories, counseling skills, and current knowledge across multiple contexts of counseling and counselor education.
- Implement supervision theory, skills and practices that are ethical, developmentally appropriate and evidence based.
- Design and implement evidenced-based teaching strategies that employ innovative teaching and learning methods related to teaching in the field of counselor education.
- Critically analyze, design, conduct, and disseminate quantitative, qualitative, and/or mixed methods research to contribute to the fields of counseling and/or counselor education.
2025-26 Counselor Education Program Outcomes
Clinical Mental Health Counseling, MA
Acceptance rate
12% (Fall), 28% (Spring)
Graduates
55
Graduation Rate
98%
NCMHCE Exam Pass Rate
90%
Employment Rate
98%
Marriage, Couple, and Family Therapy, MA
Acceptance Rate
22% (Fall)
Graduates
17
Graduation Rate
100%
AMFTRB Exam Pass Rate
83%
Employment Rate
100%
School Counseling, MA, MEd, and EdS
Acceptance Rate
49% (Fall)
Graduates
15
Graduation Rate
100%
FTCE Exam Pass Rate
100%
Employment Rate
100%
Counselor Education, PhD
Acceptance Rate
29% (Fall)
Graduates
7
Graduation Rate
100%
Employment Rate
100%
Please contact Program Director W. Bryce Hagedorn for any past assessments.