BUIES CREEK — Campbell University’s School of Education has received a grant from the National Board for Certified Counselors and Affiliates to support the counseling education program’s initial application for national accreditation by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs, or CACREP.
The School of Education, which offers a Master of Education in School Counseling and a Master of Arts in Mental Health Counseling, will receive $2,500 for the first phase of the CACREP application process and could receive up to $10,000 over three installments. Designed for regionally-accredited institutions seeking first-time CACREP accreditation, the grant can be used to offset costs for the entire accreditation process, including consultant fees, site visit fees, and initial application fees.
“Receiving this grant provides us the financial resources to complete the national accreditation process for both our mental health and school counseling programs with a target date for 2016,” said Nick DeJesus, instructor of counselor education and field placement coordinator for counseling programs at Campbell.
Campbell was one of only 15 institutions to be awarded a grant. In a letter to DeJesus, NBCC noted counseling programs were evaluated on their understanding of the CACREP process; feasibility of their timeline, goals and challenges for submitting application materials; and the potential for their program to graduate counselors who serve underserved populations.
DeJesus, who’ll serve as the CACREP liaison, said the grant “affirms our faculty and student’s hard work in ensuring an on-going standard of excellence for the School of Education and behavioral health in North Carolina communities and schools.”
For the past six years, counseling students at Campbell have surpassed the national averages on the School Counselor’s PRAXIS exam and the National Counselor’s Exam among CACREP and non-CACREP-accredited programs.