The School of Education’s two counseling programs have received accreditation from the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), Dean Karen Nery announced on Monday.
The council’s board of directors approved an eight-year accreditation period for the School’s clinical mental health counseling (M.A. degree) and school counseling (M.Ed. degree) programs through March 31, 2026. The board based its decisions on an extensive review of Campbell’s self-study documents, a report from the visiting accreditation team and Campbell University’s response to the visiting team’s report.
Campbell has offered degrees in counseling for nearly 30 years, but only recently has the industry placed more emphasis on hiring graduates from CACREP-accredited institutions. According to Nery, Monday’s announcement was the result of years of hard work.
“It’s been a long process, and this news provides us with a much more professional program, one that opens more doors for our graduates and provides more job opportunities,” Nery said. “It just makes us a stronger program, and we’re very proud to get this done.”
Kristen Moran, assistant professor and coordinator of counseling programs, was brought on board in 2015 to guide the programs through the final stages of accreditation. She said the programs — which currently have about 40 students — should see an increase in enrollment as more and more students are choosing accredited schools only.
“Students are seeking this accreditation when looking for programs,” she said. “There were approximately 300 standards that we had to meet for CACREP accreditation, and we met all of them. It was big to get that eight-year accreditation [as opposed to two]. It shows that our students are learning what they need to learn to become successful counselors.”
Campbell counseling students can choose between two tracks: the school counseling track, which typically produces counselors at all levels (elementary to high school); and the clinical mental health track, whose graduates go on to work in agencies, mental health programs, private practices, family counseling and several other areas.
Learn more about the School of Education’s counseling programs: