Master of Counselling Program Plans

Students normally progress through the Master of Counselling program at a standard pace. Their time commitment will depend on whether they decide to apply for the thesis route. Students usually find that they require additional time at the end of the program, to complete their thesis.

Students in the Art Therapy specialization must follow a fixed program plan because of the nature of the collaboration with the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute.

• Program Plan: Art Therapy
• Program Plan: Counselling Psychology
• Program Plan: School Counselling

We strongly recommend that you consider the time commitment involved with online graduate work as you prepare for this program. You should plan to devote a minimum of 15 hours per week in each course. During the semesters when you are completing your practicum, you must be able to add an additional 250 hours per semester for your practicum placement.

Program Plan: Art Therapy

Students in the Art Therapy specialization will complete a portion of their coursework through Athabasca University and a portion through the Vancouver Art Therapy Institute (VATI). For more details on the Art Therapy specialization courses, please see the VATI website. Since we are working with relatively small cohorts of students in this stream, it will be important for you to adhere to the proposed course schedule.

The thesis route is not available to MC:AT students because it does not allow room for the Art Therapy specialization courses.

Please Note:

1. In order to meet all the requirements for Art Therapy certification and for the GCAP Master of Counselling Program, students are required to complete an additional 200 hours of supervised practicum. VATI 617 fulfills this purpose. You must plan ahead for the extra time this will require. This practicum will include a number of instructional modules included in the VATI Summer Institutes and some additional assignments.
2. Two courses will be recognized for transfer credit into the GCAP Master of Counselling to complete your degree requirements: VATI 601 and VATI 603, which are both offered in two parts; one at each of the VATI Summer Institutes that occur in Years II and III of your program.
3. You will be required to attend both the GCAP Summer Institute in Year I and the two VATI Summer Institutes in Years II and III. No exceptions will be permitted. The VATI Summer Institutes will be held in Vancouver at VATI.
4. To meet all the requirements for certification, MCAT students require one additional elective, which will result in one extra-to-program course registration.
5. GCAP 635: Intervening to Facilitate Client Change includes a number of intervention modules. All MC: AT students are required to complete the following modules as part of this course: GCAP 635MArt2: Interventions – Child Art Therapy Module and GCAP 635MArt3: Interventions – Adolescent Art Therapy Module.

Program Plan: Counselling Psychology
Four Courses Per Year

The normal program plan is four courses per year; one in the fall, one in winter, and two in the spring-summer semester. All students are required to complete the first year of the program as a cohort, completing the first four courses in a standard sequence. There are no exceptions to this cohort sequencing. If a student fails to meet course expectations for GCAP 631, they will not proceed to GCAP 633, until GCAP 631 is successfully completed. A student who fails to meet the course expectations for GCAP 633, will not be permitted to take GCAP 671.GCAP 635 and will be given an alternate program plan for the following year, allowing them to re-take GCAP 633. A student in this position must defer their Summer Institute experience by one year. The courses have been designed to build sequentially the foundational competencies required for your success in the rest of the program. For most students, four courses per year is the ideal pace to complete their program as it ensures core courses are available and you have maximum flexibility in selecting elective courses. The program normally takes 3.3 years to complete.

Please Note:

1. Most students will complete the program through the course-based exit route. You may apply to the thesis route in your second year, but there is no guarantee of admission to the thesis route.
2. You must plan to add in 250 hours per semester of on-site placement during GCAP 685: Advanced Counselling Practicum.
3. If you are in the course-based exit route, you may opt to take GCAP 695 in the spring-summer semester of Year III along with your final elective, if you have completed the 500 hours required for GCAP 685: Advanced Counselling Practicum.
4. The courses above marked with an asterisk * indicate differences in course requirements for each of the program plans—thesis or course-based exit.

Program Plan: School Counselling

Students in the School Counselling specialization will complete the following courses in the order noted below:

Students in the MC: School Counselling specialization are not eligible for the Thesis route.

Maximum Time in the Program

Under exceptional circumstances, you may be permitted to complete the program over a longer period of time (taking up to a maximum of seven years). However, you must still complete the first year courses as part of your cohort. Be prepared to plan ahead to ensure course availability if you deviate from the standard program plan.