Bridging cultures, elevating care

“Watching their growth—from their first tentative steps on campus to their final days here—has been like seeing a seed blossom into a tree.”

Practice-based counselor training in China depends on more than access — it depends on how clinicians are trained. That conviction brought together the School of Education’s Rod Goodyear, Yang Ai, and Xiubin Lin, CEO of Hubei Oriental Insight Mental Health Institute, to create the Master of Arts in Counseling and Psychotherapy (MCPt) program. Established in 2019 as a hybrid partnership between Redlands and OI, the program bridges Western counseling frameworks and Chinese cultural and clinical realities, standing as a 21^st-century model for high-quality, culturally informed counselor education.

“Our students are exceptional—many coming in with MDs or PhDs,” Goodyear said. Completing most of their coursework in Mandarin, students are led by distinguished Chinese psychologists and faculty from OI, building a strong foundation in theory, ethics, and evidence-based practice.

“Matching the caliber of our students, the faculty hold senior academic appointments at China’s best universities and ‘moonlight’ for this program because they believe in what it stands for. It’s like recruiting leading psychologists from institutions such as Harvard or Stanford to teach part-time with us because they believe in the program’s mission.”

With the final term taking place on the Redlands campus, Ai, who serves as both an assistant professor and coordinator of the School Counseling program, sees firsthand the transformation students undergo during the capstone experience.

“Watching their growth—from their first tentative steps on campus to their final days here—has been like seeing a seed blossom into a tree,” he said. “They arrive carrying the roots of their culture, and here they stretch upward, learning to stand tall in different soil. By the end, they are not only more skilled and knowledgeable but also more confident, resilient, and globally connected.”

Celebrating its third graduating class in August 2025, the program continues to push beyond traditional graduate psychology programs in China. By placing practicums and client-feedback systems at the center of training, the program further students’ competence while staying aligned with the mental-health needs of communities in China.

“Before the MCPt program, universities in China rarely included supervision in training,” Lin said. “Now, many programs across the country have followed suit—the climate has changed.”

Beyond coursework, MCPt faculty are contributing to global scholarships. In 2024, Lin, Goodyear, and Ai co-authored a study in the American Psychological Association journal, Practice Innovations, exploring therapist self-assessment among Chinese psychotherapists, further elevating the program’s international impact.

With the Class of 2025 now graduated, the MCPt continues to demonstrate what’s possible when education bridges cultures—strengthening mental-health care and shaping future leaders across the globe.