Education Echo Blog

University of Redlands School of Education

Video: The Department of Counseling and Human Services

Transcript of the video "The Department of Counseling and Human Services"

Kristin Grammer, Assistant Director of Advising: The Department of Counseling and Human Services programs are about transformation. It is really core to the School of Education. Students often enter programs to become something so it's not just about the "doing", it's about who you're "becoming."

Dr. Yang Ai, Assistant Professor: Counseling profession is a caring profession. We educate and train our students to be caring to their clients. 

Dr. Conroy Renolds, Senior Clinical Professor II, Department Chair: Our department has four programs. We have our School Counseling Program, our Clinical Mental Health Program, we have our Human Services fully-online program, and we just launched an overseas Master's in Counseling and Psychotherapy with Oriental Insight in China.

Kristin Grammer: Depending on the program that you're in, you'll have a fieldwork or a practicum component. And those are with our community partners. And students are either placed with a partnering district in a Pre K-12 setting or for our clinical counselors, there's some choice around applying for specific sites or with our colleges and universities. 

Dr. Yang Ai: We prepare our students through experiential learning to foster their multi-cultural competence. We actively find ways to place our students in environments where they can immerse in to a different culture.

Dr. Conroy Renolds: We have an overseas immersive course that takes our students to actually cross-cultural situations and they're exposed to various dynamics that enable them to be prepared for clinical services to various populations. 

Dr. Yang Ai: One of the most beautiful things is the diversity of our students. We have different generations, sexual orientations, races, ethnicities, social classes, occupational backgrounds, educational backgrounds. And all that together really enriches the conversations within the classroom.

Dr. Conroy Renolds: Social justice is at the heart of what we do. We not only think about it as something that we train students to do but we seek to inculcate it in our own practices as faculty. And we week to promote that as a department. It guides everything we do. 

Kristin Grammer: You will build your networks and you'll collaborate with faculty and other students and with our community partners in a way that's very meaningful.

Dr. Yang Ai: The hallmark of education in our department is the opportunity for our students to work closely with faculty. We have small class sizes. And faculty and staff members know every student by name.

Kristin Grammer: You have to be a bit vulnerable when you come to these programs. There's a lot you learn about yourself as you're going through a program. The program that you choose will likely change you. It'll change the way you think. It'll change the way you advocate for others.

Dr. Conroy Reynolds: The greatest benefit students receive is a professional identity that prepares them to meet the needs of clients. And students come away from our programs prepared for real-world performance.