Practice
You will gain on-campus clinical experience from year one. Our state-of-the-art trainee practicum clinic offers students a unique opportunity to practice, review, and hone their counseling skills as they see real clients in a supervised recorded environment.
Guided, accessible internship placements are readily available through our established practicum sites at all the major mental health service providers throughout San Diego, including such settings as community mental health, non-profit agencies, youth and family services, and couples counseling clinics. We provide a high level of support in helping you match to the practicum site that fits you best.
Preparation
At PLNU, you are mentored for success. We are a relational, high-touch program that cares just as deeply for your personal growth as we do about your professional development. Seasoned professors who are active in their own clinical practice use experiential learning, hands-on training, and real-world experiences to bring learning to life in the classroom. All coursework is designed to be applied to your development of therapy skills in clinical practice. Small classes in a cohort model mean that you build meaningful relationships, community, and professional networks. Faculty members, as part of PLNU’s broader commitment to spiritual development, integrate Christian faith, ethics, skills, and science into your learning.
Most importantly, intentional-expert licensure exam preparation is an integral part of the coursework, where every course prepares you to take the licensure exam.
PLNU’s experienced, working faculty-professionals integrate biblical principles, ethics, skills, and science, considering moral questions while linking hands-on training to cutting-edge research in holistic mind-body approaches.
LMFT or LPCC?
Should you study to become an LMFT or LPCC therapist? Although many course requirements overlap for both degrees, the LPCC emphasizes the individual in therapeutic practices rather than relational or systems-oriented practices. With the MFT license, you can help families, marriages, and couples, while the PCC license broadens your practice to counsel individuals with issues involving relationships; personal growth, mental, and emotional issues; adjustment to disability; crisis intervention; and problems with stress.
When you graduate from our program, you will have met the requirements for either the LPCC or LMFT. You choose which license you would like to gain hours to complete.
State Authorization
State authorization is a formal determination by a state or U.S. Territory that PLNU is approved to conduct activities regulated by that state or U.S. Territory. PLNU is not required to obtain state authorization in every state or U.S. Territory, and the university has opted at this time not to seek authorization in some states. Additionally, PLNU meets the criteria for exemption from authorization in certain states.
Visit our disclosures page to view our color-coded state authorized map to view your state’s authorization status. If you have questions, please contact your enrollment counselor.
Authorizations in specific states and U.S. Territories may change periodically.
Professional Licensure or Certification
This program complies with the California Board of Behavioral Sciences and meets the requirements for LMFT and LPCC Licensure in the state of California, where Point Loma Nazarene University is physically located. PLNU cannot confirm whether or not specific programs meet out-of-state requirements for Professional Licensure or Certification. Information about out-of-state requirements in Clinical Counseling is available on this website counseling.org.
For more information on State Authorization and Program Licensure, please refer to our disclosures page.
