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School Counseling Program for Neighbor Islanders SAY YOU’VE JUST GRADUATED ON ONE OF THE NEIGHBOR ISLANDS WITH A BACHELOR’S DEGREE IN PSYCHOLOGY. YOU WANT TO GET A MASTER’S DEGREE NEXT, SO YOU CAN BECOME A SCHOOL COUNSELOR AND MAKE A POSITIVE DIFFERENCE TO YOUR COMMUNITY’S STUDENTS AND THEIR FAMILIES—BUT THERE’S NO APPROPRIATE MASTER’S PROGRAM ON YOUR ISLAND. CHAMINADE UNIVERSITY IS THE ONLY HAWAI'I UNIVERSITY THAT OFFERS A MASTER OF SCIENCE IN COUNSELING PSYCHOLOGY (MSCP) PROGRAM WITH A CONCENTRATION IN SCHOOL COUNSELING. YOU’D HAVE TO QUIT YOUR JOB AND RELOCATE TO O'AHU FOR TWO AND A HALF YEARS.
“This program will really help our neighbor island students get the training they need to help students in their own communities...”
Or rather, that would have been your only choice last year. Starting this spring semester, exclusively for neighbor island students, Chaminade will offer an online version of its Master of Science in Counseling Psychology (MSCP) with the School Counseling degree program concentration. It solves two problems—not only that of neighbor island student demand but also the state’s need for more trained school counselors throughout Hawai'i. Dr. Darren Iwamoto, clinical director of School Counseling in Chaminade’s School of Education and Behavioral Sciences, says neighbor island students have always been interested in the MSCP program, and it’s always been hard for the school to meet that need because administrators assumed they needed to teach it in person. Pre-COVID-19, they had started working on a plan to send instructors to Maui and Hawai'i Island to offer the MSCP program there. But then came the pandemic, and with it, of course, remote learning. Iwamoto says the university discovered something surprising. “Our faculty found they can be just as effective at teaching using Zoom and other kinds of video conferencing,” he says. He said they found online education still provided personalized learning and allowed students to connect with one another. “Our instructors found that even when they couldn’t teach in person, they were successfully getting that human interaction over video. It was working.” The department conducted a needs assessment to see if there was current
demand for the MSCP program among neighbor island students, and it came back positive. So they decided to start an online program specifically for neighbor island students. While the School Counseling focus starts this spring, Chaminade will begin offering online versions of the other two Counseling Psychology concentrations, Mental Health and Marriage and Family, in the fall. Once all three concentrations are offered this fall, they will be available to students located anywhere. “At that point, we’ll be running a complete MSCP online program alongside the in-person program,” says Iwamoto,“ so students won’t have to fly to O'ahu. Although they can participate in the in-person commencement.” The online, 60-credit-hour, cohorted School Counseling program is taught in four 10-week terms per year. The year-round program, geared toward working professionals, can be completed in 30 months. Upon completing the program, students not only receive a master’s in counseling psychology but are also eligible for a provisional K-12 counseling license and to be hired as a school counselor. “Because they’re trained in school counseling in general, they will also have the skill set and knowledge to work as a counselor in our private and charter schools,” says Iwamoto. He says that while school counselors have always been crucial, that need has been even more significant since the COVID-19 pandemic began a year ago. He says stress, anxiety, and mood challenges, which were already high, have increased with COVID.
