Graduate students looking to become mental health professionals will have more opportunities to study in the University of Lethbridge’s Master of Education Counselling Psychology program.
Earlier this fall, the Government of Alberta announced $780,000 of support to add 15 seats over three years to the Faculty of Education’s master’s program. ULethbridge was one of 12 post-secondary schools to receive funding.
“Ours is the only graduate program funded for seat expansion, which is significant because a graduate degree in counselling psychology is the only pathway to registration with the College of Alberta Psychologists and demand for admissions to these graduate programs is extremely high,” says Dr. David Slomp, associate dean of graduate studies and research in the Faculty of Education.
The funding will allow the U of L to add two integral positions in support of the influx of new students — a clinical practicum supervisor and an administrative support for practicum and partnership development. The first cohort of five students has been admitted and will begin their practicum placements in Fall 2025. Additional groups of five students will be admitted in each of the next two admission cycles.
Slomp adds it’s imperative students have opportunities to participate in high-quality practicum placements. While some of those can be filled on campus, the new positions will assist in cultivating more relationships within the community.
“The clinical practicum supervisor will work within the U of L’s Counselling Services team to provide supervision for an expanded number of practicum students working within that unit,” notes Slomp. “Finding quality practicum placement experiences for students seeking to register as psychologists is becoming increasingly challenging. We have great partners, but we need to do more to enrich those partnerships and to expand the number of counsellors we partner with.”
