Saint Peter's University

Designing Online Counseling Education as a Complete System

Building an online graduate counseling program from the ground up requires far more than converting a traditional curriculum into a virtual format. The goal is to purposefully build each component to connect from accreditation and curriculum design to clinical training and student support.

Accreditation serves as the foundation. My previous experience completing a CACREP Self-Study taught me that accreditation must be at the forefront of the undertaking. I quickly understood that CACREP accreditation, the national specialized accreditors that review the preparation of counseling programs, must be the foundation of development from its inception. Designing curriculum, clinical experiences and outcomes around these standards from the start builds a strong foundation for both program quality and future accreditation.

Curriculum should function as a system, not a list of courses. Each course needs a clear purpose, intentional sequencing and measurable outcomes that contribute to the student’s experience in continuity and progression rather than twenty independent courses leading to a degree.

Clinical training must remain a priority. Counseling students need meaningful, supervised experiences working with clients, conceptualizing cases, responding to crises and developing a professional counseling identity. The clinical field experience therefore requires careful planning around supervision, partnerships and required clinical hours. This ensures students receive the quality training and practice needed as future counselors.

Making Accreditation Part of the Program Architecture

My prior experience conducting a CACREP accreditation SelfStudy taught me that the process of accreditation cannot be treated as an afterthought, or when a program has been developed. Aligning to CACREP’s requirements necessitates building the infrastructure early to create a strong foundation for both program quality and the probability for future program accreditation.

One constant theme in building this program has been the importance of systems thinking. Each decision becomes a building block in shaping the program structure. CACREP is the standard that shapes how we build St. Peter's University's counseling program, and more importantly, how students will experience it.

"Curriculum should function as a system, not a list of courses."

My goal has always been to build a rigorous, studentcentered program that prepares graduates with competence, ethical awareness, compassion and a strong professional counselor identity. Strategic focus is critical in developing a training pathway with a well-defined plan and purpose allowing for long-term growth. This takes patience, collaboration, attention to detail and the foresight to plan.

The Counselor’s Lens Matters

Online counseling programs face the same CACREP standards as traditional programs, which means the bar for cultural competency training isn’t compromised because of virtual delivery. Working in the tri-state area of New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut gives us a natural advantage: our students arrive with diverse backgrounds, cultures and life experiences that have shaped how they navigate differences.

Our goal is to broaden students’ worldviews and prepare them to serve culturally diverse populations with intentionality rather than familiarity. Instead of confining diversity to one course, we integrate it across all twenty required courses through applied learning that moves cultural awareness from theory into practice.

What makes this especially meaningful is that most of our graduates don't leave their communities after earning their degree; they return to serve the neighborhoods they came from, now equipped with a deeper, more intentional lens on culture and diversity.

Keeping Professional Judgment Human

One major consideration that now outweighs nearly all others is how students use AI, and how difficult it has become for universities to govern it.

Artificial Intelligence tools have outpaced institutional policies and detection methods. Students can produce clinical writing that is difficult to distinguish from their own. In counselor education, this is especially serious when training exists to build clinical judgment and professional identity. If AI does that thinking for them, their degree no longer reflects the skills it is meant to certify. 

Program design must address these issues from the outset, and faculty should be trained to recognize AI-assisted work. The goal isn't to eliminate AI, but to protect the thinking, judgment and skill that must remain genuinely the student's own.

Where Online Learning Meets Relational Leadership

Over my twenty years in academia as a dean, program director and professor, I clearly understand that humility isn't optional in leadership; it is essential. Every decision carries the possibility of being wrong, every judgment the risk of missing something important. I've come to see those moments as my most valuable teachers in navigating the complexities of leading a counseling program.

These lessons became even more important in online education. In a virtual environment, students can easily feel distant or unseen, so intentional connection matters. Effective online learning therefore requires more than delivering strong academic content; it requires presence, responsiveness, flexibility and genuine engagement.

From my initial admissions interview, I want students to feel seen as individuals, even across a screen. By listening carefully and responding thoughtfully, I hope to model the relational presence they will one day offer their clients.