10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Counseling Master's Program
10 Things I Wish I Knew Before Starting a Counseling Master's Program
The Truth Behind Counseling Programs: What They Don't Want You to Know
When I started classes for a Master’s Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at the University of Tennessee in August of 2022, I was excited to be starting a new chapter in my life filled with learning. Since that time I have indeed learned a lot, and if I had known even half of these things beforehand I wouldn’t have wasted my time and money on this scam of a program.
These are the things I wish that I had known before starting a Counseling Master’s program.
Psychology and its related professions are ideologically captured. The field has changed. Luminaries I have been reading for decades, Carl Rogers, Millgram, William James, John Bowlby, Marsha Linehan, Irvin Yalom, Otto Kernberg, and Frank Yeomans do not reflect the mainstream of the field, not in a way that promotes their empirical insights over ideology.
Though this has been in progress for a long time, in the last 5 to 10 years, the stranglehold of Critical Theories ideology is complete in counseling and other therapy branches. The major psychology-based organizations, the American Counseling Association (ACA), the American Psychological Association (APA), the American Psychiatric Association, and many others proselytize for advocacy based on race, sexuality, gender, and other one-note identity characteristics.
Graduate students are being taught to evaluate clients and themselves based on whether they are racially privileged or marginalized, norms of how to define mental illness are being dismantled and these professions are advocating for surgical castration and hysterectomies for children and teens based on the idea that it is possible to change sex and a child, even younger than 12 is capable of making that life-altering decision.
Counseling Graduate School is an Indoctrination program into this ideology. CACREP, the accreditation board for counseling programs, requires counseling programs to infuse the entire course structure with Critical Theories, diversity, equity, and inclusion. The Coursework for Counseling the Culturally Diverse, which is used in both psychology and counseling graduate programs, groups people into categories like ‘whites’ and ‘blacks’. It expounds on how ‘whites’ should manage their ‘whiteness’ both in themselves and with clients.
Faculty and administrators follow an end justifies the means mentality. Students who do not toe the line are open to bullying from faculty and students. The administration will turn a blind eye and even the ombudsman may be unable to be much if any help. They may require things like signing a diversity statement, which if you fail to comply you can be dropped from the program.
Your options for any legal recourse if any are very limited. Even as you are being taught objectionable material, like how to evaluate clients based on race, courts do not support educational malpractice lawsuits. There also isn’t much support for students in First Amendment-based lawsuits either as we see in the case of Jennifer Keeton who was ordered to take a re-education program to remedy her Christian beliefs. Courts come down strongly in favor of faculty even in egregious cases that amount to abuse. And be prepared for a lack of due process in the event something goes wrong. Lawsuits are also expensive on top of the tuition you already pay and you may have to file suit within a window as short as 180 days.
Graduate Student Abuse is Rampant and Enabled. Because the faculty are shielded legally, through tenure, the administration, and through the sunk costs one must take on to be there, graduate students are ripe for abuse. To make matters worse, again there is little recourse. While you can take some measures to document the abuse, depending on the situation that may or may not help. This includes therapy professors who are teaching and trained in viewing others with unconditional positive regard.
Academia Environments favor mobbing. Academia, like any group where it is costly to leave or be ousted, is a powder keg for mobbing. This has been a known problem for decades. Cancel culture taking hold has only made this situation worse. With Critical Theories ideology providing justification, students like myself and Lauren Holt are being targeted by other students and faculty. In other cases, faculty are targeted by students as happened at Evergreen and many other places.
Psychological (and much other) research is tainted. For going on 20 years now there has been a replication crisis in psychological research. The lack of integrity runs deep, and in the last decade or so research is increasingly dominated by critical social justice questions. The graduate textbook for Research and Evaluation in Counseling goes on for 20 pages about different types of reality and postmodern research theory. There is no emphasis on using empirical evidence to explore an objective reality.
Federal Accountability is time-restricted and bureaucratically compromised. If you want to file a discrimination complaint with the Department of Education, you only have 180 days to do so via this form. If you miss the deadline you can appeal, but it is unlikely you will be given an extension. Even with the complaint registered, legal sources have shared that this office often rejects complaints.
Accreditation is worse than worthless. If you were under the impression that accreditation offered you any indicator of quality education you would be wrong. Accreditation today runs like a cartel. When it comes to graduate programs like counseling, it is the accreditation board that requires DEI and critical theories indoctrination in Cultural sensitivity training and throughout the entire program. The universities pay dearly for this service, so even though you can file a complaint with accreditors, don’t expect it to go anywhere. Accreditors are not going to jeopardize their income stream by censuring colleges. They are also untouchable by the government and lawsuits. They have pushed this advantage to the point their accredited degree is required for licensure in many states and to work in many Federal positions.
Students must act defensively in class and on campus. If I had it to do over, I would not have applied. The therapy field is corrupt. For students in college today, I encourage you to record all your classes and every lecture. Be sure to ask permission if your state requires that, or don’t agree to the conversation. Record any ‘support’ meetings. In fact, record every conversation with faculty. Take screenshots of comments on assignments. Save every email, class handout, and assorted materials. This is your future that’s being toyed with and it will cost you tens of thousands of dollars whether you finish or not. Whether you can find work afterward or not. Protect yourself. Document everything. Even better, learn a trade and avoid the whole thing.
About
Diogenes in Exile began after I returned to grad school to pursue a degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at the University of Tennessee. What I encountered, however, was a program deeply entrenched in Critical Theories ideology. During my time there, I experienced significant resistance, particularly for my Buddhist practice, which was labeled as invalidating to other identities. After careful reflection, I chose to leave the program, believing the curriculum being taught would ultimately harm clients and lead to unethical practices in the field.
Since then, I’ve dedicated myself to investigating, writing, and speaking out about the troubling direction of psychology, higher education, and other institutions that seem to have lost their way. When I’m not working on these issues, you’ll find me in the garden, creating art, walking my dog, or guiding my kids toward adulthood.
You can also find my work at Minding the Campus
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