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PsyD Counseling Psychology Program Update

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Program Postponement for Master’s in Counseling Alumni Interested in PsyD

Pacifica Graduate Institute would like to announce a change in the timing of the start date of our new PsyD Program in Counseling Psychology, specifically regarding MA Counseling Psychology graduates who are able to utilize the MA and PsyD programs’ transfer credit option, originally slated to begin in summer quarter 2021.

Given the ongoing complexities of the impact on higher education by the global pandemic, and our desire for our MA Counseling Psychology graduates to receive an optimal experience in the new PsyD Counseling Psychology program, the institute has decided at this time that we will be unable to offer a summer quarter 2021 entry point for our MA Counseling Psychology graduates. Instead, the PsyD Counseling Psychology program will launch for external applicants, who will become first-year matriculating students, in the Fall Quarter of 2021. We then hope to welcome the first incoming group of our MA Counseling Psychology alums, via the transfer credit option, during the Summer Quarter of 2022, where they will join the Summer Quarter with the first-year students, moving from there through the remainder of the program.

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected the delivery of higher education in many profound ways, including necessitating online teaching methodologies which represent a departure from the way we normally interact with our students.  For current students, we have been on a collective journey to identify and implement best practices for functioning online, a process which has included student and faculty feedback to changing circumstances.  As we all work together to adapt to the challenge posed by COVID-19, we are making every effort to preserve the interpersonal and experiential quality of our residentially-based programs.

In the coming weeks and months, we look forward to sharing even more news and updates about the growth and planning of the PsyD Counseling Psychology Program, and being present with graduates and applicants in webinars and virtual admissions events to share our vision. We welcome you to begin your application and look forward to getting to know you during the admissions process.

At a time of great collective need, and with numerous mental health and cultural crises that will require the support of our depth-informed clinical expertise, the Counseling Psychology Department remains committed to teaching and training the next generation of licensed clinicians. We look forward to the new PsyD Counseling Psychology Program serving as an additional program offering to meet this collective need, and to our external applicants joining us in this effort in Fall Quarter 2021, with MA Counseling graduates to join in Summer Quarter 2022.