What’s the difference between “counseling psychology” and social work?

The common element is an interest in working with people in helping relationships. For students who want to work in community mental health and addictions treatment, the differences are that this program has a more concentrated focus on preparing students to do counseling and psychotherapy with specific clients and problems, as well as offer other helping services. Further, this program combines the human relations traditions of counseling with strong reliance on the research-based knowledge and theory that comes from psychology and psychiatry. This means our classes offer state-of-the-art practical knowledge and skills.

For students who want to work in the schools, the School Psychology program is based on the requirements of the Oregon licensing system, current national standards, and on the leading knowledge and practice approaches that are being developed by leaders in this field.