The Department of Counseling at UTSA prepares ethically grounded, community-informed, and professionally competent clinical mental health counselors, school counselors, counselor educators, supervisors, and researchers with a strong professional counselor identity to serve in a global society. We are a proud Minority-Serving and Hispanic-Serving Institution, and as a Tier One Research University, we cultivate leaders and agents of change who embody our core values and are equipped with empirically supported practices. We are committed to innovation in training and practice, empowering our graduates to meet evolving professional demands and enriching the quality of people’s lives.
Core Values
- Professional Ethics & Innovation. We uphold the highest ethical standards and are committed to the responsible integration of emerging technologies, such as telehealth and Artificial Intelligence (AI), to advance access and care.
- Strength-Based, Wellness-Focused Approach. We emphasize wellness, prevention, and resilience, integrating strength-based strategies alongside responsive intervention.
- Community-Informed Advocacy. We prepare counselors to be civically engaged, legislatively aware advocates who promote affirming communities and access to quality care as part of a global society.
- Trauma-Informed Practice. We embrace trauma-informed principles, research, and practices that create environments and approaches that prioritize safety, trust, empowerment, and collaboration.
- Relational Learning & Creativity. We value relational competence, creativity, critical thinking, and personal growth for faculty, students, and the communities we serve.
- Collaboration & Mentorship. We foster a student-centered culture of collaboration, mentorship, and mutual support that enhances professional development and leadership for our students and faculty.
- Holistic, Systemic Perspective. We recognize the complex, interconnected systems that impact individuals and families. We attend to cultural, social, and structural influences to provide holistic, context-sensitive care.
Innovative Programs
- Play Therapy courses
Department of Counseling Program Objectives
Department Mission-Based Student Learning Objectives (MBO)
At the completion of the counseling program, students will be able to:
- Articulate a professional identity as clinical mental health counselors, school counselors, counselor educators, and supervisors.
- Articulate a conceptualization of individuals served from a strength-based perspective founded on contextual factors (e.g., cultural, developmental, systemic, relational) and empirically supported practices.
- Demonstrate responsiveness to evolving community needs while promoting advocacy in alignment with current professional standards and best practices.
- Demonstrate knowledge, attitudes, and skills in ethical, relational, and professional competencies.
- Critically analyze, conduct, and apply research to advance empirically supported, community-informed practices in counseling, counselor education, and supervision.
How Do Our Programs Rate?
The Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Education Programs (CACREP) collects information from universities and colleges with accredited programs and publishes the CACREP Vital Statistics. Individual programs, rather than the university or college, receive accreditation from CACREP, and the Vital Statistics can be used by potential students to gauge the health of a particular program. The number of graduates, completion rate, pass rate on credentialing exams, and placement rate data can be used to judge how each program prepares and progresses its students toward the ultimate goal of gaining employment as a licensed counselor.
M.S. Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Last year, 101 students graduated from the Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) program. The pass rate for the National Counselor Examination (NCE) was 88%. Based on available data, an estimated 78% of graduates seeking jobs were able to secure employment in a counseling-related position within 180 days of graduation. The estimated completion time for full-time students enrolled in the CMHC program is 2.5-3.5 years; 79% of students admitted in Fall 2019 graduated on this schedule.
M.Ed. School Counseling
In 2021-2022, 22 students graduated from the School Counseling (SC) program. Of these students, 99% of graduates seeking jobs were able to secure employment in a counseling-related position within 180 days of graduation. The average certification passing rate was also 100%. Further, 99% of full-time and part-time SC students admitted in Fall 2019 completed the program within the estimated program completion time of 3 years.
Ph.D. Counselor Education and Supervision
Nine students earned their doctorates in Counselor Education and Supervision in 2021-2022, with 100% of graduates obtaining employment in a related field within 180 days of completing their programs. The estimated completion time for our doctoral students is 2-3 years; 96% of students admitted to our 2019- 20 cohort met this completion rate. No certification or licensure exam is required for doctoral students beyond the entry-level requirements.
The Sarabia Family Counseling Center
The Sarabia Family Counseling Center is located on UTSA's Downtown Campus in the Durango Building, Room 3.304. The SFCC offers free counseling services to the community for individuals, couples, and families. Services are provided by master's and doctoral-level counseling students and are supervised by university faculty. To make an appointment, please call (210) 458-2055. The SFCC's physical address is 501 W. César E. Chávez Blvd., San Antonio, TX 78207.
We envision the UTSA SFCC as a national leader in clinical service, education, and research. Our mission is to promote healthy social, emotional, and relational functioning, reflecting the needs of a diverse and dynamic society. The SFCC is organized and oriented towards three simple goals:
- Promoting the highest quality of counseling service and care.
- Promoting excellence in counseling through supervised clinical training.
- Promoting counseling service and care through clinical research.
Located on UTSA’s Downtown Campus, the SFCC was created with the primary purpose of serving San Antonio's urban downtown area and its surrounding communities. We have an extensive resource center, equipped with counseling-related texts, assessments, technology, and other tools that promote active community service, clinical training, and clinical research.
Community Services
Currently, the UTSA Sarabia Family Counseling Center (SFCC) and the Department of Counseling provide free counseling and psycho-educational services to the community through university-sponsored clinics and community partnerships. UTSA students have the opportunity to use the SFCC for both practicum and internship hours. SFCC also offers a variety of neurofeedback services.
Partnerships
Juvenile Justice Partnership
The SFCC works closely with the caseworkers and judges at the municipal courthouse to provide counseling services to adjudicated youth. These services include individual and family counseling at the SFCC and psychoeducational groups offered at the municipal courthouse. These groups service at-risk youth and their parents and focus on parenting skills, healthy communication, and character building.
AVANCE Partnership
The SFCC also works in collaboration with AVANCE, a community agency that strengthens families in at-risk communities through effective parent education and support programs. Staff and students from the SFCC provide educational outreach programs on parenting, mental health, and wellness in addition to providing counseling services to referred families.
Juror Counseling Program
The SFCC partners with district courts to offer free counseling services to community members after serving on jury duty. After trials, some jurors experience sleep problems, stress, guilt, hopelessness, or frustration with the legal system. The UTSA Sarabia Family Counseling Center offers a safe and supportive environment where individuals can discuss their experiences related to jury duty and collaborate with their counselors to identify and implement solutions for optimal health and wellness.
Harlandale ISD Partnership
The counseling department also collaborates with Harlandale Independent School District. Counseling services are provided to at-risk youth and their families as a part of the Harlendale ISD first-time offenders program. UTSA counseling students and professors provide group counseling on a weekly basis to middle school students, high school students, and their families.
UTSA Sarabia Family Counseling Center
501 W. César E. Chávez Blvd.
San Antonio, TX 78207
Telephone: 210.458.2055
Download Parking Map and Directions
Clinical Director
Dr. Ashley Cuevas, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Practice
Counseling
Training in Neurofeedback
The UTSA neurofeedback program is the only training program in the nation accredited by the Biofeedback Certification International Alliance (BCIA) housed within a CACREP-accredited graduate counseling department. It is also one of 4 accredited university-based programs and the only public university-based program.
Curriculum
The curriculum for the neurofeedback program is based on the certification guidelines of the Biofeedback Certification International Alliance (bcia.org) and includes both didactic coursework and practicum experience. The introduction course covers the BCIA "blueprint of knowledge" components and also introduces students to hands-on experience of doing neurofeedback. Additional practicums through the Sarabia Family Counseling Center on the Downtown Campus provide opportunities to complete the required hours of clinical practice. Practicum experience can be incorporated into counseling internship courses. Additional advanced courses cover more sophisticated forms of Neurotherapy, such as Quantitative EEG (QEEG), QEEG-guided NFB, Z-score NFB, Z-score LORETA NFB, Slow Cortical Potential (SCP) training, and the use of Event-Related Potentials (ERP) in assessment. In addition, training incorporates various modalities of biofeedback into Neurotherapy, such as skin temperature, skin conductance, respiration, heart-rate variability, and electromyogram (EMG).
A constantly growing body of research is showing that neurofeedback (NFB) provides clinical benefits for several mental health issues, such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD/ADD), anxiety, trauma, depression, emotional regulation, addiction, and stress. The neurofeedback training program at UTSA is designed to prepare clinicians to provide competent and effective treatment for a wide variety of issues using many of the most popular systems available on the market today. The UTSA Neurofeedback Program is unique as it is one of only four BCIA-accredited university-based programs worldwide. To learn more about the specific neurofeedback courses offered, select the URL below!
Costs
The tuition-based program at UTSA is very competitive compared to the fees for vendor-based training and offers far greater depth and more personalized supervision.
Research and Achievements
Our faculty and students are actively involved in presenting and publishing neurofeedback research! We are currently studying the ways that NFB helps with anxiety-related disorders and PTSD. In addition, doctoral dissertation projects are researching ways that neurofeedback may be integrated efficiently into counseling graduate programs, attending to counselor burnout, and reducing alcohol cravings. The addition of a 38-channel EEG system, using Event-Related Potential assessments, will bolster our research capacities going forward.
Publications
- Gregory, J. C., Romero, D. E., & Jones, M. S. (2020). Predictors of neurofeedback outcomes following qEEG individualized protocols for anxiety. NeuroRegulation, 7(1), 18-25. https://doi.org/10.15540/nr.7.1.18
- Romero, D. E., Anderson, A., Gregory, J. C., Potts, C. A., Jackson, A., Spears, J. R., Jones, M. S., & Speedlin, S. (2020). Using neurofeedback to lower PTSD symptoms. NeuroRegulation, 7(3), 99-106. https://doi.org/10.15540/nr.7.3.99
Awards
- Genie B. Davis Award, Biofeedback Certification International Alliance (BCIA)
- (2022) Whitney Rich, MS; Ross Spears, MS, LPC; Emily Surratt, MS, LPC-Associate
- (2019) Claire Gregory, PhD, LPC, LCDC, NCC, Cerise Edmonds, MS
- International Society of Neuroregulation and Research (ISNR), In Memoriam Award:
- (2022) Ross Spears, MS, LPC
- (2021) Cerise Edmonds, MS
- (2020) Claire Gregory, PhD, LPC, LCDC, NCC
- (2018) Laurel Cook, PhD, LPC
- International Society of Neuroregulation and Research (ISNR) Conference, Student Content Presentation Award:
- (2022) Ross Spears, MS, LPC and Whitney Rich, MS. Spears, J.R., & Rich, W. (2022, July 28). Freeze! You’re Under Too Much Stress: Utilizing Neurofeedback for the Mitigation of Law Enforcement Stressors [Content Presentation]. International Society for Neuroregulation and Research, Orlando, Florida.
- International Society of Neuroregulation and Research (ISNR) Conference, Student Poster Award:
- (2022) Claire Gregory, PhD, LPC, LCDC, NCC
Gregory, J. C. (2022). qEEG individualized protocols for the treatment of alcohol use disorder [Poster presentation]. International Society for Neuroregulation and Research, Orlando, Florida. - (2021) Ross Spears, MS, LPC and Cerise Edwards, MS
Spears, J.R., & Edmonds, C. (2021, June 26). Navigating virtual neurofeedback treatment during COVID-19: A retrospective analysis [Poster presentation]. International Society for Neuroregulation and Research, Virtual.
- (2022) Claire Gregory, PhD, LPC, LCDC, NCC
Podcasts
NeuroNoodle with Dr. Mark Jones
NeuroFlex with Dr. Ross Spears
Dr. Mark S. Jones
Dr. Jones has been a neurofeedback practitioner since 2002. He is board-certified in neurofeedback by the Biofeedback Certification International Alliance (BCIA) and certified in Quantitative EEG (Diplomate) by the QEEG Certification Board. He is a Licensed Professional Counselor (supervisor) and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (supervisor). He has a practice that incorporates neurofeedback treatment, the Well Mind Center (wellmindsa.com). He has served on the board of the International Society for Neuroregulation and Research (isnr.org), as past president of the Biofeedback Society of Texas, and is a Full Member of the Rice University/Texas Medical Center Chapter of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society.
PITCH Expanded Providers (PEP) program
Learn more about this program for the integrated training of counselors in behavioral health.
Forms & Helpful Links
A comprehensive list of counseling-related forms and resource links.
Counseling Degree Programs
The Department of Counseling offers programs and certificates designed to work with particular populations or in particular settings. All of our graduate degree programs offer a robust combination of coursework, practicum, and internship experience, which involves our advanced students providing psychological and behavioral services to local schools and clinics.
