Counseling
An 18-credit minor across counseling principles, abnormal psychology, cross-cultural counseling, and counseling theories — for students stepping toward mental-health work.
About the Minor
ACU’s Counseling Minor is built for students stepping toward mental-health work — counseling, social work, marriage and family therapy, pastoral counseling, school counseling, and the many other roles where helping people through real psychological and emotional difficulty is the core of the job. The 18-credit minor is the most directly pre-clinical option in ACU’s family of psychology-adjacent minors.
The minor’s six courses build a real counseling-psychology foundation. General Psychology (PSY 202) and Human Development (CHD 312) set the developmental and conceptual groundwork. Principles of Counseling (PSY 311) introduces the actual practice of counseling. Abnormal Psychology (PSY 322) provides the clinical literacy any helping role assumes. Cross-Cultural Counseling (PSY 320) addresses the cultural realities every counselor encounters. And Counseling Theories (PSY 467) — the capstone — works through the major theoretical frameworks that distinguish thoughtful counselors from well-meaning ones.
Strong preparation for ACU’s MS in Marriage and Family Therapy and for graduate counseling, social work, and mental-health programs elsewhere.
What You'll Learn
Apply Counseling Principles
Work through the foundational practices that ground counseling — listening, assessment, the helping relationship, professional ethics.
Engage Counseling Theories
Compare major theoretical orientations — psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, humanistic, family systems — and understand when each applies.
Recognize Abnormal Psychology
Build the clinical literacy to recognize common mental disorders and their treatment patterns.
Counsel Across Cultures
Engage cultural, ethnic, and identity factors that shape every counseling relationship.
Understand Human Development
Trace cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development across the lifespan as it affects counseling work.
Build Pre-Graduate Preparation
Develop the conceptual foundation graduate counseling, MFT, and social work programs assume.
Counseling Shaped by a Biblical Worldview
A Biblical Worldview takes counseling seriously — meaning the dignity of every client, the reality of suffering, and the patient work of helping toward wholeness are central, not incidental.
Clients as Image-Bearers
Every person who walks into a counseling room — including the client who's hard to like, the client whose story unsettles you, and the client whose situation seems intractable — carries the dignity of being made in God's image. The minor treats that conviction as the working assumption for counseling work.
Grounds your counseling posture in respect rather than in fix-it urgency.Suffering Taken Seriously
A Biblical Worldview doesn't minimize suffering or rush past it. Counseling work means staying present with people in real pain — depression, trauma, addiction, grief, relational damage — and that takes both clinical skill and theological steadiness. The minor cultivates both.
Equips you to sit with clients without needing to fix what only they and time can address.Wholeness as the Goal
Christian counseling doesn't aim merely for symptom relief — it aims for the kind of flourishing Scripture holds out as the goal of human life. That doesn't mean every counseling conversation becomes a Bible study, but it does mean counselors keep the larger horizon of human flourishing in view.
Anchors your clinical work in the conviction that healing is real and worth the patient work it requires.Where This Minor Takes You
The Counseling Minor is built to open mental-health career paths, especially when paired with graduate study. Here's where ACU students put it to use.
Pre-MFT and Graduate Counseling Prep
Bridge directly into ACU's MS in Marriage and Family Therapy or other graduate counseling programs with foundational coursework in place.
Mental Health Technician or Support Roles
Step into entry-level mental-health support, residential treatment, or behavioral health technician positions while pursuing graduate study.
Social Work and Case Management
Build the foundation for graduate social work programs or for entry-level case management positions in social services.
Pastoral and Lay Counseling Support
Bring counseling literacy into pastoral roles, lay counseling ministries, and church-based care work.
School Counseling Preparation
Build toward graduate school counseling programs that assume undergraduate counseling and developmental coursework.
Christian Ministry Roles With Counseling Components
Equip yourself for youth pastor, women's ministry, men's ministry, and other roles where formal counseling training matters.
Why Students Choose This Minor
The Counseling Minor at ACU is the most directly pre-clinical of the department's four psychology-adjacent minors — five PSY courses plus a developmental course, with both abnormal psychology and counseling theories built into the required block.
Real Clinical Content
Abnormal Psychology (PSY 322) is required. Many counseling minors leave it as an optional elective.
Counseling Theories as Capstone
PSY 467 Counseling Theories sits at the top of the prereq chain — you finish the minor with a working command of the major theoretical orientations.
Cross-Cultural Counseling Required
PSY 320 is mandatory. Cultural competence in counseling is increasingly assumed in graduate programs and licensure exams alike.
Same Faculty as ACU's MFT Program
Department of Natural and Psychological Sciences faculty teach across the undergraduate minor and the graduate MS in Marriage and Family Therapy.
Strong Pre-Graduate Preparation
Foundational coursework that ACU's MS in MFT and other graduate counseling programs assume.
Getting Started
The Counseling Minor has a clear prerequisite chain — PSY 202 and PSY 311 unlock the rest of the minor’s upper-division work.
Talk With Your Academic Advisor
Map the 18 credits into your degree plan, especially if you're considering graduate study in counseling or MFT after ACU.
Take PSY 202 Early
PSY 202 General Psychology is the foundation for nearly every upper-division psychology course. Schedule it in your freshman or sophomore year.
View PSY 202 →Add PSY 311 Sophomore or Junior Year
PSY 311 Principles of Counseling is the prerequisite for PSY 467 — take it before your senior year.
Finish With Counseling Theories
PSY 467 sits at the top of the prereq chain. Save it for the semester when you can give it your full attention — it's the integrating course for the whole minor.
Explore More Options
Ready to Prepare for Counseling Work?
The Counseling Minor gives you the clinical psychology foundation, cross-cultural awareness, and theoretical grounding mental-health careers and graduate counseling programs assume. Apply or reach out today.
