The Whole Health Continuum: Conversations with UWS President Nathan Long
Join Dr. Nathan Long, president of University of Western States, as he hosts conversations with thought leaders in health sciences, education, and leadership. Together, they unpack the ideas shaping today’s conversations. Each episode offers thoughtful dialogue, evidence-informed insights, and forward-looking perspectives for practitioners, educators, and lifelong learners alike.
Listen in and be a part of a community committed to elevating health with integrity, compassion, and evidence-based practice.
The Whole Health Continuum: Conversations with UWS President Nathan Long
Positively Transforming Mental Health Counseling Education with Amy O'Hana
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In this episode, Dr. Amy O'Hana, Program Director of the Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) program at UWS, shares how the program is changing the mental health landscape and the program's approach to offering a uniquely rigorous, asynchronous academic program.
To learn more about UWS, visit us at https://www.uws.edu.
I would say to a prospective student, really think about who you want to work with and how you envision working with them. And then look at your licensing board in your particular state and try to find the role and scope of practice, which is determined by every state law within the state in order to see what is the right pathway for you.
SPEAKER_00Greetings, everyone. Welcome to the Whole Health Continuum, the official podcast of the University of Western States. In this series, we'll engage guests in thoughtful conversations that explore the many dimensions of whole person health care. Our topics will span a wide range from educators and academic leaders shaping curricula to meet the needs of 21st century clients and patients to practitioners, including students, alumni, and friends of the university who are delivering transformational care to community leaders making meaningful strides in advancing health and well-being in the populations they serve. Located in Portland, Oregon, and online, University of Western States offers a world-class integrated healthcare education focused on the whole person. Our programs emphasize an evidence-informed approach to health and wellness. And to learn more about our fabulous university, visit us at www.us.edu. Today, I'm joined by Dr. Amy Ohana, our fabulous program director for the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program. Dr. Ohana's long-standing work in counseling and counselor education spans many years in which she's contributed so much to advancing mental health and wellness in Oregon and beyond. We're going to explore the current state of mental health in America, dive into some interesting trivia, and see where the conversation leads us. Dr. Ohana, welcome to the pod.
SPEAKER_02Thank you so much. It's wonderful to be here today.
SPEAKER_00We are thrilled to have you. So we're going to hop right into it. Describe your journey in higher education and how you ended up landing at UWS. And I think you may want to rewind just a little bit to your background in counseling and counselor education.
SPEAKER_02Sure. Well, I have to say, when I started my career, I never dreamed I would be a professor. I thought I was going to be an elementary school teacher, and then quickly found out that probably wasn't a good career for me in my freshman elementary education course. So then I set out to become a psychologist. And as luck or planned happenstance took me, I studied at Oregon State University. I had a wonderful instructor, professor, Dr. Dale Pearson, who was in my master's program in counseling. She encouraged me to pursue my doctorate in counselor education and supervision. And it was at that point I began to visualize myself becoming a university professor. So I actually did come become a teacher, just not an elementary school teacher. And I also became a clinical mental health counselor. I'm a licensed professional counselor in Oregon and a university professor. So I feel like I got the best of both worlds as a licensed professional counselor and as an educator.
SPEAKER_00So for those interested in exploring the mental health professions, there is counseling, there's psychology, there's psychiatry, there's social work. Could you help us sort of piece apart what each of those does or is in its context of what you do? That'd be amazing.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. That is probably one of the most common questions I get from a prospective student. And the answer is it comes down to licensure. And it also is determined by who the client is, what client you want to serve. So each of those disciplines that you mentioned have their own specialized license, which is a result of a specialized training. While those trainings overlap, with the exception of psychiatry or psychiatric nurse practitioner, which are medical trainings. The other trainings, for example, licensed professional counselor, licensed marriage family couples therapist, et cetera, social workers, psychologists, we have very similar training paths, but different licensures. And the client, I always try to explain, is different in each case. So for example, for licensed professional counselors or LPCs, the client is the person sitting across from you. Generally, it's one person. Not always, but generally one. For a marriage, couple, and family therapist, the client is the relationship between people. So you might have two or more people in the office with you or in the room with you, but you're treating the relationship between those people, not necessarily one or two or individual people within that system. Social workers really focus on the system itself. So while they work with individual clients and families and couples, they really look at the broader system and how to change the system in order to support individuals who live and function within a system. Psychologists also can their clients can be individuals, families, or systemic, but they tend to focus more on evaluation. So you've heard the term psychological evaluation or psychoval. While other mental health professionals do evaluation work, psychovals are more extensive and require clinical testing. So, um, and and they're much, much longer reports when they are completed. So that's a little bit about the differences. Again, um, I would say to a prospective student, really think about who you want to work with and how you envision working with them. And then look at your licensing board in your particular state and try to find the role and scope of practice, which is determined by every state law within the state, in order to see what is the right pathway for you.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Boy, that was one of the best distillations of the professions, as I think I've ever heard it. And you did it in under like two and a half, three minutes. That's amazing.
SPEAKER_02Well, I answer the question a lot.
SPEAKER_00So you get the A plus for uh today's uh class session. Oh well, thank you. Yeah, you know, you know, that's that's perfect. So you you mentioned in your background how you came to counseling and found your way to it. I'd be curious in terms of your own background, like was there a pivotal moment or like a one of the biggest factors in your pursuit of mental health counseling in particular? I know for in in the context here is for I come from a family of of individuals who've been in the helping professions. And there was usually like a you know one of those defining moments, like they were able to help a family member, you know, through a crisis or you know, dealt with a major, you know, public emergency and they're in in one of our towns that you know our family lived in. What about you? Was there anything like that, or did you just sort of move into it and found your calling? And that's that's great too. I'm just curious.
SPEAKER_02I think it's probably a little bit of both. I just know how I'm wired. I'm a helper. I just can't not help. Like it is in my DNA. Um, I'm also a teacher. I'm wired to teach. I've I have transcendent moments when I'm teaching. Um, I'm also a writer and that that folds into the work that I do. I think in my own personal history, I have encountered many people, particularly in my teenage years, that really struggled. And I remember one friend in particular I had at the age of 16 who was experiencing suicidal ideation. And I remember feeling so intrigued and also so helpless that I really wanted to help her and just didn't know how. And it was a teacher who stepped in and intervened and got my friend assistance. And I just remember that role model of just being like, wow, that is amazing. Like our teacher knew how to help. She knew what to do, she knew how to leverage resources, and I want to be like her. I want that. So I would say that's probably the gateway into my profession. And then I mentioned planned happenstance. That's a career and vocational theory by Dr. John Krumbolz, which I love. It basically says all the things that happen in your life come together in this beautiful confluence of uh of what your career or vocation ends up being for you. So I could tell you lots of stories that happened to me along the way. They're probably not relevant to our conversation today. But what I can say is that our lives and our vocations just come together. And every little thing, even if it doesn't feel relevant at the time, at some point or another, one can look back and say, wow, that thing that happened to me when I was 22, or my military experience, or my whatever it is, losing my father, um, all of those things now are coming, um, coming to light and and moving me into this amazing work as a human helper.
SPEAKER_00Well, that that's just really lovely. I appreciate your framing of that. Now, as you kind of think about how your career has manifested to date, did you have any heroes or champions along the way that you go, boy, that person, or you mentioned uh the one individual who's who guided you in, but do you have others or great writers or people that you look up to that that you think have really helped shape you in terms of the academic you are, as well as the practitioner that you are as well?
SPEAKER_02So many people. Um, my teachers, um my uh 10th grade teacher, um my mentor in my doctoral program, Dr. Pearson, my mother, who always said, Amy, you should be a teacher. And I would be like, when I was a kid, I'd be like, no, I'm not doing that. But you know what? She knew best and she still knows best. So um wonderful, great writers. Um, I like, I like the writers that are a little offbeat, the ones that ask the hard questions and put ideas out there that aren't the usual or the norm that make us think. And I think, again, that's what makes me a good teacher as well is I like to inspire students to not just digest information that they're handed, but to hold it and to ask critical questions, to explore it, to examine it, and to see how it works for them. Because counseling is not a discipline like business or math where there's a right answer. Counseling is a discipline, is a is a vocation where so much depends on it depends on the context, on the culture, the setting, on what's happening politically, all of those things. And so to be open to letting the process just take you where it is, both for yourself as the clinician and how that uh aids or is part of the client's healing process.
SPEAKER_00That's really great. Um so we we've we've framed the profession, we've framed how you've come into it. And now I'd like us to to really piece apart some data that informs why you, we, we all do what we do. In the form of a little test or trivia. You can't you can't fail because I'm throwing you a data set that could also be different in another data set.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_00But we're just gonna ask your ballpark like, what do you think here? Um, so this is coming from the state of mental health for Mental Health America. If you're familiar with them, I would highly recommend folks look at uh Mental Health America, mhanational.org, uh, for some interesting statistics. So, Dr. Ohana, in terms of adults in the U.S. who've experienced any mental illness in the United in the United States, what percentage of the total population uh is that from your background?
SPEAKER_02Well, that's kind of a trick question, but I'm gonna answer it. I'm going to answer it um very clinically. I would say 99.9% of all humans have experienced a mental disorder because what we would call the mildest mental disorder, as per the DSM5, is adjustment disorder, which means basically somebody's experienced a life stressor, which could be good. It could be having a baby, getting married, getting a great job that you love, but you've had something that's happened in your life and you're having a hard time adjusting to that. And I would say that's pretty much everyone. I think probably the crux of what you're asking is how many people have experienced a severe or significant or debilitating mental disorder. And I would say, I would, if I were just going to make a guess, I would say that number is increasing. I would say probably 60 to 70% of people have experienced a mental disorder at some point in their lives that has been debilitating. And when when I say that, let's keep in mind that mental disorders are medical disorders, they're medical diagnoses. So no one has strep throat for the rest of their life. They have it for two weeks. That's the same with a major depressive episode. Diagnostically, clinically, if you have symptoms of depression where you are debilitated for two weeks, then you automatically make the diag meet the diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder. So again, I think the numbers are high. I also think they're growing higher and higher, specifically anxiety disorders. Um post-COVID, post-pandemic, I think that the rates of mental health diagnoses are just skyrocketing.
SPEAKER_00That's very good answers. They do not align with the one in mental health America, but the reason I I thought your first answer was spot on is because so often we minimize all of the day in, day out struggles, uh, mental health challenges that we all face. And that doesn't mean that they're insurmountable. And sometimes people do self-care, I would imagine, right? To help overcome those therapy. Um, I loved your answer. So the the answer of mental health America is, and this is in the past year. Okay, 23.4% have experienced a mental illness, and I think you're probably more on top of it. It's probably a lot more than that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Um I would be curious where they're getting their data and what who they're asking and what populations. I I think that's very low.
SPEAKER_00I love it. So if you're gonna come to the CMHC program, Dr. Ohana is going to also help you with uh consuming research, which I think is really good. Yeah. All right. Next, next trivia-ish question, right? In terms of the United States over the past year, how about substance use disorders? What would you say the percentage ranges in there?
SPEAKER_02Well, let me say it this way. When I teach substance abuse treatment, um, I usually ask my students to raise your hand if you or someone you know has ever struggled with a substance use disorder. And I would say almost across the board in 22 years of teaching, every single person has raised their hand. It touches all of us in some form or another. And it could be in the home, a parent, a partner, um, within the self, or it could be um within one's close community. Um, I'm not sure what Mental Health America stats would be, but I would say probably 50% would be my guess if I were gonna, if I were gonna make a bet a guess. Again, I I really feel like it touches all of us in some form.
SPEAKER_00I think you're absolutely right. Yeah, yeah. And I would say probably based on the data set, that's that's probably a more accurate rendering if we're applying it to across collective groups for their particular delimitation. It's 17.7 percent. And they these are asterisk with saying that these are these are going to be bigger based on you know the population sampling size and all that stuff. But still great answer. Um, and then the last one um uh is of the adults who've reported experiencing serious thoughts of suicide. About how many?
SPEAKER_02Serious meaning they have intent or they're starting to formulate a plan. I would say one in ten.
SPEAKER_00Okay. So about yeah, that's okay, gotcha. Okay. Here it's about five and a half percent. So this is all very good framing, I think. Not this isn't a right or wrong kind of discussion, but more along the lines of like we often talk about the scope of or the mental health crisis, but fail to often talk about the actual scope. And so many of our providers and you correct me if I'm wrong here, we don't have enough providers to deal with the numbers of people in need. I I think that's a fair statement. Absolutely. And we keep saying there's a mental health crisis, yet we see funding decreasing, we see um entry into the profession challenge. What are your thoughts on the actual state of mental health in America and um the scope of the mental health crisis from your perspective?
SPEAKER_02Oh I think it's big, and again, I think it's growing. Um, I think it's growing, especially in younger populations, Gen Z, the millennials. Um that's a lot of the clientele that I see, and I see a lot more existential crises in younger populations, which just is so sad to me. Um, you know, I could make a guess about why that might be. I would I would guess a lot of it has to do with media, social media, and then just pressure, uh, financial pressure, all the changes in the education landscape, financial aid, all of those things, um, performance pressure. Um, I think that is is a real, real issue. And I don't know if we have all the mental health practitioners equipped to provide for that need. That's what we are we do at UWS in our clinical mental health counseling program, is that we train clinicians to be able to address that need. Um, I think that this profession particularly is challenging because it's a long, longer training process. It's 90 credits to get a master's degree, it's a licensed profession. And then salaries are not awesome when you first graduate. There are ways to make a really good living wage, but that tends to happen later, later on down the road, a couple of years after licensure. Um, and until then, um, the the profession itself is also challenging just with high rates of burnout and systemic issues. That said, as mentioned before, I could never be anything else. Like I love my work. And students choose this path because they, like me, couldn't do or be anything else. Um, there's such a strong connection to the work for mental health professionals, um, whether it's a personal story or uh an intellectual curiosity, just as far as engaging like in the stats that you mentioned. Um and also just this deep, deep calling or or pull or passion for helping, for being the person who can make a difference for someone in a deep and real way. Um, that's what we do here.
SPEAKER_00So well put. One of the questions that comes to mind for me from what you had just articulated is this Growing concern, I think, amongst older generations around Gen Z and millennials, because we are seeing increased uh mental health concerns and and needs, and maybe not as much access. What are you seeing as some of the prevalent issues uh coming across for this generation? And I want to talk about the older generations in just a minute. Oh, sure. But your thoughts around Gen Z and millennials, because that's a it's a hot topic these days across a wide array of topics.
SPEAKER_02So well, in full disclosure, I'm I'm Gen X, I'm Generation X. So I so this is just mere speculation, but I do have Gen Zs and millennials around me in my immediate family and um extended family. So um I think I would say again, just to emphasize the pressure point. I think that um these generations, more than any other generation, have felt the pressure. Um they have not felt the pressure to conform like I did as a Gen Xer. They feel the pressure instead to form their own identity, which if they are not sure who they are or they haven't had the opportunity to develop that or haven't had good leadership or role models, um, they feel a lot of pressure to be someone or to I identify this way or to have a voice. And they don't have that confidence yet in order to express who they truly and authentically are. Yet they go to social media and they see all of these conversations and individuals who are also expressing their self-identity. Um and that can be really lonely and isolating. That's another piece to these generations. And again, I'm mere speculation. If you are a Gen Xer or a Gen Z and you're listening to this and you're like, well, this lady ha has no idea about my life, please tell me because I'd be happy to hear. Um, but I I suspect that there's such there is a piece of isolation. Like in in some ways, paradoxically, they are connected because of social media or because of the activities they're in, but they haven't they haven't learned, or it's or maybe it's not that they haven't learned, it's just more difficult to have that human-to-human connection, the eye contact, the um verbal communication, the presence, literally just sitting with someone and being present without interrupting their space or process. Um I think that that is maybe a challenge of of Gen Zs and millennials. Um and again, speculation, but that's what I see, that's what I observe.
SPEAKER_00It's it's making broad generalizations, recognizing that there will be, you know, anomalies and not just anomalies. We may need to go a different course, and sometimes those generalizations don't pan out. I am curious though, like we have seen so much um uh your your point around the social media, how uh connected everyone really is, and yet how disconnected we all really seem to be Gen X, Gen Z, millennial, baby boomer. It's fascinating, sort of these pods that we live in on social media and how we've almost and again, boy, I'm starting to sound like an old Gen X guy, but boy, we don't communicate like we used to do, you know.
SPEAKER_01I know.
SPEAKER_00So forgive me to the young people who are listening. Yes, dear, yeah, I I I own that.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, but I I'll own that too. I'm with you on that one, too.
SPEAKER_00Fair, fair, fair, fair. Um but there was an interesting comment by a gentleman named Scott Galloway. I don't know if you know of him, but he's a marketing professor at NYU. He's the host of a couple different podcasts, written a lot of books on this situation with men, a lot of times with men and boys, trying to understand the dynamic that's happening, especially with uh Gen Z millennial uh young people and and the lack of connection. And one of the things he talks about is he said that social media um should be, in his mind, viewed not dissimilarly from smoking or alcohol. In fact, it is as bad, if not worse, then it can be debilitating, isolating, it has the the impact of divide uh dividing us in ways that uh we just don't see, and we can't get off of it. If we you you talk to a lot of people who say, if I'm taking a social media vacation, it almost creates the same physiological response that someone who has an addiction is going through. And he equated this, and and again, I'm paraphrasing so those of you that know his work better than I do might also offer up that this wasn't exactly the scope of it, but made the case that this is in large part um, in his view, uh contributing to the ennui, the challenges facing, especially younger people, but also increasingly in the Gen X population and the baby boom. What maybe you don't have an opinion on that thoughts that you might have on that on the framing that he has.
SPEAKER_02Well, uh, you know, my mind goes to the clinical aspect. I would, I think, you know, if we're measuring brain chemicals like dopamine, are are you getting a dopamine hit and are you relying on that in your social media use? Then yes, it would be very similar to an addictive substance of some sort. Um yeah. My personal opinion about social media is um uh, you know, whatever is in your best interest, do is it in your best interest to be on it hours a day? Um, how do you feel when you're done or when you're scrolling? Do you feel joyful? Do you feel more connected? Do you feel more like you? Or do you leave feeling like, ugh, I don't, I'm not as pretty as that person, or I'm not as competent, or I'm so mad at that person, or I don't like that person anymore now because they expressed how they feel about politics. Um, I would say if it's the latter, maybe that is a is a good stopping point for anyone to say, is this really in my best interest? Or and if the answer is no, maybe the other the next question is how can I use social media to be in my best interest? Are there ways I can engage where I can leave feeling joyful, connected, more confident in who I am?
SPEAKER_00Wow, really, really nicely put. Really putting the onus onto the individual and really evaluating personally how that's manifesting. I like that a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Rather than sort of painting with the broad brush, but also recognizing the individual's uh accountability and responsibility to herself and himself, uh, to their larger community. I like that a lot. So when we're gonna pivot to the programs we offer at University of Western States, of course, um, Dr. Ohana, you've been a pivotal uh personality uh at the university and helping drive the program and building it. Um what program or programs do we offer and how are these unique? And then we can go from there.
SPEAKER_02In clinical mental health counseling, we have three pathways right now. The first pathway is for someone who wants to become a licensed professional counselor in their state, and that is the Master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program. It's a 90 credit degree program. It's online. Um, your clinical field experience is face-to-face, and synchronously offered in your community. So that is your clinical field experience, your practicum and internship, and those that spans five quarters total. Um, the second degree pathway is actually our integrated doctoral degree in sport and performance psychology with the clinical mental health counseling specialization. This is actually where our program started in, I think, 2018. Um this program was created specifically for advanced sport and performance psychology professionals, consultants, and leaders to earn a clinical license along the way. Um so some something that many people don't know is that sport psychology is not really licensed in any state in the United States. There might be one or two states that offer a license now. Um it's the license typically comes under clinical psychology. So instead, sport and performance consultant leaders earn a doctorate of education in sport and performance psychology. But if they want to treat people clinically as well in that integrated model, they have to have a clinical license to do so. So in our integrated EGD program, the first 90 credits are the master's in clinical mental health counseling. So students in that doctoral program, they're accepted into the doctoral program. So the terminal degree is the doctorate in sport and performance psychology, but the first degree is the master's in clinical mental health counseling. That's the first program that they do, and they can graduate and get that degree conferred on their transcript, apply for license, and begin working and earning money as a clinician while they finish up their doctoral program. So it's a great opportunity for those individuals who want that integrated aspect to their work. Our last offering is our certification and rehabilitation counseling, which is brand new this year. This is a certification for licensed clinicians who would like to certify as a rehabilitation counselor. In most states, rehabilitation counselors are a separate license or a separate certification. So this 30 credit certification program allows those who are already working and practicing as professional mental health professionals, and it could be LPCs, LMFTs, or LCSWs, to get the coursework that they need to pass the certified rehabilitation counselor examination. And then pending they have their clinical experience as well. We don't monitor any clinical experience and rehabilitation counseling in the certification program, then they can sit for the exam and then certify as a rehab counselor in their state. The nice thing about all of this is if you are interested in the master's in clinical mental health counseling or the EDD in sport and performance psychology with the CMHC specialization, you can also pick up the rehabilitation counseling curriculum along the way in those degree programs. So essentially you could come out with a master's degree in clinical mental health counseling and be eligible to sit for the CRC. Um, that's amazing. Also, um the doctoral program. Um you could just simply choose your electives and the rehabilitation counseling curriculum, come out, graduate, sit for the CRC. So what a well-rounded practitioner.
SPEAKER_00Um that you well, and so you you you get all that goodness coming out of if you come in and you do the degrees, you you automatically would qualify for the certificate or the the that piece of it. One of the things that struck me when I first started at UWS was the complete um virtual or uh online component of the programs. That's unusual to me. I've not seen that. Maybe could you just go into a little bit more detail about what that entails, what that might look like. I know we don't have a ton of time, but I think for those who are interested in the fine work that you're doing, I think that could be really interesting as well.
SPEAKER_02We were doing online education before COVID. So I think that says a lot that our instructors in our program is designed for online learners. We understand the pedagogy and the support that students need, everything from their content courses to their clinical field experience. In this program, in the Emma in the clinical mental health counseling program, the majority of the coursework is online done wherever the student lives. Um their field experience, however, in order to license, they need at least 700 to 800 hours, depending on the state of clinical field experience hours. And that's done locally where you live. So we have a clinical field experience coordinator who will work with you to place you in your local community, anywhere from Portland, Maine to uh Des Moines, Iowa to uh Portland, Oregon, um we will help you find a placement where you live and that is that is qualified um for your training and a clinical supervisor there and you engage in that placement up to 15 hours a week for five quarters or 15 months.
SPEAKER_00Incredible. All right.
SPEAKER_02It's amazing.
SPEAKER_00I mean, if you're looking for a degree program in counseling and looking to make a big difference and stay in your community, this is a really great opportunity. And if you don't want to stay in your community or you want to stay, but you want to go out and come back, this is also a great option.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely terrific.
SPEAKER_00So let's talk about accreditation because that's always a big question. Sure. Having come from I've uh been a president and a chief academic officer at a couple different places, and K Crep is the coin of the realm, as they used to say, uh in in counseling. And then I heard of MPCAC, which is uh was was new to me. And what was fascinating is it sounds like they're um they are rigorous in their review process, but they're also open to some unique configurations. Maybe you could talk about that a little bit and the value of MPCAC accreditation. If I'm a student in our program, can I work in a different state? Do I have you know, am I limited? What are the uh issues, challenges, and also the benefits?
SPEAKER_02For sure. Good question. This comes up a lot. So, first of all, little thing about me, I train, I both trained and taught in K-Crep programs for the majority of my career. So I'm very familiar with the KCEP K-Crep standards. And as the program lead for the CMHC program, I'm now very familiar with MPCAC. Um MPCAC, we call it MPCAC. It's like the AfLAC duck. Only with an M. That's how I remember it. Um the bottom line for a prospective student is external accreditation like MPCAC or K-Crep will never get you a job. I think that's the misperception, is if I go to a K-Crep program, then I will get a job. Absolutely not. External accreditation only governs curriculum in a program. It ensures that the curriculum is solid and credible and meets this the standards required by your licensure board. You the way you get a job is by being licensed in your state. So the very first thing you should do is check out the educational standards for licensure in your particular state where you want to practice. Okay, because in an online program, you can train in Oregon, but intend to work in Colorado. So you want to check out the licensure requirements for the state you plan to practice in. We purposefully, we we actually started our accreditation program, uh accreditation process looking at K-Crep. And we did a self-study, and the faculty at the time determined that MPCAC was the better choice for our program because K-Crep has been around since the early 1980s. They are very specific to counselor education. So if you go onto the K-Crep website, anyone can go and read their accreditation standards, and they're good, and they should be. And as an educator who was both K Krep trained and K-Crep, um I was a K-Crep liaison, um, it's a they're wonderful programs. Um, there's nothing wrong with them, but they are very specific for counselor education. We purposefully chose MPCAC because it also accredits psychology programs and we felt it better aligned with our brand, not only the whole person health brand at UWS, but also sport and performance psychology. It allows our students who will be, many of our students who will be going into sport and performance careers, whether at the master's or doctoral level, to have a little more freedom and flexibility in our curriculum, particularly in electives. Um K-Crep program, you're likely never going to have a choice of any electives because there's so many standards to be met in just the core curriculum. If you come to our program, you'll find our core curriculum very thoroughly meets the MPCAC standards, but we're able to offer electives like rehabilitation counseling and sport and performance psychology and even some of our other programs like nutrition or some of the other programs that might align with you. Of course, those electives need to be uh approved on by your program director based on your program plan. So, bottom line is MPCAC programs are awesome too. They're solid, um they're externally accredited, meaning that MPCAC governs or or oversees the program and says, thumbs up, yes, y'all are doing what you're supposed to be doing and training good students, but they offer more flexibility in how the student is trained and it aligns better with our integrative model of care that we are training students in, as well as whole person health.
SPEAKER_00That again, you're getting gold stars across the board because you've just like opened up my mind and see what's going on. Okay, good ways. Is that because seriously, I think there is there's a uh an I will I will cop to this. Like I have a tendency to go, well, you know, is it you know, is it really that good and uh or is it beneficial? And you just really sold MPCAC. We'll call it we'll we'll go with the team counseling for that one. Um, I think that really helps distill the benefits of MPCAC for our students. So you can in fact practice, um, but it's not that is really about the condition of the curriculum. What we're really talking about, if a student wants a job, the accreditation isn't necessarily the issue. It's can you get license in a state that you're intending to practice? Right. And you have the flexibility with our program to take some electives to kind of level up while you're in the program, you can kind of expand into these other uh unique degree certifications, et cetera. I love it. I think that's just great. So really well.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely. So I would say to any prospective student considering this program or any other program, go to your state licensing board in the state you want to practice, Google licensed professional counselor, find your state board. In California, it's called the California Board of Behavioral Sciences. In Oregon, it's called the Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists, et cetera. Go to that board, look for law and rules, um, or look for the application process and this and the standards required in your state for licensure, and then compare those standards to the program you're looking at. Hopefully it's UWS. Um, and um, if you have any questions about our program in particular, you can email me or admissions and we'll walk you through and answer those questions. Can I get licensed in this state? We'd be happy to help you with that.
SPEAKER_00All right, all right. Just one or two follow-up questions, and we'll wrap up for today. So in terms of the faculty, that's often a question, like the qualifications. What did you know, are they good? How do you know they're good? Um, I think I'm pretty biased. I think you probably are too, but I think it's worth stating why this faculty and this program, what makes them really uniquely qualified for the work uh CMHC is engaged in.
SPEAKER_02I love our faculty. We have world-class faculty and um we're only growing. And of course, I can brag all I want. Um, probably for if you're listening and you're like asking that question that you just asked, Dr. Long, like why this faculty? I would say this. Um, our faculty are also remote and they represent all areas of the country. Uh, I have faculty in every single time zone. I have faculty. Um, if you look at the diversity of our faculty. just as far as gender, cultural identity, race, we have a lot of diversity, which sometimes that can be challenging because students might have class with one faculty member and then class with another and say, well, hey, why didn't they think the same, why don't they have the same theoretical orientation? Or why don't they communicate the same way? Well, they're different. And that's actually to your benefit so that you can learn how to work with diverse populations, which is one of the things that we counselors do. Just as far as qualifications, our faculty are authors. They are scholars. They are engaged in clinical practice. I would say every single one of our core faculty and our contributing faculty also have a practice on the side that they do. They're renowned for their work. So go to our website, go to the faculty finder and look at at who our faculty are, research our bios, and if there's one or more you connect with, send them an email and say, hey, I'm so and so and I'm interested in the program. What do you like about working here? And I'm sure they will be happy to answer that question.
SPEAKER_00You hit on something that I think is probably one of the more fundamental aspects of any type of practical professional education, whether it's counseling or psychology, social work, medicine. I'll even go way off the way out of the field of vision here and go into music because I was a former classical musician. The the best instruction I ever had, I know the best instruction so many of the students I talked to are now graduates of UWS or where I was at previously really spoke to the fact that they were able to be in a classroom or in a training or or teaching session in which the individual providing that instruction was also in practice. They were in journey with the student that they were able to convey like here's what it's like when you're in the therapy room with a patient or a client or here's what it's like if you're in the concert or recital hall or what have you because I'm actually doing that work. And I'm not necessarily denigrating those who you know I think in in at least the old model used to be especially the big kind of land grant bricks and mortar institutions, you'd have people that the qualifications were you you must have practiced for three years and have a long scholarly record, right? I think what you're doing, what our faculty are doing changes the model substantially in such a really beautiful and important way to say we're in journey with you. We get it because we're able to articulate you know here's what it looks like now not just 20 years ago right is that a fair representation or am I missing? Yeah I think that's a great representation all right yeah well so if you're a prospective student that's one of the core advantages I think so uh and all of our fabulous faculty as Dr. Ohana had mentioned I think are really really incredibly talented and gifted uh you can't go wrong. So Dr.
SPEAKER_02Ohana one last uh question for you why University of Western States why UWS because I think we're changing the face of counselor education I think we go beyond traditional counselor education. I think we offer something unique and different um I think a lot of programs talk about whole person wellness but they actually don't do it. Just to be frank and and again not to denigrate anyone else we do it here. We are we are the program that says hey you want to treat eating disorders we'll take a nutrition class and and um do the uh uh master's in clinical mental health counseling curriculum um along the way do you want to be a leader in sport and performance psychology? Do you want to be a faculty member or a leader or develop your own business um in this or be an influencer we we've got a program for that we've got a program for you so um you're not gonna be put into a box and we actually care about you here I know every single student by name um I'm not just a removed you know program director and either there's our dean Dr. Elisa Bates she knows all of our students by name so um so you'll get something very unique very um very tailored to you at UWS wonderful wonderful job today Dr.
SPEAKER_00Ohana and for bringing so much of yourself to this interview absolutely really great to have you here i we're just so fortunate uh to have you at the university as well along with your your team of of uh faculty thank you so much you are welcome you are welcome so many thanks to you and to our audience thank you for spending time with us I encourage you to keep exploring the vast world of health and wellness and all that it offers us to lead richer healthier and happier lives as Dr. Ohana noted we are delivering not only the curriculum but the type of care uh out in the world via our graduates and our faculty uh that whole person care that integrated care and we we urge you to come take a look and see for yourselves and as a reminder you can find us online at www.us.edu and visit us on all the social media platforms you can also find our counseling program at www.us.edu slash counseling cmhc. You'll find it in Google if you just type in counseling in there uh you may also look up the Sport and Performance Psychology program the EDD program uh there's a whole host of options there as well with our uh grad rehabilitation certificate um you've got a whole smorgasbord of options and opportunities that lie uh ahead of you uh at UWS so hope you'll continue to join me and our guests as we continue our conversations on the whole health continuum. Take care