Doctor of Theology in Pastoral Counseling Application Information for International

Doctor of Theology in Pastoral Counseling

The Doctor of Theology program is being discontinued and will no longer accept applications. Students currently in the program have completed all coursework and are being supported through the exam and dissertation phases in order to complete the degree. The program will be ending completely in 2022.

The Doctor of Theology (ThD) degree is offered through the Atlanta Theological Association by Columbia, Candler School of Theology, and the Interdenominational Theological Center of Atlanta. Students register for courses at any of these three seminaries within the ATA, as well as intensive clinical training (normally at the Care and Counseling Center of Georgia in Atlanta), with at least one-third of the student’s courses taken through the student’s school of enrollment. The program of study is conducted jointly under the direction of the ThD Committee of the Atlanta Theological Association, comprised of full-time teaching faculty in pastoral theology, care, and counseling at Columbia, Candler, and ITC. The ThD Committee has responsibility for approving student admission to the program, establishing curriculum offerings, and certifying candidates for the awarding of the degree.

Aims of the Program

This program is unique among doctoral programs in the U.S. for its integration of theological, clinical, and research dimensions of the advanced study of pastoral theology and pastoral psychotherapy. Graduates receive in-depth education in psychodynamic, family systems, narrative and intercultural approaches to pastoral psychotherapy, together with training in pastoral theological methods and social science research. The program includes both academic coursework and clinical residency and culminates in a dissertation. Graduates currently serve in a wide range of settings as pastoral counselors, chaplains, consultants, pastors in church settings, researchers, and seminary professors. The program is designed to prepare persons for the specialized ministry of pastoral counseling at a doctoral level of competence and for membership at the Clinical Member level in the American Association of Pastoral Counselors. With this training, graduates currently serve in a wide range of settings including pastoral counseling centers, chaplaincies, seminaries, congregations, and as consultants and researchers. There is also an option for coursework fulfilling academic requirements for licensure in the State of Georgia as a Marriage and Family Therapist. The ThD is comparable to the PhD, but it is designed for those whose vocation is primarily clinical and theological.

Program of Study

The studies included within the program help students gain an advanced understanding of appropriate theological and theoretical concepts. Students learn under qualified supervision the application of these concepts in pastoral counseling and how to promote professional integration of theory and skills in both pastoral counseling and pastoral guidance. In addition, students design and execute a research project appropriate to their own professional practice that gives evidence of their creative ability to contribute to this aspect of pastoral counseling.

To receive the degree a student must complete 50 semester credit hours of academic and clinical practicum courses (21 core courses, 17 practicum courses, and 12 electives), pass both a Clinical Performance exam and five Qualifying exams, pass a comprehensive oral exam, and complete a dissertation.

Coursework and Practicum

Students will normally be in full-time coursework and residency for the first 21 months of the program, including the first summer. Clinical counseling residency normally takes place at the Care and Counseling Center of Georgia (CCCG) in Decatur, GA.

Each student admitted to the program has one member of the pastoral counseling faculty as adviser.

Examinations

Following completion of all academic and practicum courses totaling 50 credits, and having earned a least a B average, the student will take a Clinical Performance exam (normally May of the second year), showing competency in counseling. Following the performance exam, students will prepare for five Qualifying Exams, covering therapeutic relationship and personality theory, marriage and family theory, pastoral theology, socio-cultural dimensions of pastoral counseling, and ecclesiological and ethical dimensions of pastoral counseling. The five written exams are followed by a comprehensive oral examination.

Dissertation

Following satisfactory performance in the qualifying examinations, students prepare a dissertation proposal in consultation with their advisor. Following approval of the dissertation proposal by their dissertation committee and the Institutional Review Board (IRB), students engage in the approved research project and write the dissertation. Four to five years is a reasonable minimum timeframe for completion of all requirements for the degree on a full-time basis, depending on the student’s other work commitments. Students may negotiate to complete some of the degree requirements on a part-time basis, typically after completion of the first two years of the program. Students are required to complete all degree requirements within nine years.

Transfer of Credit for ThD Students

In planning the student’s program with her/his adviser or ThD program director, a student may request credit for work done prior to entry under the following guidelines: • Credit for prior academic and/or clinical training must be approved by the ThD Committee, in conversation Office of Academic Affairs at

Columbia. All transfer credit must have been done at a PhD or ThD level and a grade of B or better must have been given for the prior coursework. The student must be able to show that the work is relevant to the ThD program.

The coursework normally can be no older than five years old. No more than 12 credit hours may be transferred from either an earned degree or from other coursework. All classroom work transferred in will be counted as elective credit.

In the case of clinical practicum work, a student may receive credit for practicum work that was done in conjunction with licensure, clinical work for another degree, or prior enrollment at the

Care and Counseling Center of Georgia’s practicum program. No more than 8 credit hours will be awarded for this work and will be credited toward the basic practicum requirement. The student would be enrolled for the remaining 9 hours of practicum work at the advanced residency level.

• Credit for work done after entry into the program at schools and agencies not related to the ATA may be transferred to fulfill requirements for the ThD degree under the following guidelines: • Prior to registration for a course for which credit is to be transferred, the student must have written permission of his/her adviser or the ThD program director and the Office of Academic Affairs at the student’s school of enrollment. • The student pays his/her own fees to the school where such work is done at institutions not related to the ATA. The number of credits to be allowed within this limitation is, in each instance, subject to the approval of the respective ATA school.

A limit of 12 semester hours is placed upon any work done at institutions not related to the ATA whether earned prior to enrollment or during enrollment in the program. All work transferred in will be credited as elective courses.