About this Program
Become a Licensed Therapist with Extensive Clinical Training & Deep, Holistic Academics
Respected throughout the Puget Sound region, Seattle University’s Master of Arts in Psychology (MAP) program brings together research and reflection from across the fields of clinical psychology, philosophy and the humanities to lay a foundation for clinical practice.
Our master's degree in psychology gives you solid clinical training and a rich, rigorous foundation for therapeutic practice. Instruction emphasizes reflective and experiential work, as well as the study of a wide range of qualitative reflection and research on psychological healing and growth. It includes the study of first-person narratives, existential and phenomenological analyses and an intensive focus on role of relational process in therapeutic work.
You’ll learn to work skillfully with common clinical diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. Your training will help you learn to be fully present with others through experiences of suffering and distress, how to facilitate a process of meaning-making and healing in the lives of others and how to work skillfully across barriers of social and cultural difference.
Empowered Leaders in True Community
The three-year master's in psychology program is a community of socially engaged individuals who stay connected beyond graduation, who support and help each other to grow personally and professionally beyond the academic years.
As a MAP program alumnus, your community will include peers, faculty, mentors, our advisory board and other colleagues around the region. Through dedicated mentorship programs, professional development and continuing education events, conferences and volunteer service networks, you'll have a place in this community throughout your career.
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Explore Our Program
Learn about our Master of Arts in Psychology from Professor Steen Halling, one of the program's founders.
Clinical Internship: Experiential Learning
Students fulfill a substantial clinical internship requirement (600 hours) in their third year in the program—in one of roughly 30 sites in the Puget Sound area. Students gain in-depth clinical experience by interning for roughly 20 hours per week in the role of counselor/therapist for 9 to 12 months.
Discover Existential Phenomenological Psychology
The MAP program distinguishes itself by its commitment to deeply engaging humanistic and interdisciplinary perspectives in its model of clinical training. The program draws, particularly, upon the philosophical traditions of existentialism and phenomenology, tapping these as sources of both questions and insights into the richness and diversity of human psychological experience.
Prepared to Make a Difference
Our MAP program’s extensive internship placement program will prepare you for success as a psychotherapist working in community settings, private practice, hospitals or clinics.
Whether preparing you to enter the counseling profession as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) in the state of Washington or providing a foundation for further graduate studies, Seattle University’s MAP program is designed to support your professional and personal development as a therapist and to empower you to impact the lives of individuals, families and communities.
High-Demand Degree with Many Career Options
Upon completion of the Master of Arts in Psychology degree, most students go on to become Licensed Mental Health Counselors (LMHC) in Washington State, where they work as therapists in community mental health agencies, private or group-based practices and other care settings.
Some graduates continue onward to doctoral studies in clinical psychology, often with research and teaching interests focused on the use of qualitative and phenomenological methods in clinical practice.
Learn More About Our History and Advisory Board
Hear From Our Alumni
Rosie Newman
"I didn't just learn how to do therapy, I learned a way of being - a way of turning towards others - that has provided an essential foundation for my career as a play therapist. Throughout the program, I was immersed in stimulating readings and vibrant class discussions that inspired a complex way of thinking about the human experience."
Master of Arts in Psychology ‘06 LMHC
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Get in Touch
If you have any questions about the program or application, we’re here to help!
Ashley Miller
Senior Admissions Counselor