Counselling Program Continues to Grow
With enrollment up again this year, Tyndale’s counselling program is poised to grow for the fifth year in a row. Enrollment in Tyndale’s M.Div. (Master of Divinity) in Counselling has grown every year since 2008. Last year enrollment increased by nearly 20 percent. Incoming student, Noah Mugenyi says he was drawn to Tyndale’s counselling program because of “the need in my family, community and church here in Canada and Africa . . . where issues like abuse, addiction and forgiveness among others have weakened potentials and remains a struggle for young men and women, families and communities.” Noah is the Founder and Executive Director of a not-for-profit called, the CanAfric Community Initiative (CACI). “Through theological teachings and knowledge acquired from Tyndale Seminary I will feel more confident and well positioned to face the days ahead and ready to serve the increasing number of challenges in the counseling field and other related areas of need.”
There are over 120 students currently enrolled in Tyndale’s counselling program. The program has continued to develop in its more than 25 year history. It offers preparation for accreditation in several counselling and psychotherapy associations, including the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT), the Canadian Association for Pastoral Practice and Education (CAPPE), the Ontario Society of Psychotherapists (OSP) and the Ontario Association of Consultants, Counsellors, Psychometrists and Psychotherapists (OACCPP).
“The most important aspect of this program is that it is integrated,” says Dr. Susan Ellfeldt, Assistant Professor of Counselling. “Our goal is not to just to produce counsellors but to produce Christian counsellors; people who not only feel the call of God but feel the call of God through counselling.”
M.Div. Counselling Alumnus, Ben Porter has recently started-up his own not-for-profit organization called The Love Movement. He credits the counselling program with giving him many of the ideas that got him started. “A lot of that inspiration just came through the courses at Tyndale and the actual practice of counselling through the curriculum and the internship. I had a lot of dialogue around this idea years before the love movement existed with other counsellors out of Tyndale and professors out of Tyndale. They were very supportive of me.”