main content About the Lewis & Clark Community Counseling Center

Our Master’s program in Art Therapy prepares students to utilize their passion for art making to deliver skillful, compassionate, and clinically focused care to individuals, groups, families and communities. Grounded in social justice, you will be challenged to confront your biases and beliefs, explore new mediums and themes in your art practice, deepen your awareness of yourself and others, and gain the skillsets needed to support diverse communities as a licensed art therapist and ethical leader.

The mission of Lewis & Clark’s Art Therapy program is to prepare competent, creative, and reflective art therapists who are committed to equity-based clinical and community praxis. Students learn to apply relationally and socially attuned art therapy using art making to deepen awareness of self and others within societal and cultural contexts.

The Lewis & Clark Graduate School Professional Mental Health Counseling Program in Portland, Oregon, trains students to become empathetic and compassionate practitioners who, through their equity-focused leadership and advocacy, contribute to the advancement of the counseling profession and the cause of social justice. We emphasize the client-counselor relationship, creative and experiential modalities, and a thorough understanding of mental health issues across the lifespan. The curriculum reflects multiple theoretical perspectives with guidance to support students in developing their own framework for community and clinical practice. In addition to all required courses, students complete six hours of elective credit, which can include courses in the Ecotherapy certification or the Eating Disorder certification, or other courses such as Critical Disability Studies, Intuition and Creative Interventions, Feminist Therapies, Motivational Interviewing, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Somatic Psychology, Counseling LGBTQ+ clients, and others.

The Professional Mental Health Counseling with specialization in Addictions (PMHCA) program trains future counselors in an integrated and comprehensive approach to mental health counseling.

Issues with substance use and addiction are highly prevalent. It is estimated that 40-80% of clients in treatment for mental health issues are also experiencing the effects of addiction-related problems.

Many mental health providers are not adequately trained in the area of addiction, despite its prevalence among those who seek mental health services. U.S. Surgeon Generals have spoken about the need to have a more comprehensive approach to addiction treatment in the country (e.g., The Surgeon General’s Report on Alcohol, Drugs, and Health, 2016). States are also tackling the growing need to have competent health care professionals who can address both mental health and addictions-specific care (e.g., Oregon Ballot Measure 110).

The PMHCA program faculty, students, and its graduates are leading this charge.

Family therapy is a distinct profession with its own history, theories, models, professional organizations and journals. Family therapists are generalists in that we typically treat a wide variety of psychological, emotional, and relational problems. We share the premise that human behavior occurs within family, social, and cultural contexts. We work with individuals, couples, families, and community groups.