Become a Psychologist

Welcome!

As Director of Training in the Counseling Psychology Ph.D. Program at the Lynch School of Education, and on behalf of our faculty and students, I thank you for your interest in our training program. The Boston College program began when a handful of visionaries decided to leverage the enormous strengths of Boston College and the vibrant Boston psychological community to train Counseling Psychologists equipped to advocate for social justice through their clinical work, research, teaching, leadership, and outreach. They succeeded.

Today, our APA accredited1 program in Boston College’s Lynch School of Education achieves its mission and goals by remaining steadfastly committed to providing outstanding training in the scientist-practitioner model. Our degree candidates have access to a breadth of top-notch practice opportunities in diverse mental health settings, including universities, schools, hospitals, and outpatient community mental health facilities. They are closely mentored by our internationally recognized counseling psychology faculty, who are applying their cutting-edge and purposeful research to address some of the most complex and challenging questions facing our society. Students are exposed to areas of research spanning school, workplace, community, and international concerns, including immigration, trauma resiliency and recovery, domestic violence, the psychology of working, bias-based bullying, culture, race, and gender issues, youth mentoring, and positive youth development.

While we aim to produce outstanding scientist-practitioners, we also emphasize the importance of training in a context that develops well-rounded individuals. To this end, we provide an intimate setting of safety, diversity (PDF)*, and mutual respect that encourages self-exploration and personal growth, as well as meaningful involvement in our own community and our wider society. Together, we aim to advance knowledge and engage in practice that will build relationships beyond our classrooms, create synergies among diverse disciplines and connect colleagues to create new scholarship and models for change, all with the ultimate goal of enhancing the human condition.