FARMINGTON — To help streamline students’ preparation for a career in counseling or social work, the University of Maine at Farmington and the University of Southern Maine are offering two new collaborative programs.

The programs will make it possible for students to receive their bachelor’s degree in psychology and their master’s in counseling or social work in five years instead of six.

Available in fall 2016, the Psychology-Counseling 3+2 Program (B.A. to M.S.) and Psychology-Social Work 3+2 Program (B.A. to M.S.W.) will help students reduce their college costs and graduate ahead of time.

These accelerated programs were developed under the leadership of Steven Quackenbush, UMF professor of psychology; Adele Baruch, USM associate professor of counselor education in clinical mental health counseling; Bette Katsekas, USM associate professor of counselor education; and Jeanette Andonian, USM associate professor of social work.

Students will begin by pursuing their undergraduate degree at UMF. They will graduate from UMF in three years with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and a Mental Health Rehabilitation Technician certification , the most widely needed certification in the state of Maine.

This fully-accredited program will have students completing a full undergraduate course load of 128 credit hours. This includes 16 course credits and two seminar credits each regular semester, four credits of coursework over two summers and an eight-credit summer internship. There will be upper-level courses in counseling, including psychotherapeutic methods, couples therapy, child and family counseling and crisis intervention.

Interactive, discussion-based seminar classes at UMF will help students build skills in the practice of counseling. They will work collaboratively with each other, faculty and the educational community and as upperclassmen will prepare for graduate study by serving as mentors to the incoming cohort of students.

In their third year at UMF, a streamlined graduate application process will pave the way for students to gain early acceptance to the USM Master’s Program. Students accepted into this second phase of the program can complete their master’s level studies in two years.

USM’s graduate program will provide students with advanced mental health counseling, school counseling or social work curriculum that prepares them to work with individuals, families, organizations and communities. Students in the accelerated program will graduate with a Master of Science in counseling or Master of Social Work degree.

For more information, see the multi-degree programs on the UMF website at: umf.maine.edu/majors-academics and the Master’s programs in counseling education and social work at USM, view: usm.maine.edu/counselor-education and usm.maine.edu/swo.

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