Students work together in our 2,000-square-foot art studio.

Counseling & Art Therapy (M.S.)

Develop your identity as a world-class, culturally responsive counselor and artist-therapist.

Counseling & Art Therapy (M.S.)

A young woman with long brown hair uses a tool to shape a clay figure. A head shaped clay figure is in the foreground.

What are counseling and art therapy professions?

Counseling is a mental health profession in which a counselor builds a professional relationship to empower diverse individuals, families and groups to support mental health and wellness.

Art therapy is a mental health profession in which an art therapist facilitates client engagement in creative processes of art making and understanding resulting artworks for wellness and mental health.

We prepare all graduates to seek Registered Art Therapist Credentials and Professional Counselor Licensure.

How we help clients

Counseling & Art Therapy graduates help clients:

Explore their emotions and lived experiences
Foster self-awareness, self-esteem, and social skills
Focus on growth, healing, and wellness
Manage and recover from post-traumatic stress, depression, anxiety, addictions and other mental illnesses

An instructor wearing an apron speaks to a student in a smock while standing over wet clay in an art studio.hile standing over

Program benefits

Artmaking

Learn how to prescribe art processes and media for clients in our spacious studio.

Art making

Additionally, create response art in our fully-stocked, 2,000-square-foot studio, which is available to students around-the-clock.

Response art making facilitates self-awareness and depth, helping students process experiences with academics, life and clients.

Students are trained and encouraged to keep a visual journal throughout the program.

Clinical practice

Develop your own integrated theoretical approach to practicing counseling and art therapy and explore sub-specializations.

Clinical practice & sub-specializations

Learn psychological theories and evidence-based practices applied to counseling and art therapy to develop an integrative theoretical approach that works best for your clients and matches your values and beliefs. During your studies in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling tracks, you may also explore sub-specializations.

You can select sub-specializations in:

Trauma & Neuroscience Informed Counseling & Art Therapy
Art therapy in schools
Depth psychology
Geriatric art therapy
Medical art therapy
Community Art

Capstone

Execute a culminating project of excellence and work with faculty on research.

Capstone

Projects may include:

Human subjects research
Nonhuman subjects research
Art therapy advocacy and art shows
Social justice
Community engagement
Service learning

Students can also partner with faculty on research.

Artmaking

Learn how to prescribe art processes and media for clients in our spacious studio.

Clinical practice

Develop your own integrated theoretical approach to practicing counseling and art therapy and explore sub-specializations.

Art making

Additionally, create response art in our fully-stocked, 2,000-square-foot studio, which is available to students around-the-clock.

Response art making facilitates self-awareness and depth, helping students process experiences with academics, life and clients.

Students are trained and encouraged to keep a visual journal throughout the program.

Clinical practice & sub-specializations

Learn psychological theories and evidence-based practices applied to counseling and art therapy to develop an integrative theoretical approach that works best for your clients and matches your values and beliefs. During your studies in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling tracks, you may also explore sub-specializations.

You can select sub-specializations in:

Trauma & Neuroscience Informed Counseling & Art Therapy
Art therapy in schools
Depth psychology
Geriatric art therapy
Medical art therapy
Community Art

Capstone

Execute a culminating project of excellence and work with faculty on research.

Capstone

Projects may include:

Human subjects research
Nonhuman subjects research
Art therapy advocacy and art shows
Social justice
Community engagement
Service learning

Students can also partner with faculty on research.

Artmaking

Learn how to prescribe art processes and media for clients in our spacious studio.

Clinical practice

Develop your own integrated theoretical approach to practicing counseling and art therapy and explore sub-specializations.

Capstone

Execute a culminating project of excellence and work with faculty on research.

Art making

Additionally, create response art in our fully-stocked, 2,000-square-foot studio, which is available to students around-the-clock.

Response art making facilitates self-awareness and depth, helping students process experiences with academics, life and clients.

Students are trained and encouraged to keep a visual journal throughout the program.

Clinical practice & sub-specializations

Learn psychological theories and evidence-based practices applied to counseling and art therapy to develop an integrative theoretical approach that works best for your clients and matches your values and beliefs. During your studies in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling tracks, you may also explore sub-specializations.

You can select sub-specializations in:

Trauma & Neuroscience Informed Counseling & Art Therapy
Art therapy in schools
Depth psychology
Geriatric art therapy
Medical art therapy
Community Art

Capstone

Projects may include:

Human subjects research
Nonhuman subjects research
Art therapy advocacy and art shows
Social justice
Community engagement
Service learning

Students can also partner with faculty on research.

Help clients with self esteem for wellness and optimal health.

Service learning

You will practice service learning in many settings, including working with community members through our Arts for Optimal Health Program. Our students are dedicated to caring for individuals in a way that:

Embrace diverse perspectives and lived experiences for prevention and wellness
Fosters a climate of openness to explore using the creative process
Provides compassionate service to individuals, the community and our world
Enacts social justice

Our graduates

The positive employment rate for Class of 2022 graduates is 100%.

Our graduates are world-class art therapists and counselors who are culturally responsive, community-involved and ethical professionals with successful careers. Explore alumna Paige Scheinberg's story.

Our program provides Continuing Education classes and workshops. See our offerings.

Continuing Education

Emphasis on experience

Engage with standardized patients to develop your counseling & art therapy skills and receive immediate feedback in your first two weeks on campus.

Work with children, adolescents, and adults over three semesters at three of our 50 internship sites in Hampton Roads.

Contact Us

Macon & Joan Brock Virginia Health Sciences Counseling & Art Therapy at Old Dominion University
Early Assurance Program
P.O. Box 1980
Norfolk, VA 23501

VHS-CounselingandArtTherapy@odu.edu

Get Directions

A map with a blue pin indicating EVMS' main campus location in the Ghent neighborhood of Norfolk, VA.

Employment and Retention

Employment Rate

The average positive employment for the graduating classes of 2021, 2022, and 2023 rate was 100%.

Retention Rate

The average of the graduating classes of 2023, 2024, and 2025 is 88%, which exceeds accreditation standards.

This website reflects current program information, including admission criteria and curricula. Information is subject to change.