ECU addictions and Rehabilitation program ranks nationally

East Carolina University’s Department of Addictions and Rehabilitation Studies was ranked No. 18 out of the 87 ranked schools by the U.S. News and World Report for graduate rehabilitation counseling programs.

The 62-hour program offers a variety of classes, as well as opportunities to apply for certification in military trauma, substance abuse, rehabilitation counseling and vocational evaluation.

“Different programs are set up different ways; when you’re an accredited program, you have certain standards you have to go by, but you can do some different things with it,” said Director of the Graduate Rehabilitation and Career Counseling Program Susan Sherman. “So for instance, here we have a stand alone multicultural class and not all programs have that, which is very exciting.”

Sherman joined ECU in January, but has been in the field of rehabilitation counseling for about 35 years. She is impressed by the ranking for the rehabilitation counseling program, as well as ECU overall.

“East Carolina, this program, has an excellent reputation and my job is to maintain and even enhance that,” Sherman said.

According to Sherman, the ranking helps ECU to pull in professional staff, as well as students.

“It allows us to attract high quality staff, particularly people who have deep roots within the field; I think the ranking attracted me and I think that should attract our students,” Sherman said. “I’m really proud of that because a lot of those rankings are done by peers, so it’s others in the field who see us as an excellent program with excellent people.”

Students have the opportunity to take classes with peers who are focused on something different, allowing them to be exposed to more.

“I also think that the students here have opportunities in the Navigate clinic that we have that sees clients,” Sherman said. “We have an opportunity to take courses with people who are focused on maybe clinical counseling, so it sort of broadens who we are and our educational experience here at East Carolina.”

Students have the opportunity to get hands-on experience in the rehabilitation and counseling program, as well as have the opportunity to focus on themselves.

“We do a lot of practical things in this program: internships, practicums, group work,” Sherman said. “We also have a personal growth group to kind of look at you and make sure you take care of yourself as a professional counselor.”

These things pay off for the students because they have an almost perfect placement rate.

“One of the things that I will say about our program is that we have about a 100 percent placement rate,” Sherman said. “There are lots of opportunities for our graduates; people are looking for our kind of graduates because they are well-rounded and have a good practicum, a good internship, they have the right certifications, they’re eligible for licensure.”

The program currently has approximately five to seven students.

“I’m in the process of building back the program,” Sherman said. “I’m looking forward to even taking our program to greater heights.”