MAC Practicum Experience (PRAX)


Alongside top notch content in courses, counseling students will complete a three-part Practicum Experience during their studies. This is a requirement for every student that we hope will provide further opportunities for learning, growth, discipleship, and mentoring.


The three parts of the Practicum Experience (or PRAX as you will often hear it called) include: Program Mentorship, Field Experience (FE for short), and the Culminating Seminar Course. Please read more about each part below. 


The best resource for students is the PRAX Hub, which can be found in Canvas. 


Program Mentorship

Mentorship exists to help you prioritize your spiritual growth and discipleship as you progress through the MAC. Your program mentor is responsible for praying for you and helping you consider the personal implications of your coursework regularly, and assessing your character and fitness for biblical counseling ministry throughout the duration of your enrollment in the MAC. All students are required to have a mentor. 


Since the program will focus on providing students with biblical counseling through their coursework and in their practicum, we highly encourage students to work with pastors or other spiritual leaders to gain a more holistic support system. This person may not be a spouse, family member, roommate, or peer. The role of your mentor is not to provide feedback in counseling. Rather, these conversations should be focused on discipleship and assessing your vocational calling to biblical counseling. We would like to see someone from your local context who you might pursue in a discipleship relationship, a seasoned Christian who has the grace and humility to speak directly and warmly into your life. Seminary can be a time of deep reflection and painful sanctification. At WTS and CCEF, we want to make sure you are supported in all aspects of life, not merely academic. 


Mentors will need be registered by the student at the beginning of their program. This is the student's responsibility to ensure completion. Mentors can expect to give 1-3 hours per term to support students in this role. Students should meet with their mentor once per term and then document the meeting using the "Program Mentor Confirmation Check-In Quiz" in Canvas. This quiz, along with the Program Mentor Registration Form can be found in the "MAC Practicum Experience Course" in Canvas. Program Mentors will submit an evaluation prior to the student entering their last counseling course, Culminating Seminar.


Field Experience

In the Field Experience, you will begin to put your coursework into practice by engaging in real ministry to others. You will complete 100 hours (70 direct and 30 indirect) of problem-based discipleship in a context of your choice under the supervision of a FE Network supervisor who has been trained in biblical counseling and approved by CCEF to fulfill this requirement. CCEF will provide students with a list of approved supervisors in the PRAX Hub in Canvas that students will choose from. 


During your FE, you will need to establish at least three and no more than ten discipleship relationships. Your supervisor will meet with you, either virtually or in person, approximately every other week, for oversight and feedback on your discipleship. Later, in your Culminating Seminar, your professor will review recordings of some of your meetings and your FE supervisor’s evaluation. You, your classmates, and your professor will draw from the experiences in your FE to help you reflect on your own strengths and areas for growth in biblical discipleship ministry. 


Students cannot begin the Field Experience until all prerequisite courses have been completed. These include Dynamics of Biblical Change, Helping Relationships, Everyday Problems in Counseling, Applied Theology of the Person, and Bible Survey. 


Culminating Seminar

The Culminating Seminar is a CCEF faculty-led capstone course that brings together the work you have done in your courses, your Program Mentorship meetings, and your Counseling Field Experience (CFE), to equip you for future counseling ministry. This is a personal course with substantial class interaction and minimal reading and lecture requirements.


In this course, CCEF faculty will be invested in knowing you—in learning more about your character, your biblical counseling understanding and skills, and your own ministry goals—and using that knowledge to help you identify your God-given strengths and specific opportunities to grow in your capacity for ministry to others. Your classmates will also play a key role in shaping your reflections through candid feedback and encouragement.


Highlights of the course include:

  • CCEF faculty-led cohorts of 6-7 students each.
  • Weekly synchronous meetings with your faculty cohort leader and your classmates for skills development through:
    • counseling dyads over real problems
    • guided role-play scenarios
    • faculty presentation on his/her own counseling
    • peer and faculty review of some of your FE problem-based discipleship.
    • One-on-one meetings and collaborative growth plan between you and your faculty cohort leader in light of your mentor feedback, Summative Portfolio, and work throughout the Culminating Seminar course.

Students cannot enroll in the Culminating Seminar course until all prerequisite courses have been completed, as well as the completion of the 100 hours of Field Experience. This should be the final course in the program.