A school counselor at Calvary Christian Academy in South Florida, Dr. Clifford Mack sees those challenges every week. He also coaches the school’s middle-school girls’ basketball team. As a graduate of TIU-Florida, he has also been teaching as an adjunct professor for TIU-Florida for 10 years, after earning his Ph.D. He teaches in the university’s Masters of Arts program in Mental Health Counseling. “I love teaching classes focusing on school counseling: school guidance and counseling, school consultation, child adolescent counseling, as well as children at risk. I also teach a number of other courses: psychology, theology, as well as multicultural counseling.”
Mack says he enjoys, “teaching the skills of being a school counselor: the art of consultation, collaboration, being able to work with a wider diversity of students, parents, and cultures. I would say ‘School Counseling’ is my favorite class to teach.”
Mack is intent on preparing the next generation of school counselors. “It's the opportunity of helping out the next man or woman who wants to be a school counselor or mental health counselor, working within the church; to know that I played a small part in helping them get the tools and techniques to do whatever God has called them to.”
“If you feel a calling upon your life, TIU-Florida is a great place for you.”
Being a school counselor, middle school coach, and father of three, Mack has a heart for young people who need help and are waiting in line for counseling. “My heart is heavy for them. Just being able to know the struggles that they're facing, and to know the journey that they need to take as adults, and especially living the faith…I feel the calling to stand in support of them…to come together as a community to support our students.”
We asked Dr. Mack: why should people choose Trinity Florida? What's unique and special about this university?
Mack answered that question without hesitation, “It’s the integration of faith and learning that you're going to find in an environment where you have professors who have walked the journey, that continue to take the journey of faith, knowing their Savior, Jesus Christ. Also, they are competent and qualified in their trade and in spending time to disciple these students and walk them through the process. When you walk into my classroom, you're just not getting me as a professor, you're getting me as a brother in Christ who will walk with you through this journey. That's what I got as a student at TIU-Florida, and that's what I hope I give to my current students now…support, structure, and accountability. It’s a very loving community.”
Mack is just one of Trinity Florida’s success stories. He’s practicing what he studied and giving back to the community in South Florida. He recognizes that adult learners today have a lot of different options and a busy life. When they contemplate pursuing an advanced degree, “I would say, ‘You know what? The next years of your life, you want to have a different direction, then I believe Trinity Florida can provide that direction, that support, that structure, to be able to help you accomplish the calling that God has upon your life. I believe that we have the faculty in this community who can provide that support. It may mean some sacrifice, but you don’t need to go it alone. If you have a calling upon your life to go into counseling, you want to be in a supportive community, and I believe that TIU-Florida is the place to provide that support and structure.’”
“When you walk into my classroom, you're just not getting me as a professor, you're getting me as a brother in Christ.”
MA in Mental Health Counseling
1https://mhanational.org/issues/state-mental-health-america | 2https://www.cdc.gov/childrensmentalhealth/data.html | 3Ibid. | 4https://www.managedhealthcareexecutive.com/view/what-s-needed-to-navigate-america-s-mental-health-care-crisis