This summer Moncton area students can begin work on a master’s degree in marriage and family counselling from Briercrest Seminary on their home turf.

Neil Soggie, Briercrest’s associate professor of counselling psychology, will be teaching two week-long modular classes this June in Moncton, NB. Soggie taught at Crandall before coming to Briercrest this year.

“Because I just came from there I had a few good contacts,” he explained. “So I looked into it and basically by word of mouth we were able to get enough people together to have two classes offered at Moncton.”

The counselling professor will be teaching Foundations of Marriage and Family Counselling from June 17-21 and Counselling Ethics from June 24-28.

“These are the two (courses) that I normally like students to have before they go into the practicum–because they are part of the core,” Soggie said.

The professor would like to eventually see more Briercrest marriage and family courses offered in Moncton.

“My hope is that we can ultimately have a continual cohort out there so we can offer a good chunk of the degree on a regular basis in June,” he explained.

Although Soggie would like to offer a majority of the counselling program in Moncton, he still sees the importance of each student taking some classes on the Briercrest campus.

“There’s a great value in the whole community here at Caronport that it’s good to have students exposed to,” he said. “At the same time I realize it’s a long way to travel and people have busy lives.”

Soggie explains offering the master’s level courses in Moncton.

“There’s a real niche there that I think we can fill,” he exclaimed. “There are some really good Christian schools out there, but primarily they’re undergrad and what is offered in the seminaries in Atlantic Canada tends not to have the counselling focus. I wouldn’t want to be going there trying to drive someone else out of business. We’re there to serve a component of the church that needs some help.”

The professor insists there still more room for interested students to enrol.

“I would encourage anyone that is interested in any type of counselling work–be that in the public sphere or church/parachurch ministry–to consider this program,” he said. “It’s a great opportunity. I think (students) will learn a lot not only from the program and the course, but also from their peers.”

Those interested in enrolling for the two Moncton courses can do so at briercrest.ca/register.