Originally from San Francisco, CA, Dr. Michael Hillerman (MAMFTC ’08) worked to build a successful career in the software industry. During a hard season in their marriage, he and his wife sought counseling, and as they found healing in their relationship, Dr. Hillerman became a believer. As his faith grew and his priorities shifted, Hillerman found himself no longer working at the company he had spent several years building, and instead trying to figure out what to do next. Remembering the marriage and family therapist their pastor referred them to that probably saved their marriage, he began researching seminary-based programs and found Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS).
At the time, RTS was one of the only seminary-based programs he found with an accredited Marriage and Family Therapy program and an onsite clinic where he could do his internship work. RTS combined professional training with Bible and theology. Having not grown up in the church, it was important to him to have greater training and understanding in theology. In 2022, after receiving his PhD from Mississippi State University, he became a full-time staff member at RTS.
There are three elements that make the RTS MAC program unique: academics, on-site clinical, and cohort-style courses.
According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), more than one in five U.S. adults live with a mental illness. The mental health crisis dominates news headlines, stories, and social media. As this number increases each year, how is Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) responding to the ever-growing need for counselors and pastoral counseling? We sat down with Dr. Michael Hillerman, Assistant Professor in Counseling and Director of the Master of Arts in Counseling program (MAC) to get his thoughts on the importance of preparing mental health counselors to serve the church today.
What is the MAC program and how is it unique from other programs?
The MAC program combines a theological foundation with professional clinical training, equipping graduates to integrate faith and mental health counseling. It prepares them to provide compassionate, effective care while addressing the spiritual and emotional needs of those they serve. Three elements make the RTS MAC program unique: academics, onsite clinical, and cohort style courses.
The first element, the academics, is similar to other MAC programs. What is academically distinct, is that students are trained in a variety of different counseling programs including Clinical Mental Health Counseling, school counseling, family counseling, clinical mental health rehab counseling, and marriage and family therapy.
The most distinctive part of the MAC program is the clinical part and the onsite clinic. Most programs do the academics and then require that students do a practicum and internship somewhere else. When the student is at the onsite clinic for their internship, the student is responsible. The student is eased in with a second-year student who carries the primary responsibility. Once they graduate, the student will then have had a year of experience to begin their second year until the end where they are responsible for the client’s care. MAC students have the opportunity to receive real-time coaching from veteran counselors, offering them valuable insights and expediting their learning journey.
The cohort is an intentional format for the program. Students enter classes and clinic at the same time creating a sense of community in that they are all going through this same program together. The program is more intense, requires more credit and clinical hours and they rely on each other which creates a strong community of Christian believers that understand what each is going through, not doing it for their own gain, but because they have a greater vision for helping God’s people. It helps give them a support system and a vision and goal of why they are in the program.
Thinking about the current cultural context in America and the phrase, ‘mental health crisis,’ how is RTS responding and what is the responsibility of the church?
RTS is committed to providing the people of the church well-trained professionals to try to help families recover from the things they’ve suffered from. You have so many hurting people within the church, it is our responsibility to provide for these people in our churches. It is not necessarily our job to correct the mental health crisis in our society, but we are choosing to respond with mercy.
What does a counselor who holds a biblical worldview offer to their clients?
A Christian mental health counselor actually values clients in a way that holds them with the greatest value because they view the other person as being made in the image of God and that image instills in them, independent of their behavior and independent of their sinfulness, and in fact, in spite of their sinfulness. That image instills this remarkable worth and value of the client to the counselor.
The RTS MAC program requires full-time residential commitment and is more time-consuming, why is that and why is it important?
More people recognize the unique value of in-person education—where authentic community fosters deeper learning, meaningful connections, and real-life practice of what students are being equipped to do. On the clinical side, the extra direct hours and experience has a qualitative difference in outcomes and in the skills and abilities of MAC graduates. The core value of everyone in the MAC program is to support the students and to see them be successful.