Department of Patient Counseling Vision

Our vision is to send out highly diverse and skilled spiritual caregivers for the transformation of the world. At VCU, advanced education is designed to enlighten those people whose purpose in life is to ease the heart's pain and comfort the grieving soul. Our programs offer the essential knowledge, education, and research literacy necessary to equip students for professional healthcare chaplaincy and for caring ministries in other settings.

VCU will be a premier urban, public research university distinguished by its commitment to:

  • The intellectual and academic success of a diverse student body
  • Research and discovery that advances knowledge, inspires creativity and improves human health
  • The global engagement of students, faculty and staff that transforms lives and communities

As the premier urban, public research university in Virginia, VCU’s mission is to advance knowledge and student success through its commitments to:

  • An engaged, learner-centered environment that fosters inquiry, discovery and innovation in a global setting
  • Research that expands the boundaries of new knowledge and creative expression and promotes translational applications to improve human health
  • Interdisciplinary collaborations that bring new perspectives to complex problems and mobilize creative energies that advance innovation and solve global challenges
  • Health care that strives to preserve and restore health for all people, to seek the cause and cure of diseases through groundbreaking research, and to educate those who serve humanity as an integral part of their comprehensive care and wellbeing
  • Diversity that provides a climate of inclusion, a dedication to addressing disparities wherever they exist, and an opportunity to explore and create in an environment of trust
  • Sustainable, university-community partnerships that enhance the educational, economic and cultural vitality of the communities VCU serves in Virginia and around the world