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Since 1952, a singular idea has consistently driven our curricula, training, and community work. That key guiding idea is Alfred Adler's groundbreaking concept of social interest or gemeinschaftsgefühl – the idea that our health resides in our community live and connections. Today's idea is more necessary than ever to drive the work and change most needed in challenged communities around the world. In 1952, Rudolf Dreikurs and his colleagues established our institution as the Alfred Adler Institute in Chicago—to train practitioners to apply Adler's idea of social interest or gemeinschaftsgefühl. Adler was the first to focus on wellness in the community context. He advanced the revolutionary idea that responsible practitioners must advocate changing the social conditions that affect population health and wellbeing. Today, Adler University continues this work to graduate students as socially responsible practitioners—educated to be effective personal and social change agents in the pursuit of justice. Across multiple disciplines and fields that impact population wellbeing, our alumni are changing the world. Our students come to us to learn how. Our faculty are practitioners, scholars, activists, and mentors who bring a range of experiences and perspectives on social justice and expertise to the classroom—through our Chicago, Vancouver, and Online Campuses. They regularly rethink and improve our pedagogy as the University builds new academic programs to meet emerging social needs. Programs such as our first-of-its-kind Doctor of Couple and Family Therapy, preparing expert practitioners in a field of growing demand. Our Master in Counselling Psychology: Art Therapy in Vancouver is British Columbia's only such program, preparing counselors to guide individuals and communities to greater wellbeing through art as social action. Our faculty and students—along with our Institute and Centers—are pursuing and producing original work on social issues, including immigration and detention, social exclusion, the social determinants of mental health, LGBTQ mental health, and parenting. More than 600 agencies—and counting—are partnering with the Adler University as community practica and internship sites for our students, enabling our specialized preparation for work with underserved and marginalized populations. Our challenge—just as Alfred Adler saw it at the turn of the last century, and just as our founders saw it more than 65 years ago—is to continue preparing practitioners who can address the world's alarming health inequities and social injustices. Adler University continues the pioneering work of the first community psychologist Alfred Adler by graduating socially responsible practitioners, engaging communities, and advancing social justice. Alfred Adler began community psychology by articulating the constructs of gemeinschaftsgefühl (social interest or the connection between individual and community well being) and systemic/structural community intervention (such as preventative public health measures). The leading academic institution advancing socially responsible practice, healthy communities, and more just society. The Vision is for Adler University to be the "leading" or premier higher education organization addressing socially responsible practice and its concomitants – locally, regionally, and globally – a unique resource for broadening consistent practice, effecting social justice, understanding policy, initiating advocacy, promoting academic reflection, and producing social action and change. The three external outcomes of the Vision are aligned with the three outcomes of the Mission. Socially responsible practice is central to Adler University's Mission and Vision. It is the extension of Alfred Adler's original ideas regarding the need for a more equal, cooperative, and just society, as well as his revolutionary ideas regarding the potential for activism among health professionals to address social challenges. The University's faculty defined and operationalized the competency of socially responsible practice, with expected knowledge, attitudes, and skills acquired through specific curricular experiences and evaluated through milestones, for graduate programs in clinical psychology, counseling, family therapy, organizational consultation, art therapy, police psychology, and several related disciplines and applications of psychology. We will continue to build a culture of high performance. To ensure leadership in the changing global context, we will support high performance in learning, scholarship, technology, financial management, and organizational processes. We will train, inform, and empower staff, faculty, and leadership by motivating and rewarding high performance and providing opportunities for professional development and advancement. We will be an international magnet for the next generation of intellectual and professional leaders. With each graduate program demonstrating distinction and increased support for programs that have achieved recognition, we will be known as a world-class institution for advanced studies related to social responsibility, healthy communities, and social justice. We are a practitioner school that is practical and applied. We apply scholarship and theory to practice. Our work can be observed in the surrounding communities in which we live, learn, and practice. We are out to change the world for the better. Our organizational practices are effective, efficient, and focused on outcomes. We set goals and achieve them. Today, Adler University offers 20 graduate-level programs enrolling more than 1,200 students at campuses in Chicago, Vancouver, and online. In addition to education and training in psychological theory, science, and practice, students complete a range of required and elective experiences beyond traditional practitioner training. The University's mission-driven curricula have earned national and international recognition. As the oldest independent psychology school in North America, Adler University continues the pioneering work of Alfred Adler by graduating socially responsible practitioners, engaging communities, and advancing social justice. View full university

Since 1952, a singular idea has consistently driven our curricula, training, and community work. That key guiding idea is Alfred Adler's groundbreaking concept of social interest or gemeinschaftsgefühl – the idea that our health resides in our community live and connections. Today's idea is more necessary than ever to drive the work and change most needed in challenged communities around the world. In 1952, Rudolf Dreikurs and his colleagues established our institution as the Alfred Adler Institute in Chicago—to train practitioners to apply Adler's idea of social interest or gemeinschaftsgefühl. Adler was the first to focus on wellness in the community context. He advanced the revolutionary idea that responsible practitioners must advocate changing the social conditions that affect population health and well-being. Today, Adler University continues this work to graduate students as socially responsible practitioners—educated to be effective personal and social change agents in the pursuit of justice. Across multiple disciplines and fields that impact population well-being, our alumni are changing the world. Our students come to us to learn how. Our faculty are practitioners, scholars, activists, and mentors who bring a range of experiences and perspectives on social justice and expertise to the classroom—through our Chicago, Vancouver, and Online Campuses. They regularly rethink and improve our pedagogy as the University builds new academic programs to meet emerging social needs. Programs such as our first-of-its-kind Doctor of Couple and Family Therapy, preparing expert practitioners in a field of growing demand, and our online Master of Arts in Nonprofit Management, focused on leading organizations for sustainable social impact. Our Master in Counselling Psychology: Art Therapy in Vancouver is British Columbia's only such program, preparing counselors to guide individuals and communities to greater well-being through art as social action. Our faculty and students—along with our Institute and Centers—are pursuing and producing fantastic work on social issues, including immigration and detention, social exclusion, the social determinants of mental health, LGBTQ mental health, and parenting. More than 600 agencies—and counting—are partnering with the Adler University as community practica and internship sites for our students, enabling our specialized preparation for work with underserved and marginalized populations. Adler University continues the pioneering work of the first community psychologist Alfred Adler by graduating socially responsible practitioners, engaging communities, and advancing social justice. Alfred Adler began community psychology by articulating the constructs of gemeinschaftsgefühl (social interest or the connection between individual and community well being) and systemic/structural community intervention (such as preventative public health measures). The three outcomes of the Mission are interconnected conceptually as well as through the organization of Adler University. The University's education and training prepare students to be socially responsible practitioners who engage communities and advance social justice during their course of study and their later professional lives. The University directly engages communities – through over 500 community partnerships including the direct service contracts of Adler Community Health Services and the training relationships which support the delivery of students' Community Service Practica – in order to provide students with experience training in socially responsible practice and to advance social justice within those communities. The University's Institutes for Social Change bring attention to social justice within the University through stimulating changes in the curricula and through specific didactic and experiential activities for students and faculty – as well as promote social justice beyond the boundaries of the University through engaging communities in a variety of programming. The leading academic institution advancing socially responsible practice, healthy communities, and more just society. The Vision is for Adler University to be the "leading" or premier higher education organization addressing socially responsible practice and its concomitants – locally, regionally, and globally – a unique resource for broadening consistent practice, effecting social justice, understanding policy, initiating advocacy, promoting academic reflection, and producing social action and change. The three external outcomes of the Vision are aligned with the three outcomes of the Mission. Socially responsible practice is central to Adler University's Mission and Vision. It is the extension of Alfred Adler's original ideas regarding the need for a more equal, cooperative, and just society, as well as his revolutionary ideas regarding the potential for activism among health professionals to address social challenges. The University's faculty defined and operationalized the competency of socially responsible practice, with expected knowledge, attitudes, and skills acquired through specific curricular experiences and evaluated through milestones, for graduate programs in clinical psychology, counseling, family therapy, organizational consultation, art therapy, police psychology, and many related disciplines and applications of psychology. Adler University is named for Alfred Adler (1870-1937), a physician, psychotherapist, and founder of Adlerian psychology sometimes called individual psychology. He is considered the first community psychologist because his work pioneered attention to community life, prevention, and population health. Adlerian psychology emphasizes the human need and the ability to create positive social change and impact. Adler held equality, civil rights, mutual respect, and the advancement of democracy as core values. He was one of the first practitioners to provide family and group counseling and use public education to address community health. He was among the first to write about the social determinants of health and mental health. Adler's values and concepts drive the Mission, work, and values at the Adler University today. View full university

The Adlerian approach to counseling and psychotherapy is based on the belief that mental health is derived from cooperating, collaborating, and contributing to the community. Social Interest, rather than self-interest, promotes a healthy lifestyle. The Adler Graduate School will be a leader in empowering and developing mental health professionals to transform society through a social interest in action and preparing mental health professionals with a robust Adlerian foundation to foster encouragement, collaboration, and a sense of belonging to the individuals, families, and the culturally diverse communities they serve. The Adler Graduate School is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA). The Higher Learning Commission accredits and evaluates such things as governance and administration, financial stability, admissions, and student services, institutional resources, student learning, institutional effectiveness, and relationships with internal and external constituencies. In addition to teaching at the Adler Graduate School, most of the faculty are also practicing clinicians in private practice, with mental health and social service providers, hospitals, shelters, schools and colleges, other non-profit organizations, and local, state, and federal agencies. The faculty include licensed marriage and family therapists, licensed professional counselors, licensed professional clinical counselors, licensed psychologists, registered art therapists, licensed school counselors, life coaches, parent coaches, and career development professionals. Many of the faculty hold the highest degrees in their field. All faculty of the Adler Graduate School is committed to using their preparation, experience, and wisdom inadequately preparing students for the demands and the rewards of the profession of counseling and psychotherapy. The faculty are well-versed in the principles of Adlerian psychology and share an understanding of human needs, which is compatible with the worldview of Alfred Adler and other psychologists in a modern context. The faculty also understands the nature and importance of maintaining the Adler Graduate School's small and personal atmosphere. We have relationships with well over 100 internship sites working with children, adolescents, families, couples, adults, seniors, schools, crisis centers, hospitals, grief & loss support, mental health, spirituality, domestic violence, employment, ex-offender, parent support, education/learning support, and career services for students seeking licensure within all of our programs. These sites can be found across the state of Minnesota, the upper midwest, and around the country. The school's culture and what it stands for are characterized as personal, human, warm, welcoming, accepting, and encouraging, emphasizing what is best for all. Before it was fashionable, Alfred Adler highlighted the importance of equality among all individuals to promote individual and societal health, including equality between women and men and a holistic view of each individual's worth. Adler Graduate School continues these efforts in its commitment to providing increasingly diverse education to increasingly diverse individuals to serve increasingly diverse communities. Adler Graduate School is a service-centered institution that has influenced the Twin Cities and beyond for over 40 years. Courses are offered in the evening and on weekends. Learn in our convenient location near the Mall of America or, even more conveniently, in your home with our online emphasis areas, including Adlerian Studies. Our Heartstart Defibrillator is located just above our water dispenser in the kitchen commons area just north of the primary classrooms on the Adler Graduate School's top floor. This defibrillator is user-friendly and, quite literally, cannot be misused. That is, you cannot hurt anyone with this defibrillator – only help them. It will not work if its use is unwarranted. Despite its user-friendly qualities and apparent simplicity, attached is a link to a page that provides information and a demonstration concerning the use of our Heartstart Defibrillator. Alfred Adler's psychology serves as the basis for this program that prepares students for careers in mental health, human services, and non-profit leadership that require an advanced degree in mental health without licensing. Students learn the foundational areas of psychotherapy and counseling and participate in research activities and experiential exercises designed to deepen their master of Adler's Individual Psychology. Art-making in therapy is healing and life-enhancing. Our unique Art Therapy program integrates Adlerian theory and technique into the creative and expressive art therapy realm. Students maintain their artistic integrity while receiving specialized training in art therapy theory and practice through integrative and experiential courses. Students choose a focus on Marriage and Family Therapy or Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Experienced faculty. Theoretical framework. Field experience. Our comprehensive competency-based curriculum and hands-on training prepare AGS graduates to work with a variety of clients. Students learn prevention, intervention, and clinical skills essential for competent and ethical clinical counseling practice. A progressive approach to working simultaneously with mental health and substance use disorders helps the client and therapist work toward a more holistic, integrated, and positive outcome. The core program focuses on learning skills, evidence-based and emerging practices, and developing attitudes and competencies for working with clients, families, and communities impacted by substance use and mental health disorders. Community embedded, practitioner-focused, Adlerian informed model. We prepare students to provide ethical, culturally informed, relationally based mental health services to a diverse range of clients in a variety of mental health settings. Our graduates are known as professional, ethically sound psychotherapists and can work serving families, children and adolescents, couples, and individuals. K-12 school counseling. Adlerian focus. The School Counseling program guides its students toward gaining the knowledge and skills needed to provide competent counseling in K-12 school settings. Our program prepares graduates for school counselor licensure in any state with a focus on school systems, culture, evidence-based practices, ethics, developmental psychology, and counseling for diverse and exceptional children. View full university