Azusa Pacific University provides a unique educational experience through faith integration in all areas of academics. Faculty are all passionate about helping students find how their callings and beliefs can work alongside their careers. Danielle Lascano MA ’07, EdD, LMFT, RPT, is an assistant professor, the associate dean, and the program director for the Master’s in Counseling Psychology program. In college, she wanted to find a way to combine her strong faith with her passion for mental health, and found that APU allowed her to do just that as both a student and a professor.
Lascano began her undergraduate studies in psychology and religious studies at UC Riverside. After attending faith based schools her whole life, Lascano realized that she missed the ability to talk to her peers about faith in the classroom. “I had this idea that I could use both faith and mental health together, and that was the first time I was able to ask myself how I could integrate the two,” she said. After graduation, Lascano enrolled in APU’s School of Theology to complete her Master’s in Biblical Studies. “After attending a big UC school, APU was quite different and refreshing,” she said. “My professors knew my name, cared about me, and wanted me to succeed. That’s what makes APU so special, the professors really wanted to build me up as a person and not just help me get a degree.” Lascano’s professors encouraged her to pursue her passions and interests in her studies, and that inspired her to do the same for other students.
Lascano is passionate about working with children. “Growing up, I always wanted to be the helper and take care of the younger kids,” she said. Lascano continued to work with children through youth ministry in high school and as a campus minister during her undergraduate years. “I didn’t get what I needed from all of the adults in my life growing up, and I wanted to give to others what I felt I lost out on,” she said. “My experience propelled me to realize that this was the population I wanted to work with.”
Lascano began teaching Bible classes to middle and high school students. When one of her students was killed by a drunk driver, she realized that she needed to pursue her interest in mental health as well. Lascano went on to become a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and completed her Doctorate in Counseling Psychology.
After completing her doctorate, she became an adjunct professor in psychology at APU. Lascano knew that she wanted to continue to work with APU students full time, so when the Master’s Counseling Psychology program was introduced on campus in 2019, she applied for and received the position of program director. The program prepares students to become licensed clinical counselors with an emphasis on children and adolescents. They are trained to work with children and their parents through play therapy. Lascano’s time at APU as both a student and a professor has taught her a lot about what it means to encourage and mentor others. As a first generation college student, Lascano’s time at APU allowed her to receive mentorship from faculty that set her up for success. Many students at APU are given this opportunity due to the caring nature of professors.
Developmental psychology, Lascano’s focus in the classroom, allows her to integrate faith into her teaching. “It’s a great opportunity to see how God made us in His image and integrate psychology into who we are and how we develop,” she said. “We want to get closer to understanding being made in His image, and through psychology we realize how intricate our brains are and how it all comes from God having a perfect plan for each of us.”
Clinicals are a key part of the counseling psychology program, where students get first hand experience working with patients. Lascano encourages her students to create hope in their clinical sessions by cultivating faith into a helping mechanism of patients’ treatment plans. “Having faith is such a great source of hope, and for some of the big things in life, it can act as a light at the end of the tunnel that grounds us and keeps us going each day,” Lascano said. “It’s important for clients and students to realize that.”