MA in Counseling: Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Art Therapy

This campus-based program is not enrolling. Antoch’s CMHC Art Therapy program is now offered in a low-residency model. Please visit our webpage for more information.

Add the Art Therapy concentration to your Clinical Mental Health Counseling degree to expand upon your capability to improve the lives of others. By pairing comprehensive clinical training with a strong theoretical framework, you will be uniquely positioned to leverage art therapy in a clinical setting. Empower your therapy clients to express themselves verbally and through visual art in order to treat a multitude of developmental, emotional, psychological, and medical problems or disorders.

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Program Overview

In the MA in Counseling: Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Art Therapy program you receive comprehensive clinical training, making it one of the few degree programs in the U.S. featuring art therapy with a clinical focus. The learning experience incorporates cultural diversity and social responsibility, giving Antioch an edge over other graduate schools in psychology. Antioch University has held accreditation continuously since 1927 and has been approved by the American Art Therapy Association (AATA) since 2003. The MA in Counseling: Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Art Therapy is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs upon the recommendation of The Accreditation Council for Art Therapy Education.

Licensure Information

This program is designed to lead to state licensure.

Additional Licensure Information

Degree Requirements

Coursework

Antioch’s MA in Counseling: Clinical Mental Health Counseling and Art Therapy offers you comprehensive clinical training for a career as a licensed mental health counselor. With a focus on developing multicultural counseling competencies, you accomplish these goals through a combination of required coursework, electives, and a supervised internship. The Art Therapy program is 94 quarter credits. You may begin the program in the spring and fall. Core Clinical Courses:

• Addictions and Substance Abuse
• Advanced Theories: Varying Subtitles
• Assessment: Test and Measurements
• Career Development and Counseling
• Communication and Counseling Skills
• Human Growth and Development Across the Lifespan
• Internship Preparation
• Theories and Practice of Counseling I & II
• Psychodiagnostics and Treatment Planning
• Psychopathology
• Systems Perspectives in Family Therapy
• The Counseling Profession and Identity
• Trauma, Disaster Response, and Crisis Counseling

Core Art Therapy Courses:

• Advanced Art Therapy Assessment
• Advanced Art Therapy Research in Individual and Family Therapy
•  Art Therapy in Diverse Settings: Individual and Group Therapy
• Art Therapy Research in Individual and Family Therapy
• Developmental and Treatment Models in Art Therapy
• Ethics in Creative Art Therapy
• Family of Origin & Art Therapy
• Group Art Therapy
• History and Theory of Art Therapy
• Symbolism, Metaphor, and Creativity
• Master’s Project or Thesis
• Multicultural Perspectives in Creative Arts Therapy
• Techniques and Practice of Art Therapy

Required Internship Courses:

•    AT/MHC Internship I, II, III, IV
•    AT Case Consultation I, II, III, IV

Internship Experience All students participate in an internship in a professional setting. This experience will enable you to validate and clarify the theory you acquire in the classroom as you develop your own role as a clinician. Examples of internship sites include the following:

•    College counseling centers
•    Community centers
•    Group homes
•    Homeless shelters
•    In-patient psychiatric hospitals
•    Jails
•    Penitentiaries
•    Public mental health clinics
•    Youth and family services

Program requirements and course offerings are subject to change. For detailed curriculum, degree requirements, and course descriptions, please visit the AUS catalog.

Career Outlook

Art therapists work in private practice and/or in clinical, educational and rehabilitative settings such as:

•    hospitals and clinics
•    residential treatment centers
•    long-term care facilities
•    community centers
•    prisons
•    shelters
•    schools
•    mental health and social service agencies

Annual Art Therapy Program Retention Rate

• In 2025, the art therapy program had a 100% retention rate.
• In 2024, the art therapy program had a 95.2% retention rate.
• In 2023, the art therapy program had an 88% retention rate.

Art Therapy Program Graduate Positive Employment Placement Rate

The Art Therapy Program is dedicated to preparing students to work in the professional field, which is reflected by the positive employment placement rate of our graduates, as indicated below:

• 100% of the survey respondents who graduated in the 2023– 2024 academic year reported they are currently working in the field of therapy (Alumni Survey Report 2024, n=12; Knowledge Rate = 66.7%).
• 100% of the survey respondents who graduated in the 2022– 2023 academic year reported they are currently working in the field of therapy (Alumni Survey Report 2023, n=11; Knowledge Rate = 73%).
• 92%of the survey respondents who graduated in the 2021– 2022 academic year reported they are currently working in the field of therapy (Alumni Survey Report 2022, n=13; Knowledge Rate = 68%).