MA in Art Therapy and Clinical Mental Health Counseling

Empower expression to face life’s challenges.

The Art Therapy and Clinical Mental Health Counseling master’s degree expands upon your capability to improve the lives of others. Employing a social justice lens, we prepare graduates to attend to issues of race, equity, diversity, and inclusion in their work with clients. By pairing comprehensive clinical training with a strong theoretical framework, you will be uniquely positioned to leverage art therapy in a clinical mental health setting. Through knowledge, experience and practice you will empower your clients to express themselves verbally and through visual art in order to treat a multitude of developmental, emotional, psychological, and medical challenges.

This degree is offered by AU New England

Program Overview

By completing Antioch’s MA in Art Therapy and Clinical Mental Health Counseling program, you will receive comprehensive clinical training, making it one of the few online degree programs in the U.S. featuring both art therapy and clinical mental health counseling competencies within a social justice lens. 

The learning experience incorporates cultural diversity and social responsibility, giving Antioch a unique edge over other graduate schools in psychology.

Antioch University has held accreditation continuously since 1927. The Art Therapy and Clinical Mental Health Counseling program is confirming accreditation by both the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) and COUNCIL FOR ACCREDITATION OF COUNSELING AND  RELATED  EDUCATION PROGRAMS (CACREP). Thus, the curriculum meets national standards for art therapy registration and clinical mental health licensure. 

Mission of the CMHC Program

The Art Therapy and Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) Program promotes the development of professional identity by encouraging an active and continuous examination of one’s self as an individual, one’s self as an art therapist and professional counselor, and one’s self as a social justice advocate. The program is devoted to training students from diverse backgrounds, endorsing the principles of social justice by confronting oppression and injustice, and working with underserved populations. Students are prepared, as art therapists and professional counselors, to work with individuals, groups, and social systems within a multicultural global community to promote mental health and well-being for all.

Degree Requirements

Antioch’s Art Therapy and Clinical Mental Health Counseling Master’s degree offers you comprehensive clinical training for a career as a registered art therapist and licensed mental health counselor. With a focus on developing multicultural counseling competencies, you accomplish these goals through a combination of required coursework and supervised internships. 

Program Length

The Art Therapy and Clinical Mental Health Counseling program is 66 credits and is designed to be a full-time program, with students entering in fall. The fall cohort stays together as a rich and connected learning community. The Art Therapy and Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program typically takes students three and a half years (3.5) to complete. Students who enroll in the Online program participate in two (2) separate week-long face-to-face clinical intensive residencies.

Plan of Study

The academic and experiential requirements for the master’s degree in Art Therapy and Clinical Mental Health Counseling are a mix of Art Therapy courses and Clinical Mental Health Counseling courses and include: 

Art Therapy Courses (27 semester credits):                     

• COUC 5070         Art Therapy in Diverse Settings: Individual and Group Therapy (2 semester credits)
• COUC 5080         Techniques and Practices in Art Therapy (2 semester credits)
• COUC 5100         History and Theory of Art Therapy (2 semester credits)
• COUC 5400         Developmental and Treatment Models in Art Therapy (2 semester credits)
• COUC 5510         Art Therapy Research in Individual and Family Therapy I (2 semester credits)
• COUC 5920         Pre-Internship Practicum I (1 semester credit)
• COUC 5920         Pre-Internship Practicum II (1 semester credit)
• COUC 6003         CMHC/AT Internship & Case Consult 250 HRS (2 semester credits)
• COUC 6005         CMHC/AT Internship & Case Consult 250 HRS (2 semester credits)
• COUC 6005         CMHC/AT Internship & Case Consult 250 HRS (2 semester credits)
• COUC 6500         Master’s Project (1 semester credit)
• COUC 6500         Master’s Project (1 semester credit)
• COUC 6500         Master’s Project (1 semester credit)
• COUC 6510         Advanced Art Therapy Research in Individual and Family Therapy II (2 semester credits)
• COUC 6530         Advanced Art Therapy Assessment (2 semester credits)
• COUN 5110         Symbolism, Metaphor, and Creativity (2 semester credits)

Clinical Mental Health Counseling Courses (27 semester credits):                          

• COUN 5002        Group Counseling Clinical Intensive (0 semester credits)
• COUN 5002        Foundational Counseling Skills Clinical Intensive (0 semester credits)
• COUN 5142        Assessment and Testing (3 semester credits)
• COUN 5222        Career Counseling Development (3 semester credits)
• COUN 5262        Human Growth and Development (3 semester credits)
• COUN 5502        Diagnosis and Treatment (3 semester credits)
• COUN 5542        Counseling Theories (3 semester credits)
• COUN 5902        Foundational Counseling Skills (3 semester credits)
• COUN 6102        Creative Approaches to Trauma-Informed Practice (3 semester credits)
• COUN 6122        Addictions Counseling (3 semester credits)
• COUN 6752        Crisis Counseling Interventions (3 semester credits)

 Art Therapy and Clinical Mental Health Counseling Courses (12 semester credits):                         

• COUN 6030         Group Counseling (3 semester credits)
• COUN 6032         Professional Orientation & Ethics (3 semester credits)
• COUN 6062         Social and Cultural Diversity (3 semester credits)
• COUN 6422         Couple and Family Counseling (3 semester credits)

Program requirements and course offerings are subject to change.

Practicum and Internships

Practicum introduces you to work in the field with a minimum of 100 hours of service at a clinical site, including a minimum of 40 hours working directly with clients. You will learn agency policies and the role and responsibility of the mental health counselor. You spend approximately 7 to 10 hours a week in practicum for at least one semester. Before beginning, practicum students must pass a candidacy review assessing their readiness to begin supervised fieldwork.

Following practicum, there are three internship semesters. These may continue at the same site as the practicum or take place at a new site. You spend approximately 15 hours a week at your clinical site and provide approximately 250 hours of service each semester, including approximately 120 hours of direct service to clients during each of these internship semesters. Students are required to acquire a total of 700 internship hours. State requirements for pre-degree internship hours vary. Review your state requirements for more information.

 All students incorporate an art therapy internship in a professional setting. This experience will enable you to practice the theoretical knowledge you acquire in the classroom as you develop your identity as an art therapist and clinical mental health counselor. 

Students complete their learning in a diverse variety of clinical settings. There are many internship possibilities at community agencies, residential facilities, shelters, in-patient psychiatric hospitals, college counseling centers, city/state social service agencies, and more. The Practicum and Internship Coordinator will assist you in the process of matching your interests with potential sites in the community. Students are responsible for securing their own practicum and internship sites.

Program Objectives (also referred to as Learning Outcomes)

• Ethical Practice: Students will demonstrate principles and standards of professional ethics in counseling and ethical decision-making informed by social justice.
• Social and Cultural Diversity: Identify strategies needed to address institutional and social barriers that impede access, equity, well-being, and success for clients.
• Human Growth and Development: Students will demonstrate knowledge of lifespan development and the capacity to integrate knowledge of developmental theory into practice.
• Career Development: Identify career development strategies that incorporate a focus on social justice and advocacy.
• Counseling and Helping Relationships: Demonstrate an understanding of theories of counseling and development of case conceptualizations and treatment plans that are underpinned by social justice
• Group Counseling and Group Work: Integrate into their practice of MHC the awareness of the influence of social and cultural contexts on groups
• Assessment and Testing: Students will demonstrate a broad understanding of different types of assessments, the selection and use of assessment tools, client assessment and diagnosis, trauma assessment, and the assessment of self-inflicted harm and danger to others.
• Research and Program Evaluation: Demonstrate and apply their professional identity as a clinical mental health counselor through an individual philosophy of practice grounded in critical analysis and research and interpretation.
• Clinical Mental Health Counseling Specialty Area: Clinical Mental Health Counseling students will demonstrate an understanding of foundational knowledge, demonstration of competence in clinical mental health practice, knowledge of social justice issues, and a focus on wellness.
• Professional Dispositions: From admission through exit, students will demonstrate the attitudes, characteristics, and behaviors defined by the program as characteristic of exemplar counseling professionals.

Career Outlook

The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a strong need for mental health counselors. Counseling is projected as one of the faster growing mental health professions — increasing over the next 7-10 years.

Graduates will have the knowledge, skills, and professional disposition required to function as a professional art therapist and as a clinical mental health counselor. They will be prepared for employment in a variety of settings and able to meet licensure standards as mental health counselors, through education in a CACREP accredited program and will meet registration and certification requirements as an art therapist through a CAAHEP accredited program.