MA in Counseling: Clinical Mental Health Counseling

Requirements:

The program promotes the development of professional identity by encouraging an active, continuous examination of one’s self in three areas – as an individual, as a professional counselor, and 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 professional counselors, to work with individuals, groups, and social systems within a multicultural global community to promote mental health and well-being for all.

The program is 60 total semester credit hours. 14 core classes make up 42 of the credit hours, practicum and internship courses constitute 9 of those credit hours, and the remaining 9 credit hours are made up of elective courses.

A minimum of 100 hours of Practicum and 600 for Internship is required (if students live in states with licensure requirements that exceed 600 hours, the program can accommodate that need). For more information on specific course descriptions, credits per course, and general program requirements, please see the Academic Catalog.

This program can be completed in 3 - 3-1/2 years.

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:

•    Community mental health agencies
•    Career and employment agencies
•    Correctional facilities
•    Family service agencies
•    Gerontological settings
•    HMO’s/PPO’s/EAP’s
•    Military and Government agencies including the V.A.
•    Pastoral/religious/spiritual agencies
•    Rehabilitation agencies
•    Addiction treatment centers
•    Youth and Family Agencies
•    Substance abuse settings
•    Private practice settings
•    College counseling centers
•    Integrative Primary Behavioral Health Clinics
•    Group homes
•    Homeless shelters
•    In-patient psychiatric hospitals

The Clinical Mental Health Counseling program graduates roughly 32 students per academic year, and based on recent alumni data, 87% of graduates will obtain counseling-related employment within 6 months.  A brief Alumni Snapshot is below:

• 91% licensed as mental health counselors
• 79% completed postmaster requirements in less than 2 years.
• 60% work in nonprofit organizations
• 84% report job satisfaction
• 73% have salaries between $44-74,000

Graduates of the Master of Arts in Counseling degree program explore many professional options upon graduation. They seek positions in community agencies, hospitals, mental health clinics, and private practices, as well as teaching at community colleges or engaged in consulting and research. If you choose to continue your education, the MA program provides a solid foundation for entering a doctoral program or obtaining post-master’s credentials in an area of professional interest, such as Counselor education and supervision, play therapy, substance abuse counseling, or other clinical specialties.

• 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 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 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 characteristics of exemplary counseling professionals.