Clinical Mental Health Counseling
The Clinical Mental Health Counseling program (CMHC) is a 60-credit hour program designed for the student who seeks professional counseling careers in clinical mental health settings including state, federal, and private rehabilitation agencies. The CMHC is developed to prepare culturally competent counselors that specialize in working with individuals with physical, mental, developmental, psychological, and neurological disabilities and/or illnesses. Students are prepared with the knowledge, skills, abilities, and experiences to empower individuals with mental health challenges and disabilities through the counseling process. Students are further prepared with diverse skills to provide effective mental health counseling and rehabilitation counseling services within a cultural context.
About the Program
This program addresses the need to provide values-based training, collaborative opportunities for the community, and graduate specialist education to enhance counseling, rehabilitation and mental health services, and opportunities for persons with disabilities and those in need of special counseling services. This program supports the State of Maryland’s goal to educate and train qualified mental health counseling professionals to meet the growing demand for counselors, and to gain meaningful and economically rewarding employment for counseling professionals. Competencies are obtained via education, theory, and application-oriented field-based activities gained from community programs, and other community-based businesses. The program emphasis responds to the documented training needs and certification and licensure requirements for personnel in counseling settings, federal, state, and private agencies, and community-based programs.
Program Mission
The Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) Program prepares a diverse population of students as life-long learners to function as effective caring counselors in a wide variety of mental health settings. The curriculum is an integrated theoretical-based, experiential-focused design helping students develop into ethical, professional, and compassionate counselors.
The CMHC Program emphasizes the client-counselor relationship and a thorough understanding of mental health issues across the lifespan to help students build a personal framework for professional practice.
Program Objectives
In alignment with the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) standards, the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program has the following objectives:
- To facilitate the education and training of counselors who are clinically skilled and prepared to deliver ethical and effective services to clients in a variety of settings.
- To prepare students with the counseling skills to address the multidimensional needs of individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds.
- To provide a rigorous and comprehensive curriculum that prepares students to obtain national certification and/or state licensure upon successful completion of the program.
- To prepare students to engage in professional issues in clinical mental health counseling through publications, research, and active participation in professional associations and professional development.
- To equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to assess, to develop case conceptualizations, and to develop treatment plans for diverse populations.
Program Requirements
To graduate with a Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling requires completion of 60 hours of coursework. The program requires courses in 3 areas:
- Academic studies
- Clinical work
- Internship
The chart in this section explains course offerings and requirements
Foundation Courses (9 credits)
| Course | Credits | Name |
|---|---|---|
| CORH 615 | 3 | Introduction to Rehabilitation |
| CORH 624 | 3 | Theories and Techniques of Counseling |
| CORH 628 | 3 | Theories of Counseling |
Core Courses (30 credits)
| Course | Credits | Name |
|---|---|---|
| CORH 616 | 3 | Medical and Psychosocial Aspects of Disability |
| CORH 617 | 3 | Casework Management |
| CORH 618 | 3 | Psychiatric Aspects of Disability |
| CORH 619 | 3 | Professional Orientation and Ethics in Counseling |
| CORH 625 | 3 | Multicultural Counseling |
| CORH 626 | 3 | Group Counseling |
| CORH 629 | 3 | Marriage and Family Counseling |
| CORH 630 | 3 | Psychotherapy and Treatment Planning |
| CORH 631 | 3 | Career Counseling and Career Development |
| CORH 632 | 3 | Human Growth and Development |
Measurement and Research (6 credits)
| Course | Credits | Name |
|---|---|---|
| CORH 620 | 3 | Vocational Appraisal and Evaluation |
| CORH 627 | 3 | Statistics in Research |
Field Work and Internship (9 credits)
| Course | Credits | Name |
|---|---|---|
| CORH 621 | 3 | Practicum (Prerequisite for CORH 622)[100 clock hours-supervised agency training] |
| CORH 622 | 3 | Internship I |
| CORH 623 | 3 | Internship II |
Research Requirement
Note: Any graduate student who has not completed a basic undergraduate or graduate statistics course with a B or better must take EDUC 581, Statistics in Behavioral and Social Sciences.
Field Work and Internship
The field work experience complements academic coursework. It allows students to apply theory to practice by earning clinically supervised hours in therapeutic settings. To satisfy the field work component, students must complete approved practicum and internship experiences.
Practicum Component
The practicum component requires completion of:
- REHB 525, Practicum (1 credit)
- 100 clock hours of supervised clinical experience in a clinical mental health counseling or rehabilitation setting
Internship Component
The internship component requires completion of:
- REHB 526, Internship I and 300 clock hours of supervised clinical experience (3 credits)
- REHB 527, Internship II and 300 clock hours of supervised clinical experience (3 credits)
750+ Course Options
The Coppin State University Academic Catalog has a wide variety of skill-building courses designed to inspire and prepare you to be in-demand professionals and transformational leaders.
Information Request
Learn more about the Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Fill out the Request for Information form or contact our faculty today.
Program at a Glance
Learn more about the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at Coppin State University.
Clinical Mental Health Counseling is in the Department of Psychology, Counseling, and Behavioral Health in the College of Behavioral and Social Sciences.