The CMHC degree provides students with the clinical skills and expertise necessary to provide life-changing mental health services through counseling and consultation through the lens of social justice.
Graduates come away from the rigorous curriculum of this program adept at providing culturally responsive mental health counseling and consultation through supervised clinical experiences tailored to their career goals.
The Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) degree program provides graduate students with a transformational learning experience that empowers them to embark on careers serving others through mental health services and counseling. Centered in a tradition of academic excellence with a focus on social justice, this program combines clinical experiences with cutting- edge educational techniques to produce exceptional graduates fully equipped to adapt to the needs of this diverse field.
Students are afforded the opportunity to acquire a comprehensive body of knowledge, professional skills, ethical foundations, and cultural competencies required for success as counselors. With an embedded emphasis on social justice and advocacy, this carefully structured training program prepares students for ethical practice, responsible citizenship, and lifelong learning in the field of clinical mental health counseling.
The rigorous coursework of the Clinical Mental Health Counseling degree program fully prepares students to pursue careers in the field of mental health counseling through a broad curriculum that covers a diverse range of themes and practicalities. With courses such as Sociocultural Counseling and Intervention, themes of social justice and cultural sensitivity are woven seamlessly into the more traditional counseling-focused courses. Students will participate in a study abroad trip as part of the program.
With our robust clinical training program, every student will complete at least 450 hours of practicum in a clinical setting, including at least 280 hours of face-to-face counseling by graduation. Through faculty guidance and self-reflection, students gain the confidence and skills to enter the field as mental health practitioners.
The Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling fuses the theoretical frameworks and clinical experiences of mental health counselors with a fully integrated social justice curriculum to produce well-rounded mental health practitioners with a holistic view of the socio-cultural influences on human mental health. To learn more about this degree program and how it may fit your needs, request more information today!
Important Deadline Information: Please refer to the Application and Enrollment Calendar for deadlines.
The Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling draws students from a variety of backgrounds including psychology, education, and sociology and prepares them to become licensed mental health professionals, dedicating their lives and careers to the service of others. The 60-unit program's coursework, clinical supervision, and embedded social justice emphasis foster not only counseling competence and self-awareness but a commitment to responsible citizenship. This grounding in social justice and academic excellence is reaffirmed by our dedicated faculty who exhibit their clinical experience, professional leadership, and prominence as scholars in every class and clinical experience they lead.
Our mental health counseling students form a tight-knit academic community focused on mutual respect and affirmation. From the very first day through graduation, our students are encouraged to act as a cohort, developing the close relationships that will serve them as they move forward in their careers. This community of learning and respect is fostered at the university through our small class sizes and close academic relationships between students and faculty.
By graduation, students are well equipped to launch careers as counselors skilled at conceptualizing and intervening with at-risk populations using evidence-based approaches. Our students are trained to assist a broad cultural cross-section of individuals to improve their understanding, adjustment, and daily functioning across the lifespan.
Graduates of the Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling work with a wide range of populations and in a broad spectrum of settings including community agencies, mental health centers, and private practice.
Graduates of the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program will be able to:
1. Evaluate clients' biopsychosocial functioning using appropriate assessment procedures.
2. Specify how a range of the best-established, evidence-based individual, group, and family treatments might be used with diverse populations across settings.
3. Utilize both self-awareness and sensitivity to their interpersonal impacts when interacting with whom they serve.
4. Use the ethical standards of the American Counseling Association to identify and resolve ethical conflicts.
5. Draw from the research literature to inform their professional practice.
6. Demonstrate identity as a professional clinical counselor in the manner in which cases are conceptualized and in the corpus of literature used to inform their work.
7. Identify clients affected by inequities and advocate for them as appropriate.
The coursework and field experience segments of the program are delivered in a prescribed sequence. Pathways are recommended for timely program completion.
For course descriptions, please view the most recent university catalog.
The comprehensive exam is an exit examination required of all counseling students at the University of Redlands. The purpose of the exam is to assess the student's knowledge of counseling to ensure minimum competence in the field. The Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Exam (CPCE) will provide collective feedback that can be used by the program in developing/adapting curriculum.
The coursework in this 60 credit degree program prepares students for California licensure as Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors (LPCC) with the Board of Behavioral Sciences. The program also qualifies students for licensure eligibility in most other states. Prospective students are encouraged to become acquainted with the licensure requirements in the state in which they plan to practice.
A graduate of the program can apply to the California Board of Behavioral Sciences to become a licensed Associate Clinical Counselor Intern (APCCI.) This 3,000-hour internship is required for California licensure and must be completed under an approved clinical supervisor. APCCIs, with appropriate supervised experience, can apply to the Board to become a Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor (LPCC.) An LPCC can engage in the independent practice of professional counseling in California.
Furthermore, the CMHC degree fulfills the National Board of Certified Counselors educational requirement to sit for the National Counselor Examination for National Counselor Certification.
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