Mental Health Counseling Objectives & Structure

Program Objectives

Upon graduation, the successful student in the Mental Health Counseling Program will be able to:

• Demonstrate professional skills required for working in a multidisciplinary community agency, business, college/university, or health setting.
• Demonstrate a variety of differential assessment practices consistent with the DSM-IV-TR.
• Demonstrate the ability to use a diverse range of research-based intervention strategies.
• Develop appropriate intervention plans based upon a knowledge of culturally relevant variables in client care including ethnicity, religion, socioeconomic levels, gender, sexual orientation, and disability status.
• Demonstrate professional behavior consistent with ethical guidelines of the Mental Health Counseling Profession.

Program Structure

Students may take courses on a full-time or part-time basis (see Program Requirements). Students are required to complete 60 credit hours of coursework, including a supervised practicum experience with a minimum of 100 clock hours and a supervised internship with a minimum of 900 clock hours. This supervised application of counseling skills in various community sites will allow students the opportunity to grow into effective mental health counselors. Because of the demands of our program and sequencing of courses, students are admitted for fall semester only. Our curriculum was developed according to the New York State Department of Education requirements for licensure as a mental health counselor