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
Julie Mullane
St. John Fisher has a good reputation and it is close to where I live. The schedule of two nights a week appealed to me. When you are trying to balance a family and graduate studies, proximity and scheduling are extremely important.
I went into the program not knowing if I would fit in. I had been out of school for over a decade and felt out of touch. That feeling did not last for long. The St. John Fisher program promotes individuality. I was able to draw upon my life experiences, as well as my prior education, in all of my classes.
The Fisher program provides a combination of theory-based and practical knowledge by incorporating lectures, classroom projects and activities with a community internship placement. An added feature, that I was not expecting, was the intense self-exploration. This combination has prepared me well for a career in counseling by teaching me, not only the skills I need, but how to take care of myself while taking care of others.