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 rehabilitation settings, federal, state, and private agencies, and community-based programs.
Program Mission
The Clinical Mental Health Counseling program (CMHC) is committed to preparing a diverse population of students as lifelong learners for employment in the counseling profession to: provide high quality graduate education in mental health rehabilitation counseling leading to a Master’s Degree, which prepares graduate students to be qualified rehabilitation counselors and licensed clinical professional counselors, and; provide students with sufficient quality academic and internships, practicum, and experiential opportunities to ensure the provision of high quality professional vocational, clinical counseling, and other rehabilitation services to individuals with disabilities and individuals with most significant disabilities.
The goals of the CMHC are to increase the number of professional personnel available to enhance the quality of specialized counseling services to a wide and diverse group of consumer populations, and to maintain and upgrade basic skills of personnel employed as providers of vocational rehabilitation and clinical counseling services to individuals with disabilities or mental health needs.
Program Objectives
- Training specialized professional personnel in clinical and rehabilitation counseling who are able to provide high quality counseling services to individuals with disabilities, especially individuals with significant disabilities.
- To prepare students with the counseling skills to address the multidimensional needs of individuals from diverse cultural backgrounds.
- To prepare students for national certification, state licensure, and for counseling, rehabilitation and human services personnel to upgrade skills.
- To prepare students to engage in professional issues in mental health and rehabilitation counseling through professional associations, publications, and professional development.
- To prepare counselors to work in varied counseling and rehabilitation settings prepared to address professional issues, and the needs of individuals with disabilities all consistent with the CMHC’s mission and objectives
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 |
Recommended Electives (6 credits)
** Licensure courses may be used to meet electives requirements.
| Course | Credits | Name |
|---|---|---|
| REHB 500 | 3 | Sign Language I |
| REHB 501 | 3 | Sign Language II |
| REHB 514 | 3 | Independent Living |
| REHB 602 ** | 3 | Foundations of Forensic Rehabilitation Counseling I |
| REHB 603 ** | 3 | Foundations of Forensic Rehabilitation Counseling II |
| REHB 604 ** | 3 | Law and Forensic Rehabilitation Consultant |
| REHB 605 ** | 3 | Orientation to Forensic Vocational Practice |
| REHB 610 | 3 | Organization and Administration of Counseling and Rehabilitation Programs |
| REHB 620 | 3 | Career Planning and Professional Development |
| PSYC 501 ** | 3 | Assessment of Individuals with Disabilities |
| PSYC 512 | 3 | Mental Health |
| PSYC 627 | 3 | Counseling and Spirituality |
| PSYC 645 ** | 3 | Professional Counselor Internship I |
| PSYC 646 ** | 3 | Professional Counselor Internship II |
Rehabilitation Option I
Completion of Comprehensive Examination in addition to the coursework.
| Course | Credits | Name |
|---|---|---|
| REHB 581 | 3 | Research Methods in the Social and Behavioral Sciences |
| REHB 582 | 3 | Seminar Rehabilitation Research |
Rehabilitation Option II
Completion of Comprehensive Examination in addition to the coursework.
| Course | Credits | Name |
|---|---|---|
| REHB 581 | 3 | Research Methods in the Social and Behavioral Sciences |
| REHB 582 | 3 | Seminar Rehabilitation Research |
| REHB 583 | 3 | Thesis Project I |
| REHB 584 | 3 | Thesis Project II |
Rehabilitation Option III
Completion of Comprehensive Exam or CRC Exam in addition to the coursework.
| Course | Credits | Name |
|---|---|---|
| REHB 581 | 3 | Research Methods in the Social and Behavioral Sciences |
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)
CMHC Q & A
Mental health counselors provide treatment to individuals, families, couples, and groups. Some work with specific populations, such as the elderly, college students, or children. Mental health counselors treat clients with a variety of conditions including anxiety, depression, grief, low self-esteem, stress, and suicidal impulses. They also help with mental and emotional health issues and relationship problems. Mental health counselors work in a wide variety of settings such as mental health centers, community health centers, prisons, and private practice. Most work full time but some counselors may choose to work part time.
Mental health counselors typically provide the following services:
- Evaluate clients’ mental and physical health, addiction, or problematic behavior and assess their readiness for treatment
- Develop, recommend, and review treatment goals and plans with clients and their families
- Assist clients in developing skills and behaviors necessary to recover from their mental health condition, addiction, or modify their behavior
- Work with clients to identify behaviors or situations that interfere with their recovery
- Teach clients’ family members about mental health behavior disorders, addiction, and help them develop strategies to cope with those problems
- Refer clients to other resources and services, such as job placement services and support groups
- Conduct outreach programs to help people identify the signs of addiction and other destructive behavior, as well as steps to take to avoid such behavior
In keeping with the Coppin State University’s (CSU) mission to provide services to the community, graduates will be able to offer services and related training within the community and at their employment sites, which include a variety of professional counseling agencies including non-profit organizations and crisis mitigation. Graduates will be employed in agencies where they are trained to recognize symptoms of mental and emotional disorders and to use effective counseling strategies. Employers now prefer to hire counselors who have graduated from programs accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling & Related Educational Programs (CACREP), in which CSU’s CMHC program is aligned.
All states require mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists to be licensed in the state in which they practice. Licensure requires a master’s degree and 2,000 to 4,000 hours of post degree supervised clinical experience, sometimes referred to as an internship or residency. In addition, counselors and therapists must pass a state-recognized exam and complete annual continuing education classes. Students at CSU will need to fill the gap of employment opportunities. According to the Occupational Outlook Handbook and the Maryland Department of Labor, employment of mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists is projected to grow 23% and 16% respectively from 2020 to 2030, much faster than the average for all occupations. Employment of mental health counselors is projected to grow 23 percent from 2020 to 2030, much faster than the average for all occupations.
About 41,000 openings for substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different occupations or exit the labor force, such as to retire.
Employment growth is expected in this occupation as people continue to seek addiction and mental health counseling services. Substance abuse, behavioral disorder, and mental health counselors experienced an increase in demand due to the toll of the COVID-19 pandemic on many individuals’ mental health. Demand for these workers also is expected to increase as states seek treatment and counseling services rather than incarceration for people with addictions or mental health concerns. In addition, there will be a continued need for counselors to work with military veterans to provide them the appropriate mental health or substance abuse counseling care.
Additionally, the number of individuals who will need access to health insurance is expected to continue to increase because of federal health insurance reform. The law requires insurance plans to cover treatment for mental health issues in the same way as other chronic diseases. This will increase access to prevention and treatment services to more people who were previously uninsured, did not have these services covered, or found treatment to be cost-prohibitive. Mental health centers and other treatment and counseling facilities will need to hire more mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists to meet this increased demand.
The number of military veterans needing and seeking mental health treatment is expected to increase over the next decade. The federal government, community clinics, and local hospitals will need to expand their mental health counseling staff to provide timely and effective treatment for veterans and active-duty personnel.
The CMHC address the educational and training needs and the anticipated number of vacancies expected over time. Employment of mental health counselors and marriage and family therapists is projected to grow 19 percent from 2014 to 2024, much faster than the average for all occupations. Employment of both mental health counselors, and marriage and family therapists are projected to grow 23% and 16% respectively from 2020 to 2030, much faster than the average for all occupations. Growth in both professions is expected as more people have mental health counseling services covered by their insurance policies. The number of jobs in the field is expected to grow by 23% for mental health counselors, adding over 75,100 jobs, and 16% for marriage and family therapists, adding over 12,000 jobs.
One of the greatest rewards of being a mental health counselor is being able to have a direct impact on the lives and well-being of clients. It is a degree for those who want to enter a field which allows Counseling professionals to both prevent and treat psychological distress, which can help clients lead healthier and happier lives.
The CMHC is a degree for the for those who will provide services knowing that they had a part in affecting the life of another human being. It is for the individual who knows that giving hope when people feel hopeless is very important to a healthy survival. They believe in Inspiring others to be all that they are capable of being, so that they can go out into the world and move forward growing in their productivity.
This CMHC program supports the State of Maryland’s goal to educate and train qualified professionals to meet the growing demand for mental health counselors and to gain meaningful and economically rewarding employment for these professionals. Competencies are obtained via education, theory, and application-oriented field- based activities gained from community rehabilitation programs, and other community counseling businesses. The program emphasis responds to the documented training needs for personnel in rehabilitation and private settings, particularly in state agencies and community-based programs. As with the CSU mission, the program provides educational access and diverse opportunities for students whose promise may have been hindered by a lack of social, personal, or financial opportunities. The program is designed to meet the individual professional development needs of students with special emphasis on the recruitment of students from diverse populations.
- The CMHC Program recruits for the Masters degree and counseling licensure certification, as well as the certificate offerings on an ongoing basis.
- Student advisement is provided, encouraging students to meet with advisors prior to registration as well as throughout each semester.
- Program plans are developed with each student and advisors are available to meet with students at key milestones (degree candidacy, thesis and research development as appropriate, comprehensive exams, and graduation).
- Currently faculty teach at the CACREP requirement of a 1:12 ratio. The program is supported by a very dedicated, competent, and skilled adjunct faculty.
Professional Counselor Licensure Certificate: this certificate is designed within the structure of the CMHC Program and as a Post Masters Certificate in Professional Counselor Licensure.
- Students enrolled in the CMHC Program are able to complete 27 credits (the equivalent of 9 courses) toward professional counselor licensure. This is an attraction to the CMHC Program and the professional community.
- Other students pursuing licensure are able to complete the required 15 courses that are fully approved by the State of Maryland Board of Professional Counselors.
- Two (2) new Internship courses have been approved providing the opportunity for students to complete 3,000 of the required internship hours at CSU.
Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC): The CMHC Program is a Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related
Educational Programs (CACREP) certified program. Students completing the Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling qualify to sit for the CRC exam. Students are required to complete a total of 100 practicum hours and 600 internship hours. For information on the CRC application requirements refer to the CRC website at https://www.crccertification.com/.
The CMHC Program is designed as a main campus program that is not offered as a fully online degree option. Some courses are offered online.
The CMHC Program has graduates who are employed with:
- Outpatient Mental Health and Substance Abuse Centers
- Hospitals
- Private Practice
- Schools and Universities
- Community Mental Health Agencies
- Non-Profit Organizations
- Residential Treatment Centers
- Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs)
- Correctional Facilities
- Telemedicine
- Maryland State Division of Rehabilitation Services
- Private Rehabilitation Companies
- Maryland Workers Compensation Commission
- Public Sector
- Veterans Administration
Academic supports include Ticket-To-Work, CTP Mentor scholarships, academic advisement, Academic Resource Center, Student Rehabilitation Association/Peer mentoring.
Reference: Occupational Outlook Handbook Online (https://www.bls.gov/ooh/)
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Substance Abuse, Behavioral Disorder, and Mental Health Counselors, at: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/community-and-social-service/substance-abuse-behavioral-disorder-and-mental-health-counselors.htm (visited July 21, 2022).
Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Marriage and Family Therapists, at: https://www.bls.gov/ooh/community-and-social-service/marriage-and-family-therapists.htm (visited July 21, 2022).
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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.