Fall Semester (16 credits)

Spring Semester (15 credits)

Fall Semester (15 credits)

Spring Semester (16 credits)

Fall Semester (15 credits)

Spring Semester (15 credits)

Fall Semester (15 credits)

Spring Semester (13 credits)

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 CMHCR 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 CMHCR 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 CMHCR 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 CMHCR 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.