Clinical Mental Health Counseling (MS)
The Clinical Mental Health Counseling program (CMHC) offers two separate delivery methods for completing the program with both a full time and part time option. The first option is an on ground hybrid method that includes in person, accelerated, and online courses. The second option is a fully online single campus collaborative with administrative and financial support from UW-Extended Campus. CMHC is housed within the psychology, professional counseling, & neuroscience department at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and serves as the pre-credential educational requirement for licensure as a professional counselor in the state of Wisconsin. This 60-credit hour counseling program supports students’ development of the knowledge and skills needed for practice as clinical mental health counselors by adhering to the core general counseling competencies outlined by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC). The program is distinguishable by low student/faculty ratios, which offer students opportunities for supervision, consultation, and mentorship.
Students complete 700 hours of counseling and related work in placement sites that match their clinical interests and future career paths. Students develop skills and knowledge in areas across the domains of clinical mental health counseling, including assessment, diagnosis, intervention, advocacy, and evaluation. In addition, students have the opportunity to work alongside program faculty in research closely tied to their future work as professional counselors. Students in the full time pathway will be able to complete the program in two-and-a-half years if they follow the recommended semester plan.
Program Learning Outcomes
- Graduates demonstrate a professional counselor identity and demonstrate ethical, culturally competent, and trauma-informed practice.
- Graduates conceptualize clients through a multicultural and social justice lens. To include demonstrating the requisite attitudes and beliefs, knowledge, skills, and actions required to ensure equity and inclusion for diverse clients.
- Graduates evaluate theories and factors that affect individual and family development, as well as, transitions across the lifespan, in a multicultural and pluralistic society.
- Graduates apply their knowledge of the connections between work, relationships, mental health and other life roles, and strategies. To include evaluating strategies that lead to client growth and change associated with the experience of work in a multicultural and pluralistic society.
- Graduates establish, maintain, and utilize the therapeutic alliance with clients and understand other core conditions of counseling relationships that lead to client growth and change in a multicultural and pluralistic society.
- Graduates facilitate groups informed by the principles of group dynamics, developmental stages of group, and therapeutic factors responsive to a multicultural and pluralistic society.
- Graduates utilize a trauma-informed lens to implement assessment procedures and diagnose mental health conditions responsive to the cultural context of clients.
- Graduates evaluate the importance of published research, outcome measures, and program evaluation for the purpose of advancing the counseling profession in a diverse community.
- Graduates implement evidence-based counseling interventions and treatment planning strategies that are trauma-informed, and grounded in multicultural and social justice competencies.
Program-Specific Policies
Students are required to earn a minimum grade of B in all courses. Students who do not meet this requirement will be given the opportunity to retake the particular course(s). Additionally, students are required to maintain high levels of professional and ethical behavior. Students who demonstrate problematic behaviors, ethical violations, incompetence, or impairment will be given an opportunity for remediation, if remediation is not possible, they may be dismissed from the program. Remediation may include students being unable to follow the recommended semester plan, which may result in additional time to graduation.
Requirements for the Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Students are required to earn a minimum grade of B in all courses.
Students must also pass a program level comprehensive exam offered in the last semester of their course of study or a thesis paper.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Required Courses | ||
| CMHC 700 | Professional Counseling Orientation and Ethics | 3 |
| CMHC 702 | Counseling Skills and Strategies | 3 |
| CMHC 704 | Counseling Theories | 3 |
| CMHC 706 | Group Counseling | 3 |
| CMHC 714 | Lifespan Development in Counseling | 3 |
| CMHC 716 | Social and Cultural Foundations of Counseling | 3 |
| CMHC 720 | Assessment Procedures in Counseling | 3 |
| CMHC 722 | Research and Evaluation in Counseling | 3 |
| CMHC 740 | Foundations of Clinical Mental Health Counseling | 3 |
| CMHC 742 | Psychopathology in Counseling | 3 |
| CMHC 750 | Diagnosis and Treatment Planning | 3 |
| CMHC 752 | Trauma and Crisis Counseling | 3 |
| CMHC 754 | Addictions Counseling | 3 |
| CMHC 756 | Family and Couples Counseling | 3 |
| CMHC 758 | Counseling for Work and Career | 3 |
| CMHC 794 | Counseling Practicum | 3 |
| CMHC 795 | Internship in Counseling I | 3 |
| CMHC 796 | Internship in Counseling II | 3 |
| Elective Courses | ||
| Select two of the following: | 6 | |
| Advanced Counseling for Work and Career | ||
| Supervision and Consultation | ||
| Advanced Crisis and Trauma Counseling | ||
| Clinical Health Counseling I | ||
| Clinical Health Counseling II | ||
| Advanced Addictions Counseling | ||
| Counseling Children and Adolescents | ||
| Special Topics in Clinical Mental Health Counseling: | ||
| Independent Reading or Research 1 | ||
| Thesis 1 | ||
| Total Credits | 60 | |
- 1
Students may complete both CMHC 798 Independent Reading or Research and CMHC 799 Thesis and repeat CMHC 798 Independent Reading or Research. However, only 3 credits from CMHC 798 Independent Reading or Research or CMHC 799 Thesis will count toward the 6 credits of the Elective Requirement.
Final Project
During students’ final semester in the program they must complete one of two final projects.
Option A: Written Comprehensive Examination
Students selecting this option will complete a multiple choice, computer-administered exam that covers the eight CACREP core areas created by the CMHC faculty.
Students must complete the minimum of 6 credits of courses listed as elective courses above.
Option B: CMHC 799 Thesis
Students must complete a minimum of 3 credits of courses listed as elective courses above and the 3 credits of CMHC 799 Thesis.
University Requirements for Master’s Degree Programs
To receive a master’s degree from UW-Parkside, students must meet the following minimum requirements (note that individual programs may impose more stringent requirements):
- Complete at least 30 graduate credits, of which no more than 12 may be transferred from another institution.
- Have an overall GPA of at least 3.00 for all graduate work taken at UW-Parkside that is applicable to the degree program.
- Satisfy all requirements of the graduate degree program.
Students may take no more than seven years to complete a degree, beginning with the semester in which they complete their first course as a UW-Parkside degree-seeking graduate student, unless they apply for and receive an extension through the appropriate graduate program. Some programs may impose a shorter time limit. To graduate, students must file a request for graduation. The request form, signed by the student’s advisor and filed in the appropriate graduate program office, initiates the final review of the candidate’s records. Students also need to apply to graduate with the Office of the Registrar.
Applicants are required to have a minimum of 18 credits of undergraduate course work in the social sciences or related areas, and a minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0. No graduate exam scores will be required, however, applicants with an undergraduate GPA between 2.75-2.99 may be admitted on a probationary status.