Degrees and Requirements
Clinical Mental Health Counseling
The program is offered full-time in a two-year cycle or part-time in a four-year cycle which is typically 2 courses per semester determined by course offerings.. The CMHC program at La Roche prepares students to address complicated issues of social justice and healthy mental functioning with an approach that combines theory, technique, and practical experiences. This program prepares students to sit for the National Counselor Exam (NCE).
REQUIREMENTS: To successfully complete the M.S. Clinical Mental Health Counseling degree, students must complete 60 credits embedded with at least 700 hours of clinical practice.
Summary of Requirements
Year 1, Fall: 12 credits
CMHC5000Found. of Clin.l Mental Health Coun
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course is required in order to provide the beginning clinical mental health in counseling student with an opportunity to familiarize themselves with counselors and therapists that are employed in various counseling agencies and counseling practices. It is intended to provide the student with a more ealistic orientation to the counseling profession and their academic preparation to enter the profession.
CMHC5010COUNSELING ACROSS DIVERSE CULTURES
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course is designed to provide knowledge and skills required of counselors in a multicultural society, to foster personal and professional growth in addition to gaining knowledge of the variety of cultural contexts. Theories and models of multicultural counseling, cultural and disability identity development, and social justice and advocacy will be discussed.
CMHC5020SOCIAL SYSTEMS IN COUNSELING
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course is designed to increase counselors' awareness of the variety and complexity of systems, organizations, and groups. An interdisciplinary, social systems and organizatinal development approach will be utilitized to explore and understand system composition, interactions, elements, and processes.
CMHC5030ETHICAL, LEGAL, AND PROFESSIONAL
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course will focus on the ethical and legal standards of professional counseling organizations, credentialing bodies and applications in specialized practice areas. Emphasis will be on establishing those personal and professional characteristics that enable the counselor to establish and maintain a therapeutic relationship with clients to facilitate a clear counselor identity and uphold the highest ethical standards.
Year 1, Spring: 9 credits
CMHC5040COUNSELING ACROSS THE LIFESPAN
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course will broadly survey developmental theories and concepts and applied knowledge from a lifespan perspective. Beginning with conception and continuing through death, emphasis is placed on personal development, family development, and lifespan issues from a counseling perspective. The conceptual framework of the course is rooted in psychosocial theory, integrates various lifespan theories, and covers various aspects of multiple domains of development including cognitive, social, emotional, moral and physical.
CMHC5050GROUP COUNSELING: THEORY AND TECH NIQUES LAB
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course is an introduction to group work and specifically group counseling. It is designed to provide future counselors with opportunities to explore basic theoretical and practical concepts regarding the group counseling process, specifically, the behavioral dynamics of groups; the role, essential skills, techniques and methods of group leadership, as well as the historical and theoretical foundations of group work in community mental health and school settings.
CMHC5060MARRIAGE, COUPLES, FAMILIES COUNSEL ING AND THERAPY
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course is an introduction to the field of marriage, couple, and family counseling. An overview of the basic clinical approaches, characteristics, knowledge, and skills required of the counselor in order to provide effective counseling in this area will be reviewed in depth.
Year 1, Summer: 12 credits
CMHC5070COUNSELING THEORIES AND THERAPEUTIC TECHNIQUES
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course will present an introduction to, and working understanding of, the historical, philosophical, social, psychological, cultural, economic, and political implications of the counseling profession's common theoretical orientations, and related clinical techniques.
CMHC5080RESEARCH METHODS, DESIGN AND STAT ISTICS
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course is an introduction to descriptive and inferential statistics. Topics addressed include: basic statistical and research concepts, graphical displays of data, measures of central tendency and variability, standardized scores, normal distribution, probability, hypothesis testing, confidence intervals, sampling distributions, correlation, t-tests, non-parametric tests, and one factor analysis of variance.
CMHC5090PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC ASPECTS OF HUMAN SEXUALITY
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course is designed to provide attitudinal training, and counseling experiences for graduate students in the area of human sexuality. This counseling course will address basic concepts of human sexual development and the bio-pyscho-sexual dynamics influencing sexual behavior throughout the life cycle. There will be a focus on sexual problems and dysfunctions, along with appropriate therapeutic treatment. This course is a balance of examining one's own personal sexual values and how they affect the counseling relationship, along with didactic information about human sexuality.
CMHC6000CAREER COUNSELING & VOCATIONAL DEV
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course identifies the elements of career related theories and models of career development, counseling, and decision-making. This includes an overview of processes for identifying and using career, avocational, educational, occupational, and labor market information resources, technology, and information systems.
Year 2, Fall: 9 credits
CMHC6010COUNSELING PRACTICUM
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course is intended as a multifaceted supervised, tutorial experience during which the student begins to integrate the wealth of knowledge gained in their coursework into the actual counseling profession. Application of theory and the development of counseling skills under supervision is emphasized. This is a direct-contact counseling experienced conducted in a professional counseling organization, system, or agency.
CMHC6020DIAGNOSIS AND TREATMENT PLANNING
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course will provide the counseling student with a thorough overview of the current Diagnostic Statistical Manual (DSM). Including theories, models, and strategies for understanding and practicing consultation, record keeping and documentation skills and expectations, and the impact of technology on the counseling profession.
CMHC6030CLINICAL SUPERVISION IN COUNSELING
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course will focus on analyzing supervision theories and developing effective techniques to facilitate counselor-in-training development. A variety of models, perspectives, research, and techniques pertaining to the chosen specialty in clinical supervision will be reviewed. An emphasis will be on developing individualized, specialty supervision methodologies in a manner that can then be effectively transferred to practical application in the field of clinical supervision.
Year 2, Spring: 9 credits
CMHC6040COUNSELING INTERNSHIP I
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
The purpose of the internship is to provide the counseling student with an opportunity to develop a formal understanding of the overall role of the counselor. This experience provides supervised activities by a faculty member and licensed professional counselor that are evaluated in such a way to determine the student's potential for success in the profession. Students are required to have a minimum of 300 hours direct client contact, with weekly supervision of 1 hour individual, dyadic or triadic format by an on-site licensed supervisor, with an average 1.5 hours per week group supervision performed by a licensed faculty member. A formal evaluation for fitness to practice is made upon completion of the internship experience.
CMHC6050CHILD AND ADOLESCENT COUNSELING
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course focuses on specialized knowledge, skills, and awareness necessary for counseling children and adolescents within individual, group, and family counseling modalities. Basic principles from child and adolescent development will be utilized in the identification, conceptualization, and treatment of developmental issues, as well as more pathological clinical presentations.
CMHC6060PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTING
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
Year 2, Summer: 9 credits
CMHC6070COUNSELING INTERNSHIP II
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course is a continuation of internship I. The purpose of the internship is to provide the counseling student with an opportunity to develop a formal understanding of the overall role of the counselor. This experience provides supervised activities that are evaluated in such a way to determine the student's potential for success in the profession. The internship experience provides students with the opportunity to: assess and treat clients, follow client progress, keep records, have supervision, attend staff meetings, participate in service training and other professional activities.
CMHC6080CRISIS, TRAUMA AND DISASTER COUNSEL
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course explores the nature and experience of trauma and related crises and natural disasters. The course is designed to provide students with an opportunity to practice the techniques of counseling individuals who have been traumatized as well as to intervene appropriately in crisis and disaster situations.
CMHC6090ADDICTIONS COUNSELING
Credits (Min/Max): 3/3
This course will examine the theories, techniques and practices of addictive behavior and addictions counseling. The focus of the course will be on understanding addictive process and its relationship to a variety of chemical and behavioral addictions.