Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling

M.A. Clinical Mental Health Counseling

credits 60  |  completion 2 years (6 semesters)   Format online  |  next start January 6

Earn your Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling online

Prepare for a rewarding career providing compassionate and competent counseling services in clinical mental health settings such as mental health agencies, group practices, residential treatment centers, hospitals, university counseling centers or private practice. With 100% online coursework and experiential learning, gain the necessary knowledge and skills to use your calling as an exceptional licensed mental health counselor (LMHC) who improves the lives and mental health of individuals through holistic wellness. You will be equipped to empower others to make positive changes in their lives. 
 

Faith-integrated mental health counseling program

In Northwestern College's online M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program, you will be part of a community dedicated to the development of outstanding counselors who are called to serve others in diverse settings. Students integrate a Christian perspective with culturally sensitive and ethical clinical skills so they can courageously and faithfully provide compassionate care in pursuing God’s work of restoration and healing in the world.

Through NWC's M.A. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling you will be equipped to:

  • Apply ethical and legal considerations, behavior, and judgments in counseling situations
  • Display multicultural awareness and sensitivity
  • Demonstrate an ability to articulate a biblical world view and be able to articulate how your most important spiritual and religious values impact your counseling practice
  • Display the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to serve and influence your communities, workplaces, and families

100% online coursework. 8-week courses. Experiential learning. 

Through online, 8-week classes, students log into their courses to complete assignments each week on their own schedule. Some courses include synchronous live classes, Zoom meetings with instructors or project meeting opportunities with classmates. Practicum and internship experiences enrich learning and skill-building through offering services to actual clients in approved and supervised settings near where the student lives. 

The master's in clinical mental health program is designed for working professionals to complete the program in two years (6 semesters) by typically taking two courses at a time.


Professional preparation

Northwestern's Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health is designed to prepare students to be outstanding counselors in the practice settings of their choice and is aligned with the standards and competencies of the  Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). The program plans to apply for CACREP accreditation as soon as the application is allowed (once the program has produced its first graduates). After successful completion of the counseling program, students will be prepared to pursue licensure as a professional counselor in their state and take the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Exam (CPCE).


Program mission

The Counseling Program at Northwestern College is a Christ-centered community dedicated to the development of outstanding counselors who are called to serve both Christ and society in diverse settings. Students integrate a biblical perspective with culturally sensitive and ethical clinical skills so they can courageously and faithfully provide compassionate care in pursuing God’s work of restoration and healing in the world.


Application requirements

No GRE required. No Application fee.

Application materials reviewed on a rolling basis. 
Application materials will be evaluated as they are received. Following a review of all completed application materials, applicants will be invited to a virtual interview with a faculty member.

 

Official transcripts showing a degree from an accredited institution.

  • Official transcripts are needed from your bachelor's degree institution as well as from any institution showing graduate credit if seeking transfer credit. 
  • No undergraduate transcripts are required of NWC alumni 

Send official transcripts to onlineadmissions@nwciowa.edu or Northwestern College, Graduate & Professional Studies, 101 7th St SW, Orange City, IA 51041. 

Minimum undergraduate cumulative GPA of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. 

  • Applicants with a GPA under 3.0 may be eligible for conditional admission on a case-by-case basis.

Write an 800 to 1000-word essay on the following prompt. The essay must be written in APA style.

Write about: 

  • Your counseling career goal(s),
  • Your aptitude for graduate level online study, and 
  • Your potential success in forming effective counseling relationships with diverse populations. 

Attach your completed essay to your online application or email to  online@nwciowa.edu following submission of your online application.  

Updated résumé can be uploaded and submitted with your application or emailed to online@nwciowa.edu following submission of your online application.  

Two letters of recommendation are required.

  • Letters can be from professional or academic reference.
    • One of the references may also speak to the applicant's spiritual formation. 
  • Letters from family members are not accepted.
  • Reference letters need to address the following: 
    1. The student's career goal to be a counselor; 
    2. The student's aptitude for online graduate-level study; and
    3. The students potential in forming effective counseling relationships with diverse populations. 
  • Letters can be uploaded and submitted with your application or emailed to online@nwciowa.edu following submission of your online application.  

Background check must be completed through CastleBranch.


Preferred application process for Northwestern College graduates 

Graduates of Northwestern College receive the benefit of a more streamlined application process and do not need to submit their NWC undergraduate transcripts. All other application requirements are required. 


Learning Outcomes

  1. Demonstrate preparedness to enter the counseling field as clinical mental health counselors.
  2. Demonstrate the ability to apply ethical and legal considerations, behavior, and judgments in counseling situations.
  3. Recognize the impact of heritage, attitudes, beliefs, understandings, and acculturative experiences on an individual’s view of others.
  4. Demonstrate an understanding of biological, neurological, and physiological factors that affect human development, functioning, and behavior.
  5. Demonstrate the ability to conceptualize the interrelationships among and between work, mental well-being, relationships, and other life roles and factors.
  6. Demonstrate the essential interviewing, counseling, and case conceptualization skills necessary to be competent and ethical clinical mental health counselors.
  7. Demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics and functions of effective group leaders.
  8. Demonstrate knowledge of, and an ability to use assessments relevant to academic/educational, career, personal, and social development.
  9. Demonstrate knowledge of evaluation procedures for counseling interventions and programs.
  10. Demonstrate competence in utilizing an intake interview, mental status evaluation, biopsychosocial history, mental health history, and psychological assessment for treatment planning and caseload management as appropriate.
  11. Demonstrate the knowledge, skills, and dispositions needed to serve and influence their communities, workplaces, and families.
  12. Demonstrate multicultural self-awareness and clinical competence.
  13. Demonstrate an ability to articulate a biblical worldview, and identify how their self-identified most important spiritual and religious values and beliefs impact their counseling practice.
  14. The program will demonstrate it effectively meets the needs of its key stakeholders.

Program Requirements

The 60 credit clinical mental health counseling program includes valuable hands-on learning in the practicum and internship courses. Students will apply theory and develop as clinical counselors by providing services to actual clients. They will also develop the skills and knowledge related to their counseling setting such as timeliness, documentation and site policies and procedures. 

  • The practicum experience requires completion of a minimum of 100 hours of which 40 hours must be direct client services. 
  • The Internship experience is a 600-hour experience of which 240 hours must be direct services to clients. 

Courses

COUN 505 - Professional Orientation
This course introduces students to the field of counseling in diverse settings, including school and clinical mental health settings. The course provides a broad overview and survey of the counseling profession, including its historical and theoretical foundations, the major professional associations of the counseling profession, and roles and responsibilities of counselors in a variety of settings and within and among the other mental health professions. Students will begin development of a professional identity and will reflect on their calling to the profession of counseling and their vision for using their master's degree in the future. Students will begin the process of spiritual formation for counseling. (3 credits)
COUN 515 - Ethics
This course introduces students to legal and ethical issues relevant to the counseling profession and equips students with an ethical decision-making model for navigating ethical dilemmas and issues related to professional practice. Students will develop ethical sensitivity and utilize the ethical principles, which serve as the profession's foundation for ethical behavior and decision making, in evaluating case studies. An overview of the Iowa statutes which govern practice will also be provided. The goal of this course is to get students to think about major issues related to the professional practice of counseling, while challenging them to formulate positions on such issues, consider a biblical perspective, and appraise the values impacting counselors and the counseling profession. (3 credits)
COUN 520 - Social & Cultural Foundations
In this course, students will examine the psychological and sociological factors that form self-concept and cultural identity, and consider how these constructs impact effective counseling with diverse populations. Students will begin a professional journey of developing multicultural competence through developing self-awareness, sensitivity to elements of diversity, knowledge of cultural values, and a commitment to the counseling profession's core value of honoring diversity and embracing a multicultural approach in support of the worth, dignity, potential, and uniqueness of people within their social and cultural contexts. Students will learn how to apply awareness and culturally competent skills and knowledge in interventions and advocacy practices with diverse populations. Course concepts will be considered through a biblical world view which provides a foundation for understanding how God views all people groups. Prerequisite: COUN505. (3 credits)
COUN 525 - Human Growth & Development
One of the philosophies underlying the counseling profession that helps set it apart from the other mental health professions is a developmental perspective; a recognition that many of the issues clients face in life are developmental in nature. This course introduces students to theories of individual and family development across the lifespan, theories of learning, theories of moral and spiritual development, and theories of normal and abnormal personality development. The course also delves into factors and circumstances that can impact a person's development; biological, neurological, and physiological factors, addictive behaviors, systemic and environmental factors, crises, disasters, and trauma, and culture. Students will develop a general framework for developing interventions based on client developmental level and ethical and culturally relevant strategies for promoting resilience and wellness across the lifespan. (3 credits)
COUN 550 - Theories & Skills of Counseling I
This course is part one of a two-part integrated skills and theories series that introduces students to the basic skills of the counseling relationship and the major theories of personality and psychotherapy, and provides students an experiential opportunity to begin practicing and assimilating these skills in their counselor identity. In Theories and Skills of Counseling I, students are introduced to counseling skills such as attending, active listening, empathy, questioning, observation, encouraging, summarizing, reflecting, and challenging. Skills are practiced with role play partners, video recorded and submitted to the professor for review and feedback. Theories covered in Theories and Skills of Counseling I include Psychodynamic, Adlerian, Client-Centered, Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy, Behavior Therapy, and Cognitive Therapy. Modern psychotherapies are considered through a biblical world view. Prerequisite: COUN515. (3 credits)
COUN 510 - Assessment & Appraisal
This course introduces students to the field of counseling in diverse settings, including school and clinical mental health settings. The course provides a broad overview and survey of the counseling profession, including its historical and theoretical foundations, the major professional associations of the counseling profession, and roles and responsibilities of counselors in a variety of settings and within and among the other mental health professions. Students will begin development of a professional identity and will reflect on their calling to the profession of counseling and their vision for using their master's degree in the future. Students will begin the process of spiritual formation for counseling. (3 credits)
COUN 551 - Theories & Skills of Counseling II
This course is part two of a two-part integrated skills and theories series that introduces students to the basic skills of the counseling relationship and the major theories of personality and psychotherapy, and provides students an experiential opportunity to begin practicing and assimilating these skills in their counselor identity. In Theories and Skills of Counseling II, students review counseling skills such as attending, active listening, empathy, questioning, observation, encouraging, summarizing, reflecting, and challenging. Skills are practiced with role play partners, video recorded and submitted to the professor for review and feedback. Theories covered in Theories and Skills of Counseling II include Existential, Gestalt, Interpersonal, Family Systems, Mindfulness/Contemplative, Positive Psychology, Integrative, and Multicultural approaches. Modern psychotherapies are considered through a biblical world view. Prerequisites: COUN515 and COUN550. (3 credits)
CMHC 515 - Marriage & Family
This course introduces students to the field of marriage and family counseling. The course covers the history and development of the field as well as the research foundations for the field and specific models and approaches to treatment. Models covered include the Systemic and Strategic approaches, Structural, Experiential, Intergenerational and Psychoanalytic approaches, Cognitive-Behavioral, Mindfulness-based, Solution-Focused, and Narrative approaches, and the Gottman approach. A Christian perspective on marriage and family interventions is incorporated into the coursework. Prerequisites: COUN550 and COUN551. (3 credits)
CMHC 520 - Diagnosis & Psychopathology
This course provides students with an overview of psychopathology through the lens of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (5th ed.) of the American Psychiatric Association. Fundamental clinical mental health counseling processes such as the diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and treatment planning processes are also explored. The course utilizes case studies, discussions, presentations, and reflection papers to assist students in developing an understanding of the importance of the clinical interview and the mental status exam on the diagnostic process, and to help students examine and reflect on disorder etiologies and the impact of culture, biology, neuroscience, and spirituality on the diagnostic process. A Christian perspective on understanding and treating mental health disorders is integrated into the course. Prerequisites: COUN550 and COUN551. (3 credits)
COUN 555 - Crisis, Trauma, & Suicide
This course introduces students to the field of counseling in diverse settings, including school and clinical mental health settings. The course provides a broad overview and survey of the counseling profession, including its historical and theoretical foundations, the major professional associations of the counseling profession, and roles and responsibilities of counselors in a variety of settings and within and among the other mental health professions. Students will begin development of a professional identity and will reflect on their calling to the profession of counseling and their vision for using their master's degree in the future. Students will begin the process of spiritual formation for counseling. (3 credits)
COUN 605 - Skills II
This course is designed to give students practice experience engaging in a counseling relationship over the course of six sessions, in the practice setting most relevant to the client's future practice (clinical mental health, school counseling, etc.). Students will review and utilize basic counseling skills and continue developing their own individual counseling approaches with an emphasis on integration of theoretical orientation techniques, ethical practices, personality, spiritual integration, and setting-specific practices, under the instruction and evaluation of the course instructor. This course is largely experiential and is focused on preparing students for their Practicum experiences. Students will engage in a multi-session counseling experience with a learning partner focused on solidification of basic counseling skills and growth of advanced counseling skills. Prerequisites: COUN505, COUN515, COUN520, COUN550, COUN551, COUN555 (prerequisite or concurrent), CMHC520 or SCO520. (3 credits)
CMHC 610 - Practicum
The counseling Practicum experience provides students with an initial experience in providing counseling services in the clinical mental health counseling setting. The Practicum experience requires a minimum of 100 clock hours of documented contact including indirect and direct service, and supervision both onsite (provided by a designated site supervisor) and in class (provided by your assigned faculty member). The Practicum course is a seminar-style class which supports students participating in their Practicum experience and which supports students in developing their basic counseling skills and in learning a variety of assessment and intervention techniques. Students are required to earn a minimum grade of a B in this course in order to move forward in the program. This course requires online students to attend weekly synchronous class meetings. The day/times of the meetings will be determined by the course instructor. Prerequisites: COUN505, COUN515, COUN520, COUN525, COUN550, COUN551, COUN555 and COUN605. (3 credits)
COUN 530 - Group Counseling & Group Work
This course introduces students to the theory and practice of group counseling, its development within the field of counseling, and its utilization as an intervention in school counseling, clinical mental health counseling, and other settings. Group work requires some distinct understandings and approaches from individual counseling and as such, this course focuses on the stages of group formation, group therapeutic factors, group facilitation skills, dealing with challenges particular to group settings, and utilizing the group modality effectively. Students will be given the opportunity to participate in a group process, both as participants and as leaders. Because of this component, there will be a synchronous component to this course, where students will have to coordinate a day/time where they can consistently meet with their group to meet this requirement of the course. Prerequisites: COUN515, COUN550, COUN551, COUN605. (3 credits)
CMHC 575 - Psychopharmacology & Neuroscience
This course introduces students to the field of psychiatry and examines the topic of psychopharmacology, or the treatment of mental health conditions through prescribing of medications and psychoactive substances, and the topic of neuroscience, or our current understanding of brain science and the impact of the brain on human cognitions, emotion, and behavior. Students will work to be able to collaborate with multidisciplinary treatment teams that include psychiatrists and other medical doctors, and understand how psychopharmacological and neuroscientific issues impact the work counselors do in clinical mental health counseling settings. The course is arranged around students working in groups with classmates to consider a series of case studies through the lens of psychopharmacology and neuroscience. (Prerequisite: CMHC520. (3 credits)
CMHC 615 - Internship I
The Counseling Internship experience provides students with experience in providing counseling services in the clinical mental health counseling setting. The Internship experience requires a minimum of 600 clock hours spread over at least two semesters of documented contact including indirect and direct service, and supervision both onsite (provided by a designated site supervisor) and in class (provided by an assigned faculty member). The Internship course is a seminar-style class which supports students participating in their Internship experience and which supports students in developing their counseling skills and in learning a variety of counseling and intervention techniques. Students are required to earn a minimum grade of a B in this course in order to move forward in the program. This course requires online students to attend weekly synchronous class meetings. The day/times of the meetings will be determined by the course instructor. In this course, students will increase competency in their clinical skills, case conceptualization abilities, and ability to apply what they have learned in the program to the work they do with clients. Students' caseloads and responsibilities will increase and they will continue to fine tune their theoretical orientations, increase awareness of their counseling styles, and develop their counseling identities. Students will also continue to develop their written and verbal communication and presentation skills, and peer feedback skills. Prerequisites: COUN505, COUN515, COUN520, COUN525, COUN550, COUN551, COUN555, COUN605 and COUN610. (3 credits)
COUN 580 - Career Development
This course provides an overview of career development theory, models, occupational information sources and systems, college and career readiness, and career assessment instruments for diverse populations. Students will consider the relevance of career in the overall development of the counseling profession, the interrelationship between work, mental well-being, relationships, and other life roles and factors, and specific career interventions in clinical mental health and school counseling settings. The course will focus on the career decision-making process and how counselors can use assessments and different career resources to gather information tailored to help guide the client in the decision-making process. Prerequisite: COUN510. (3 credits)
COUN 585 - Research & Program Evaluation
This course provides students with practical guidance for accessing and comprehending published research articles with a goal of helping students incorporate an intention of understanding the evidence base for the interventions they use with clients and a willingness to be life-long consumers of counseling research. The course provides an overview of important methodological concepts of research, measurement and statistical concepts, and quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods research methodologies. The course also examines program evaluation with a focus on understanding the need for, and strategies for utilizing program evaluation in diverse settings. (3 credits)
CMHC 620 - Internship II
The Counseling Internship experience provides students with experience in providing counseling services in the clinical mental health counseling setting. The Internship experience requires a minimum of 600 clock hours spread over at least two semesters of documented contact including indirect and direct service, and supervision both onsite (provided by a designated site supervisor) and in class (provided by an assigned faculty member). The Internship course is a seminar-style class which supports students participating in their Internship experience and which supports students in developing their counseling ski and in learning a variety of counseling and intervention techniques. Students are required to earn a minimum grade of a B in this course in order to move forward in the program. This course requires online students to attend weekly synchronous class meetings. The day/times of the meetings will be determined by the course instructor. In this course, students will continue to hone their clinical skills, case conceptualization abilities, and ability to apply what they have learned in the program to the work they do with clients. Students will continue develop their theoretical orientations, increase awareness of their counseling styles, and develop their counseling identities. Students will also continue to develop their written and verbal communication and presentation skills, and peer feedback skills. Prerequisites: CMHC610 and CMHC615. (3 credits)
CMHC 570 - Foundations of Addictions Counseling
This course introduces students to the field of treating substance use disorders. As such, it provides an overview of the major theories, issues, and modalities for treating addictive disorders and the major drugs of abuse. Students will explore the impact of addiction on clients' lives, and consider a holistic approach to recovery which includes biological, psychological, sociological, and spiritual dimensions. Students will explore spiritual treatment approaches including the 12-step approach originating with Alcoholics Anonymous, and mindfulness meditation, and reflect on how spiritual approaches could support students' understanding of and treatment of addictive disorders in practice. Prerequisites: CMHC520 or SCO520. (3 credits)
COUN 635 - Capstone
This course is intended to be a final summation of students' experience in the clinical mental health counseling and school counseling programs. As such, it is intended to be taken during students' last semester of the program, where they can reflect back on what they've learned over the previous semesters. Students will reflect on and integrate features from psychology, theology, Christian spirituality, and the practice of evidence-based counseling skills and methods as students work to continue refining their individual counseling approaches that they will be applying in school counseling and clinical mental health counseling settings. Prerequisite: COUN615. (3 credits)

Total Credits: 60 credit hours

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