Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling San Francisco State University, USA

The Clinical Mental Health Counseling program prepares counselors to address the wide array of intersecting psychosocial, cultural, vocational and systemic circumstances that are barriers to the health, wellness, and quality of life of those served. Clinical Mental Health Counseling students are trained to work with some of the most vulnerable, marginalized communities who experience disabling health and behavioral health conditions that are often complicated by histories of poverty, trauma, homelessness, substance abuse, oppression, and criminal justice involvement. Students entering our program are social-justice oriented, embrace difference and inclusion, exhibit a desire for ongoing self-examination, and are expected to continually work towards cultural and disability competency.

Trained through a biopsychosocial and pluralistic lens, students are oriented towards conceptualizing clients' multiple, intersecting identities, contexts, vulnerabilities, and assets, using contemporary classification systems relevant to today's practicing counselor. Students learn and apply a broad spectrum of traditional and post-modern theories and modalities, including the Mental Health Recovery Model, and are expected to integrate health promotion, wellness, and evidence-based practices into their work. Our program strives to graduate students who are not only therapeutically skilled and culturally competent counselors, advocates and clinical case managers, but who also understand and challenge the political, sociocultural, and systemic factors that negatively impact the health and well-being of our clients, their families, and their communities.

Students graduating from the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program work in a diverse range of community-based health and behavioral health organizations, agencies serving particular populations (e.g., LGBTQ, Transition Age Youth, College Students, Older Adults), or persons with specific conditions or circumstances (e.g., substance abuse, homelessness, HIV/AIDS, and other health or behavioral health conditions), county behavioral health agencies, hospital-affiliated programs, educational settings, state and federal institutions, and private practice. Graduates meet all the academic and pre-degree fieldwork requirements for the California Professional Clinical Counselor License (LPCC) as set forth in Section 4999.33 of the Business and Professional Code for Licensed Professional Clinical Counselors. To become an LPCC, graduates must obtain 3,000 post-graduate hours under a qualified supervisor, and pass the National Clinical Mental Health Counselor Examination (NCMHCE) and the California Law and Ethics Exam. Please refer to CALPCC for more information. Clinical Mental Health Counseling graduates are also positioned to become a Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC).

Program Learning Outcomes

1. Human development. To understand concepts of normal development including physical, sexual, emotional, social, cultural, personality, cognitive, and career development; and to understand concepts of abnormal development, including behavior disorders and substance abuse.
2. Theoretical Framework. To understand theories of counseling.
3. Generic Counseling. To provide knowledge and training in individual and group counseling methods; consultation and basic interviewing and helping skills.
4. Socio-cultural Factors. To understand the characteristics and trends related to various cultural, economic, and ethnic groups, including such factors as disability, gender, and life style.
5. Career Development. To provide knowledge of career information, job satisfaction, job-seeking skills, and instruments used to assist career choice.
6. Assessment, Evaluation, and Research. To provide a working knowledge of assessment tools and research findings useful to the practitioner.
7. Professional Development. To provide knowledge about the professional, legal, and ethical foundations of counseling, and to be aware of the community resources and cultures of the various agencies serving the public.
8. Personal Growth Factors. To learn the appropriate use of insight into self and others in the development of empathic, helping relationships. The DoC strongly suggest that students consider some kind of counseling that will enable them to focus upon themselves in a meaningful way.