Clinical Mental Health Counseling Curriculum
Requirements and Recommendations

The Clinical Mental Health Counseling program is a 63 hour program which meets the basic course work requirements for Ohio licensure as a Professional Counselor/Professional Clinical Counselor. This program emphasizes the integration of student development, counseling, and experiential perspectives into the graduate preparation of Clinical Mental Health Counseling practitioners.

Please note that not all Clinical Mental Health Counseling courses are offered every semester. Students are responsible for carefully planning their programs of study in order to meet all prerequisite course and graduation requirements.

Tips for Course Planning

• Students must take Couns 5898 within the first 3 semesters in which a student enrolls.
• The preferred sequence for taking the following three course is: Couns 6962, 6900, 6973.
• Internship is the student’s capstone experience and should be taken during the last two semesters. Applications are due the first week of the semester prior to the Internship. Training Agreements are due prior to beginning the Internship. For further information about Internship, please refer to the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Internship Handbook.
• Comprehensive examinations are taken at the end of the semester prior to registering for Prac. 2.
• Schedule a meeting with your academic advisor after the first semester to complete the curriculum Plan of Study.

Field Experience Information

Academic Requirements
Internship in Clinical Mental Health Counseling is an experiential portion of the program that consists of a 600 hour field placement in a professional setting. Students complete 6 credit hours/300 field placement hours a semester over the course of 2 semesters.

Description
Internship is one of the most important and unique courses within the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. It is designed to provide an integration of practical experience and academic learning in a setting similar to that in which the student expects to be employed. Furthermore, the seminar is intended to help students prepare for the transition from graduate student to a professional Clinical Mental Health Counseling position following completion of the degree. Within this context, on-site supervision is provided by the site supervisor, and group processing of the experience is provided by the university instructor. The final course grade is determined by the university instructor with input from the site supervisor.

Internship Site
An appropriate site is one where the student can become familiar with a particular area of Clinical Mental Health Counseling services and activities including direct work with populations who are affected by mental health issues. It allows the student to obtain supervised experience in organization development and interaction with clientele appropriate to their program area and provides the opportunity for participation in a wide range of professional resources and activities. The university instructor must approve all internship sites.

The variety of Internship placements is broad. A student may work in community mental health centers, hospitals, addictions/recovery centers, employee assistance programs, and private practices. Students should discuss appropriate placements with his/her program coordinator prior to approaching a potential supervisor. Students must contact the potential supervisor to discuss the internship objectives, internship requirements and responsibilities, supervision, etc. The site must be appropriate and the site supervisor willing to agree to supervise the intern prior to approval of the placement by the program coordinator. The Internship Application must be submitted to the university program coordinator during the first week of the semester prior to beginning of Internship. The signed Training Agreement must be submitted to the university program coordinator prior to the beginning of Internship.

Students currently employed full-time, part-time or in graduate assistantships may use their current employment sites (if appropriate) for the internship experience. The student must, however, perform responsibilities that are in addition to their current jobs and are appropriate to a professional position. The internship experience should significantly extend the students experience in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and cannot be simply a repetition of the student’s normal job requirements.

Activities
Appropriate internship activities are those duties and responsibilities which a beginning Clinical Mental Health Counseling professional would be expected to perform. At the beginning of the placement, the intern and site-supervisor will develop a list of goals and objectives unique to each intern and site. A minimum of 40% of the intern’s time must be spent in direct service activities. Direct service is defined as service to an individual student, group of students, professional colleagues or other professionals. This service may involve education, testing and assessment, advising, research, program development, and evaluation.

Internship Supervisor
The site should have a supervisor who is available to work with the student, who possesses and license as a Professional Clinical Counselor – Supervising (PCC-S), and who has a minimum of two years of professional experience. The site supervisor must agree to the responsibilities required of all site supervisors before approval of the site and supervisor by the program coordinator.

Further information about the field experience can be found in the internship handbook available from the internship program coordinator.