Let’s say you want to become a mental health professional — meaning that you want to work 1-on-1 with individuals and families to help them solve issues in their lives. You’re also interested in obtaining the necessary qualifications, even if it means a change from your original career path. Where do you start?
If you decide to obtain a master’s degree in psychology to pursue social work or counseling, you won’t be able to become licensed until you have a doctoral degree.
If you’ve done undergraduate studies in the field of social work already, that’s great! You’ll probably be able to avoid taking remedial social work courses before applying to a master’s degree program. However, you should know that social workers are primarily trained to help their clients obtain resources locally or nationally. They’re trained to know when to refer a client for some of those resources, like housing. Social workers do get trained to work 1-on-1 with individuals and families to help them solve issues, but it’s not their primary training.
That just leaves the master’s degree in counseling, which is a very attractive option for a lot of people. Why is that so?
Well, for one thing, you can come into a master’s degree in counseling program from any background. If you haven’t taken counseling courses in undergrad before, that’s OK! You won’t need to take remedial courses in order to qualify for the master’s program. Counseling graduates come from all sorts of backgrounds, including business, science, humanities and more.
For another thing, with a master’s degree in counseling, you can begin seeing clients 1-on-1 after you pass a licensure exam. There’s no need to get a doctoral degree, because the master’s is essentially the terminal program for counseling.
But how can you be truly sure the master’s program in counseling is right for you? Think back to your original objective. Do you want to work 1-on-1 with individuals and families in order to help them solve issues, like depression, anxiety and risk for suicide? Do you want to work with specific client populations and demographics?
The master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program at Alma College (CMHC) is arguably the best way to break into the field of counseling. The program is a 60-credit hour, 90-percent online limited residency program that can be completed in two years and will prepare you with the knowledge and skills needed to pass the National Counselor Examination (NCE). Counseling is a field with incredible job prospects!
Think about your interests and desires for your career. If the Alma College CMHC appeals to you, visit alma.edu/academics/programs/ma-in-clinical-mental-health-counseling for more information.
