Master of Science in Counseling: Clinical Mental Health

Students will develop knowledge and skills related to clinical mental health counseling and addiction counseling. Graduates will be prepared to provide individual and group counseling services in a variety of settings; assess for trauma and provide crisis intervention; as well as administer a variety of psychological and educational assessments; diagnose, develop treatment plans, and evaluate client progress.

As a part of the Master of Science in Counseling:  Clinical Mental Health, applicants will be required to:

• Submit response to two personal statements to include the following (250 word minimum for each question):
  1.  How does the Masters of Science in Counseling:  Clinical Mental Health program support your professional goals?  And, why is this graduate degree in counseling the right one for this season of your life?
  2.  Describe a time when you received feedback that was difficult to hear in the moment.  How did you respond?  How did the experience impact you directly?
• Submit a resume.
• Submit letters of recommendation from professional sources (e.g. undergraduate professors/advisers; employers; organizational leaders of volunteer organizations in which the applicant has worked; or clergy) that can speak to the applicant’s character, fitness for the counseling profession, ability to successfully manage graduate level coursework, two or three areas of personal and/or academic strengths of the applicant, and any areas for growth. Letters of recommendation submitted by the applicant should include the organization’s logo, a recommender signature, and recommender contact information (email and phone number).  Letters of recommendation should be submitted as a PDF document.
• Bachelors degree from a regionally accredited institution with a minimum of 3.0 GPA. 2.5-3.0 will be considered based on submission of the personal statement. Official transcript required.
• Invitation to participate in a pre-admissions interview conducted by program faculty. Invitation to interview does not guarantee acceptance into the program.
• Online new student orientation is required prior to the start of the program.
• GRE or GMAT are not required.

As you prepare for starting courses in one of our Master of Science in Counseling degrees, we wanted you to be aware of two possible fees that will be required as part of your professional experiences courses (practicum and internship) that occur approximately mid-way through your program.

1. Registration for Tevera data system- a one-time, lifetime fee of $220 will be required when enrolling in COUN 500. This will allow you lifetime access to an online platform that will allow you to manage all of your clinical and licensure information. You will be able to track your progress and begin to build your professional identity through this rea-time activity tracker.In addition, the Tevera video system – a one-time fee of $50.00 will be required when enrolling in COUN 591. This fee allows you to upload and store counseling session videos in a HIPAA secure platform in your Tevera account.
2. Liability Insurance- this will be required to participate in your professional experiences courses. The liability insurance can be obtained at a student rate of approximately $105 through the American Counseling Association. Obtaining a membership in this organization will allow you to utilize liability insurance.
3. Criminal Background Check- this requirement is agency specific and some but not all agency’s require this before you will be eligible to complete your practicum and internship. The average cost is $50 or less.

MISSION STATEMENT

The mission of the Master of Science in Counseling: Clinical Mental Health program at the University of Mount Olive is to provide graduates with the knowledge, skills, and appropriate attitudes to competently engage in professional clinical mental health counseling as culturally responsive practitioners and advocates in an increasingly diverse society.

VISION STATEMENT

The vision of the faculty is a commitment to purposefully provide learning opportunities that facilitate the development of counselor identity and ethical practice utilizing a variety of research-based counseling interventions and assessments to address the individual needs of diverse clients in an empathetic and culturally sensitive manner through faculty mentoring, programming that aligns with the profession’s accrediting body, and supervised clinical experiences.

VALUES STATEMENT

The values espoused by the faculty are reflective of the University Covenant and The American Counseling Association.  We value the following:

• Respect for diversity of thought, values and principles
• The whole person through the Biopsychosocial-spiritual perspective
• Effective collaboration between faculty and students
• Modeling examples of service to the profession, individuals in crisis, and society
• Scholarship in research that promotes competent scientist-practitioners
• High quality, inspiring, and engaging learning environments
• Ethical standards of honesty, trustworthiness, integrity, justice, responsibility, caring, and respect