Making a Difference with an Emphasis on Clinical Mental Health Counseling

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02. Making a Difference with an Emphasis on Clinical Mental Health Counseling

The Power of a Clinical Mental Health Counseling Degree from Southern

There has been a long-overdue awakening when it comes to mental health and removing the stigma of receiving professional help. As more and more people seek mental health services, the need for Clinical Mental Health Counselors will become greater and greater.

This is a really good thing—both for the general public and for those who wish to pursue a career in clinical mental health counseling.

In this field, you’d provide professional counseling to people as they work through some of life’s greatest (and often unexpected) challenges. These may include trauma, depression, substance abuse, and other mental health issues.

With this emphasis in Southern’s MS in Professional Counseling program, you’ll gain the insights and skills needed to thrive in that role and provide the critical help that your clients will need. The program is designed for people who are compassionate, driven, and care deeply about helping others.

As a Clinical Mental Health Counselor, you’ll work to understand the issues your clients are struggling with, develop plans to address them, establish goals, and provide the skills needed to cope with these challenges. You’ll help them achieve this with techniques like asking the right questions, encouraging introspection, role-playing exercises, and sometimes even assigning homework in between sessions.

Ultimately, you’ll play a key role in helping them achieve the health and happiness they deserve.

Specializing in Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling

Within the Clinical Mental Health emphasis, you’ll have the opportunity to specialize in Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling.

As the name suggests, you’ll be working with couples and families as they strive to improve both themselves and their relationships with one another.

Helping people through their most profound and personal struggles—themselves, their marriage, and their families—bears a great deal of responsibility but it is also extremely rewarding.

To be a successful Marriage, Couple, and Family Counselor, you’ll need to be comfortable both in 1-on-1 and group settings. A counselor working with couples and families needs to be sensitive to established dynamics, understanding how to work around and within them. You must be able to validate the emotions and needs of all parties involved. And impartiality is key—you must never take sides. With a degree from Southern, you’ll be well-equipped to take on these responsibilities, ensuring you’ll go on to make a significant impact on the lives of your clients.

To earn this specialization, you’ll get to take extra courses such as Sexuality: Issues in Counseling, Parenting & Generational Influences, and Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling for a total of 12 additional credit hours.

Clinical Mental Health Counseling Salary and Career Outlook

There are several career paths you could take with an emphasis in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, depending on your goals and where you see yourself thriving.

Southern’s hands-on program is designed to help you work in many healthcare settings, including clinical mental health counseling centers, substance abuse treatment facilities, private practice, and other professional counseling settings.

In each setting, you’ll have opportunities to work with people in different capacities. For example, you may provide individual counseling to help your clients work through issues like anxiety, anger, substance abuse, or depression.

With family counseling, you’ll help families with communication, parenting, managing conflict, and promoting a healthy family structure. If you’re working with clients in couples counseling, you’ll be supporting them with conflict resolution, establishing realistic relationship goals, and addressing behavioral issues within the relationship.

You may also practice group counseling, wherein you’d lead a group of individuals who are working on issues they have in common: self-esteem, abuse, trauma, and substance abuse, to name a few.

To be successful as a Clinical Mental Health Counselor, you’ll have to meet state-specific certification and licensure standards, pass required exams, and uphold American Counseling Association (ACA) ethical and professional standards.

Your salary outlook will depend on your setting, your level of experience, and the type of work you’re doing. In Tennessee, the average salary for a Clinical Mental Health Counselor is $61,613.

Courses and Curriculum

With courses like Drugs and Addictions, Psychopathology, Ethics and Legal Aspects of Counseling, and Theories and Techniques of Counseling, you’ll learn both the foundational knowledge and advanced skills needed to thrive in a career as a Clinical Mental Health Counselor.

You’ll also have the opportunity to choose from electives such as Behavioral Health and Wellness Counseling and Sexuality: Issues in Counseling to explore new topics and pursue the concepts that might best help your career goals.

All told, the Clinical Mental Health Counseling emphasis requires 60 credits for graduation. For a closer look at our courses and curriculum, visit our program page.

Dual Speciality in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and School Counseling

You’ll also have the opportunity to earn a dual specialty in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and School Counseling, graduating with both emphases to your name. This would automatically qualify you to obtain two different state licenses, one as a licensed professional counselor and another as a school counselor.

In addition to increased earning potential, graduates with dual specializations enjoy high employability that makes them stand out among job applicants for their diverse skill sets.

It only takes one additional semester to graduate with both specializations. If you’re considering this path, we strongly encourage you to pursue it now. While the option to pick up the second specialization will always be there, you may not get the same financial aid or be able to earn the dual specialty as quickly if you return to school after you’ve already graduated.

Post-Master's Certificate in Clinical Mental Health Counseling

Some counselors return to school after joining the workforce to earn a Post-Master’s Certificate. For example, maybe they’ve been working in rehabilitation counseling for a few years and are ready for a new challenge with a new client population.

Earning the certificate will help you learn a new specialty—in this case, Clinical Mental Health Counseling. It’s designed for professionals who’ve already earned a Master’s in Counseling and want to learn the advanced clinical skills and theory needed to enter the new field.

The post-Master’s certificate in Clinical Mental Health Counseling includes a minimum of 21 semester hours of courses and field practice which meet part of the requirement for taking the state licensure (LPC) exam.

Application Details and Key Deadlines

To be eligible for admission, you must meet the following criteria:

Bachelor's Degree: A bachelor's degree (in any area) from an accredited program
GPA Requirement: A minimum cumulative undergraduate GPA of 3.0
Behavioral Science Courses: Undergraduate upper-division coursework in the behavioral sciences (6 hours)

Through the admissions process, you must complete the following steps:

Graduate Application
Transcripts
Recommendations
Statement of Purpose
Resumé
Background Check
Criminal-Record Release and Declaration
Personality Test
Interview

See the full description of the application process right here.

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