Master of Science in Mental Health
Plan of Study
Two weeks of on campus study are required to complete two clinical courses. The remaining coursework is completed online. The clinical courses are taught during the first summer of the program over a two week period, and students must be present at UMass Dartmouth to complete this work. Typically, the clinical courses are held from the last week of June through the first week of July. Housing is available at a reasonable rate. (Housing information will be provided by the program upon request). The class will be a cohort of students from Massachusetts, other states, and international locations, and the program requires that all students in this cohort participate and follow the program of study exactly.
Summer - Year One
- COUNSL606 Ethical Standards and Professional Practices (online)
Credits: 3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Course Description: The purpose of this course is to create an awareness among counselors-in-training of their contribution in the therapeutic process and helping relationship. Topics include foundations for an ethical perspective; models for ethical decision making; ethical codes of professional organizations; client rights and counselor responsibilities; ethical concerns in multicultural counseling and with special client populations; ethical issues in specific modalities (i.e., group, marriage and family counseling).
- COUNSL614 Counseling Theory and Practice I (on campus)
Credits: 3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Course Description: The purpose of this course is to provide grounding in the commonalities of counseling techniques and practice in the use of various techniques. The course covers the essentials of interviewing, note taking, and report writing, and the role of diagnosis. Tapes and role playing are required.
- COUNSL616 Group Counseling and Group Dynamics (on campus)
Credits: 3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Course Description: An introduction to group dynamics which uses the group process of the class to provide experience of group membership and data for interpretation. Participation as a group member is required. Readings and lectures build a cognitive base for evaluating the experiential learning.
Prerequisite: COUNSL 615.
Fall - Year One
- COUNSL601 Research and Evaluation in Psychology
Credits: 3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Course Description: This course examines several research models and strategies with respect to their various rationales and methodologies. Relevant statistical topics are introduced conceptually, especially as they are applied in research about specific academic settings.
- COUNSL608 Abnormal Psychology
Credits: 3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Course Description: A comprehensive view of abnormal behavior in modern times. The course makes use of the revised DSM III classification systems of mental disorders and examines patterns of abnormal behavior including neuroses, psychosomatic conditions, psychosis including affective disorders, schizophrenias, abnormal behaviors of childhood and adolescence, sexual dysfunctions, and drug abuse. Brief coverage is also given to therapeutic treatments and their effectiveness.
- COUNSL653 Perspectives in Cross-Cultural Counseling
Credits: 3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Course Description: This course addresses the role of culture in counseling and psychology by looking both at history and at current issues. Discussions use an interdisciplinary framework to approach the question of counseling in a multicultural society. The course seeks to contribute to both the personal and the professional development of its participants.
Prerequisites: COUNSL 614 and 615 or 617.
Spring - Year One
- COUNSL604 Foundations of Mental Health Counseling
Credits: 3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Course Description: The intent of this course is to provide students with basic information on the principles and practices of mental health counseling. Topics include the history and philosophy of mental health counseling, professional identity, the roles of the mental health counselor, professional ethics, managed care, various contexts of practice and organizational structures, mandated clients, crisis intervention services, prevention, consultation, and an understanding of how diversity influences the practice of mental health counseling. Particular attention is given to the practice of mental health counseling in a range of such urban settings as homeless shelters and outpatient centers.
- COUNSL615 Counseling Theory and Practice II
Credits: 3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Course Description: This course is an extension of Counseling Theory and Practice I. Major theoretical approaches (dynamic, humanistic, behavioral) are considered. The course also involves the exploration of some non-traditional approaches, and the use of tape recordings, films, written records of interviews, and role playing.
Prerequisite: COUNSL 614.
- COUNSL672 Substance Abuse and the Family
Credits: 3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Course Description: This course focuses on families with members who are substance abusers, and the ways in which these families function. The course explores the methods and resources available for helping such families.
Prerequisite: COUNSL 614.
- COUNSL688 Practicum in Mental Health Counseling
Credits: 3 Sem Hrs, 3 Credits
Course Description: The track requires a 100 hour practicum in approved placement sites. In addition, students will attend an online seminar as well as participate in online chats in which their practicum experiences are examined in relation to current issues of concern in the field.
Summer - Year Two
- COUNSL602 Medical and Psychological Aspects of Disabilities or elective
Credits: 3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Course Description: The course is designed to offer students with little or no exposure to advanced life sciences the opportunity to examine the physiological and anatomical basis for many chronic diseases they will encounter in a rehabilitation counseling setting. Students examine the etiology, progress, and potential resolution of a wide range of disorders as well as the potential implications consequent on their disabilities.
- COUNSL613 Vocational Development and Career Information
Credits: 3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Course Description: The vocational development component of the course concentrates on the theories of Roe, Holland, Ginzberg, Super, and Tiedeman. The career information component, a major emphasis, directs the student to locate and use sources of educational-vocational information. These sources will include but not be limited to the Dictionary of Occupational Titles, the Occupational Outlook Handbook, the Guide to Occupational Exploration, information on local labor markets and on military careers, occupation-education information, college and vocational school guides and catalogues.
- COUNSL620 Clinical Application of Human Development
Credits: 3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Course Description: This course provides students with a comprehensive view of life span development from childhood through adulthood from several perspectives:
- the interaction of age with such factors as gender, cultural background, disabilities, and other significant issues which may be encountered at particular stages of life;
- how individuals at specific stages of cognitive development process information and experience;
- a structural approach to ego development; and
- a psychoanalytic concept of self psychology.
Fall - Year Two
- COUNSL605 Vocational, Educational, and Psychological Assessment
Credits: 3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Course Description: A survey of standardized tests used in assessing aptitudes, interests, and personality traits. The course covers technical and methodological principles and social, ethical, and legal implications of psychological testing.
- COUNSL622 Family Therapy Theories or elective
Credits: 3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Course Description: This course is focused on general concepts of systems theory and on theoretical frameworks that inform family therapy. Family therapy theories and interventions and the feasibility of family therapy will be discussed within a historical context. Students will be given the opportunity to integrate family therapy theories with their experiences and perceptions of their families-of-origin. The influence of culture, race, social class, and gender on families and family therapy theories will be highlighted. Experiential exercises and videotapes of therapy sessions will be used to demonstrate the impact of family therapy theories on client-family interactions and family therapy sessions.
Prerequisite: COUNSL 614 or 621.
- COUNSL698 Internship in Mental Health Counseling
Credits: 3 Sem Hrs, 6 Credits
Course Description: A 900-hour internship, divided evenly between two semesters, is also required. It will consist of supervised field experiences in schools. Students will also attend an online seminar as well as participate in online chats in which their internship experiences are examined in relation to current issues of concern in the field. Students will also be expected to provide sample audio/videotapes of counseling sessions.
Prerequisites: COUNSL 605, 607, 608, 614, and 615.
Spring - Year Two
- COUNSL674 Psychopharmacology
Credits: 3 Lect Hrs, 3 Credits
Course Description: This course considers the nature of alcohol and narcotics and the ways they affect addicts in mind and body before, during, and after treatment.
Prerequisites: COUNSL 614, and 670 or 672.
- COUNSL698 Internship in Mental Health Counseling
Credits: 3 Sem Hrs, 6 Credits
Course Description: A 900-hour internship, divided evenly between two semesters, is also required. It will consist of supervised field experiences in schools. Students will also attend an online seminar as well as participate in online chats in which their internship experiences are examined in relation to current issues of concern in the field. Students will also be expected to provide sample audio/videotapes of counseling sessions.
Prerequisites: COUNSL 605, 607, 608, 614, and 615.
