The Benefits of a Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling

If you’re passionate about helping others thrive emotionally and mentally, a career in clinical mental health counseling can be your path to making a meaningful impact. With the right training, you can turn your compassion into a powerful force for healing and growth.

An online MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling degree program at an accredited university can bolster your knowledge, expertise, and critical thinking skills—and help you empower others to transform their lives.

Through a mix of research, practical applications, and coursework, Walden University’s CACREP-accredited MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program can prepare you to integrate knowledge and skills into a rewarding career as a professional counselor. Choose our General Program or one of eight specializations to develop your counseling skills and prepare for career advancement:

• Addiction Counseling – This specialization can prepare you to address the unique emotional challenges of individuals and families facing addiction, and help them find their way to hope and healing.
• Forensic Counseling – The legal and criminal justice systems continue to seek the expertise of forensic counselors to properly resolve cases and provide offenders with the most effective treatment. Through this specialization, you can build your knowledge of mental health law, with a specific focus on juvenile justice and delinquency.
• Marriage, Couple, and Family Counseling – Help strengthen families by working with them to resolve conflicts that can be the result of divorce, trauma, child rearing, and more.
• Military Families and Culture – Learn how to help families cope with and heal from the complex emotional challenges of military life, from prolonged separation and injuries to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
• Play Therapy – Through theoretical knowledge and practical skills, learn to use play as a therapeutic tool to help children and adolescents express their emotions and overcome challenges.
• Rehabilitation Counseling – Gain the skills and knowledge to empower individuals with a diverse range of disabilities, helping them overcome barriers and achieve their personal and professional goals.
• Telehealth Counseling, Private Practice, and Supervision – Create more pathways for your counseling career. In this specialization, you’ll develop telehealth skills to reach a wider range of clients, learn the essentials of establishing a thriving private practice, and gain the qualifications needed for a clinical supervision designation.
• Trauma and Crisis Counseling – From personal traumas to natural disasters, individuals and communities can benefit from the help of trained professionals when they’re at their most vulnerable. Develop the trauma and crisis counseling skills and theoretical foundation to help with the healing process at all levels.

Improving Others’ Emotional and Mental Health

Walden University’s CACREP-accredited MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) program can help you build confidence, learn current techniques, and earn the qualifications needed to help your clients. You can develop skills that help them cope with daily challenges, find solutions, harness their strengths, combat weaknesses, and, ultimately, overcome their greatest obstacles to assume more control over their lives.

The MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program explores the latest counseling theories, evidence-based research, and tools for preventing, diagnosing, and treating mental health disorders. In this program taught by dedicated faculty with extensive clinical practice experience, students develop competencies in diagnosis and assessment, human development, cultural diversity, evidence-based counseling techniques, group processes, and career counseling.

Why Choose Walden for Your Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling

The many benefits of choosing Walden’s master’s program include:

• Faculty Leaders in the Field – Learn from faculty members who are experienced scholar-practitioners and subject matter experts committed to supporting your growth as a counseling professional.
• Interactive Simulation and Case Studies – Practice using counseling skills and concepts through interactive simulations with your instructors and fellow students. You’ll also analyze real-world case studies and watch videos that reflect various scenarios you might encounter in your professional career.
• Supervised Field Work – Gain practical experience by applying your counseling skills in real-world settings under the guidance of experienced professionals. This supervised field work provides you with valuable feedback and support, ensuring that you develop the competencies needed to excel in your role as a clinical mental health counselor.
• Exceptional Support System – From day one, you'll be paired with a dedicated Student Success Advisor who will guide you through course planning, help you understand university policies, and support you in achieving your educational goals. Enjoy a variety of support services, including a digital library (with librarians available to assist with specific questions), 24/7 technical support, a writing center, and a career center. Additionally, the Office of Academic Support and Instructional Services (OASIS) offers resources like peer mentoring, tutoring, webinars, and self-paced tutorials to help you build essential academic skills like writing, research, and critical thinking.

If you want to broaden your skills as a counseling professional even further, consider Walden’s MS Dual Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and School Counseling program. Upon successful completion, you will have earned two degrees from accredited programs and you’ll be able to pursue licensure or certification as both a mental health counselor and a school counselor.

At Walden, you’ll do more than earn a degree—you’ll prepare to change lives. With a supportive learning environment, experienced faculty, and specializations that align with your passions, you’ll graduate ready to make a difference in the lives of individuals, couples, families, and communities. If you’re ready to take the next step toward becoming a licensed counselor, Walden’s MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) or MS Dual Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and School Counseling program can help you reach your goals with confidence.

Walden University, an accredited institution, supports working professionals in achieving their academic goals and making a greater impact in their professions and communities. Students from across the U.S. and around the world pursue certificates and bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees online at Walden.

Walden University is an accredited institution offering an MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling degree program online. Expand your career options and earn your degree in a convenient, flexible format that fits your busy life.

Note on Licensure
Walden University’s MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), a specialized accrediting body recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), which is a requirement for licensure in many states. The MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program is designed to prepare graduates to qualify to sit for licensing exams and to meet the academic licensure requirements of many state counseling boards. Because no graduate program can guarantee licensure upon graduation, we encourage students to consult the appropriate agency to determine specific requirements. For more information about licensure, students should visit the National Board for Certified Counselors at www.nbcc.org/stateboarddirectory or the American Association of State Counseling Boards at www.aascb.org, and contact the appropriate licensing body. International students are encouraged to identify and contact their appropriate licensing body. Learn more about professional licensure.

The MS in School Counseling program is accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), a specialized accrediting body recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), which may also be a requirement to become licensed or certified as a school counselor in some states. In addition, some states require school counselors to have an existing teaching license or certification, and teaching experience, in order to be eligible for a school counseling certification/license. Learn more about professional licensure.

Further, many states require school counseling programs to be approved in at least one state, either their own or another state. The MS in School Counseling program is approved by the states of Minnesota and Ohio, and while this approval is accepted by the majority of states that require state approval, it may not be accepted by all states.

Walden is not approved to offer the school counseling degree in Arkansas, Iowa, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Mexico, or Tennessee, so if you reside in one of these states, you will not be eligible for the dual degree.