An online MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling degree from 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’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 five 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.
- 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).
- 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.
- 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 Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling 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 a distinguished 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 American Counseling Association (ACA) members—including an ACA past president—and are active in their fields. Some have contributed to your course textbooks.
- Interactive Simulation and Case Studies – Practice using counseling skills and concepts with teachers and other students. You will also analyze case studies and watch videos that reflect scenarios you might encounter in the field.
- Supervised Field Work – Apply your skills to counsel others under the supervision of experienced faculty.
- Exceptional Support System – Enjoy support every step of the way from our 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.
If you broaden your career as a counseling professional even further, you may wish to consider earning Walden’s MS Dual Degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling and School Counseling degree. Upon successful graduation, you will have earned two degrees from an accredited program and be able to pursue licensure or certification as both a mental health counselor and a school counselor.
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 all 50 states and from around the world pursue certificate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees online at Walden.
Explore Walden University's online MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. Earn your degree in a convenient, flexible format that fits your life and schedule.
Walden University’s MS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) as a mental health counseling program under the 2001 standards. CACREP is a specialized accrediting body recognized by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA), and CACREP accreditation 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. Walden Enrollment Specialists can provide guidance on licensure issues, however, it remains the individual’s responsibility to understand and comply with all state licensure requirements. Walden makes no representations or guarantee that completion of Walden coursework or programs will permit an individual to obtain state licensure.
MS in School Counseling: The MS in School Counseling program is offered by Walden University, an institution accredited by the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP), which is a requirement to practice as a school counselor in some states. The MS in School Counseling program meets the standards for school counseling licensure or certification and is a state-approved program in Minnesota and Ohio. 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 which 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.