Overview
Gail Begley , Interim Chair
The mental health counseling program’s mission is to deliver personalized instruction to a diverse student body regarding essential counseling knowledge and skills, as well as to facilitate the development and enhancement of personal qualities and characteristics necessary to become an outstanding professional mental health counselor.
Through Fisher’s mental health counseling program, you will become licensed to treat adults/children with emotional, mental, and physical challenges. The curriculum examines the psychological foundations of mental health and related developmental issues. The role of diagnostic assessment, including both its strengths and limitations, is a focal point of the program.
Courses offer you in-depth, practical insight into counseling areas such as:
- Professional identity
- Social and cultural diversity
- Human growth and development
- Helping relationships
- Career development
- Group work
- Research
- Program evaluation
- Evidence-based intervention skills
Two options exist within the program. You can earn either your master’s degree (60 credits) which can be obtained in two years of full-time study or 3.5 years part-time, or an advanced certificate in mental health counseling. The latter is ideal if you already possess a master's degree in counseling or a related discipline but wish to build upon your educational foundation in the field. Late afternoon and evening classes help you work toward your degree or certification with minimal interruption to your busy schedule.