Mental health care is one of the fastest growing fields in the US at the moment. Each year millions of people are diagnosed with mental illness, and most of them will need counseling or other treatment. To keep up with this need, mental health counseling programs are being offered by most major universities, as well as smaller schools that specialize in psychology and mental health.
When looking at mental health counseling programs, it is important to keep in mind that different states have different licensing requirements for mental health counselors. The program a prospective counselor chooses should meet the standards of licensure for the state he or she wishes to practice in.
Mental health counseling programs are masters programs, requiring a four year degree in a relevant field. Psychology is probably the most common undergraduate course of study for mental health counseling programs. However counseling programs have accepted students with a wide variety of backgrounds, including biology, pre-med, sociology and more.
There are a wide variety of specialties available in mental health counseling programs. Possible courses of study include addiction, family therapy, developmental psychology, cognitive behavior, marriage counseling, clinical counseling and much more. Some programs focus on one or two specialties in mental health, while others offer a range of options for students to choose from.
Counseling graduates have the option of continuing into a doctoral program, seeking work, or both. Mental health counselors often start out working in established mental health clinics and in time may set up their own independent practices. Graduates of mental health counseling programs have found work in a wide variety of fields related to mental health, including therapy, psychology, guidance counseling, research and much more.
People interested in mental health counseling programs would benefit from knowing their career goals when they start looking at programs, so they can pick one which will best prepare them for the work they will be seeking after graduation.
