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Overview
The Certificate of Advanced Study in Mental Health Counseling is a part-time program designed for individuals who have already earned master’s degrees in counseling and either majored in school counseling or did not fulfill the eligibility requirements for the mental health license.
This includes master’s degrees in school counseling, school psychology, community- agency counseling, and college counseling/college student development, older general counseling degrees, applied psychology with a counseling specialization, and human services with a counseling specialization. It does not include master’s degrees in general psychology, experimental psychology, social work, human development, or human services without a counseling specialization. Licensure regulations are very specific in requiring a master’s degree in counseling.
The CAS is an 18 graduate credit program consisting of four 3-credit classroom-based courses and two 3-credit internship courses spanning three semesters. All courses and internship requirements are designed to meet the defined training requirements for the Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) credential in New York State. As an approved program, individuals who successfully earn the CAS have completed the degree requirements that make them eligible for the LMHC.
Mental health counselors must have a critical body of knowledge and set of skills in order to help clients function effectively in their lives. To achieve this goal, the program requires that students who enter the program have successfully completed a master’s degree in counseling that includes the following foundation areas: human growth and development; social and cultural foundations; the nature of helping relationships; group theory and group process; family counseling skills; career and lifestyle development; appraisal, research and program evaluation; ethics, professional standards, and credentialing; and professional issues. The CAS program then supplements these basic foundations with course work specific to the mental health setting. Finally, each student is required complete an internship experience to ensure that students are able to apply the skills and knowledge they have learned, as well as meet the NYS regulations for the LMHC.