Master of Arts in Counseling
The MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) is appropriate for students who want to become Licensed Professional Counselors (LPC). The CMHC program requires students to complete 60 semester credit hours taken in a prescribed sequence. Course descriptions may be viewed by choosing the 'Curriculum' tab at the top of this page.
Students must maintain a 3.0 GPA or higher to continue in the program. Students are continuously evaluated on their knowledge, skills, and professional dispositional competencies, in addition to grades. Prior to working with the public in a fieldwork setting, students must earn a positive candidacy vote by the faculty, which considers the student's performance across competencies and coursework. All students must also earn a passing score on the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination (CPCE) and complete fieldwork training in actual school settings for three semesters, after completing foundational their didactic coursework. Students must be enrolled in the university when taking the comprehensive examination and when applying for graduation.
In their final course sequence, all students complete 9 credit hours of supervised practice. The first semester of supervised practice is completed under faculty supervision in the Jack Staggs Counseling Clinics in Huntsville (rural) and/or The Woodlands Center (Houston metro), providing free counseling to community members. The last two semesters of the program require students to work approximately 20-25 hours a week at one of the approved community-based clinical counseling internship sites with clients in the field.
Students may choose to gain additional training and specialization through the department's Center for Play Therapy, earning a Graduate Certificate in Play Therapy and/or the department's Center for Training and Education in Trauma, earning a Graduate Certificate in Trauma and Loss. CMHC students may also choose to add a Graduate Certificate to their plan of study in Marriage, Couples, and Family Counseling.
CMHC Program - Accreditation
The M.A. in Counseling holds current CACREP accreditation through October 31, 2031.
Click here to see the value of attending a CACREP-accredited program.
CMHC Program - Preparation for Licensed Professional Counselor
Students completing the Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) program will have the academic and clinical experience requirements needed to apply for a Licensed Professional Counselor-Associate (LPC-Associate) in the state of Texas.
Upon review of state licensure requirements in all 50 states, the department of counselor education (DCE) determined that the M.A. Counseling degree meets the educational requirements for licensure as an entry level counselor in the following states, at the time of publication of the catalog. However, students should be aware that state legislatures may change or update licensing requirements throughout the year and are advised to verify licensing requirements at the time of graduation to ensure they have met all requirements.
Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana,
Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Minnesota,
Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina,
North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota,
Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and Washington D.C.
If students choose to take for their elective: COUN 6337 Counseling for Sexual Issues, their degree requirements should also meet the licensure expectations for an entry level licensed counselor in the state of Florida.
Further, although standards are met for entry level licensure in California, graduate should know that they will have additional continuing education requirements to complete prior to moving to independent licensure int he state, however, our understanding is that these may be completed concurrently with post-graduate supervised practice hours.
In Texas, entry-level post-graduate counselors are licensed as LPC-Associates, and they are qualified to work under supervision in a variety of mental health settings, including private practice, non-profit counseling agencies, hospitals, correctional settings, college counseling centers, and substance-abuse treatment centers, among others.
Doctoral Preparation Pathway
Once admitted into the CMHC program, students can apply to the Doctoral Preparation Pathway. This pathway is designed for CMHC students who intend to pursue the CACREP accredited Doctorate of Philosophy in Counselor Education at SHSU. In addition to meeting all requirements of the CMHC master's degree, students engage in enhanced preparation aligned with doctoral-level expectations, including advanced research literacy, scholarly writing, critical analysis, and leadership foundations. Students in the doctoral preparation pathway must complete all required master's level coursework and clinical experiences, be awarded the M.A. in CMHC, and apply and be accepted to the doctoral program by the counselor education faculty, prior to enrolling in any doctoral-level coursework. However, this pathway will prepare students for success in a doctoral program, which will enhance the student's application.
Additional information: Reference the Program Landing Page for additional information, such as cost, delivery format, contact information, or to schedule a visit.
Applications for entrance into the Master of Arts in Counseling (CMHC) are accepted for Fall and Spring admission. See program landing page for application deadlines. Applicants seeking admission to the Master of Arts in Counseling (CMHC) must submit the following items directly to the Office of Graduate Admissions through their Self-Service Portal, which will be activated after submitting your application through Apply Texas:
- Graduate Application
- Application fee
- Official transcript from undergraduate institution conferring the undergraduate degree
- Two Reference Forms:
- one reference form provided by a former or current employer or professor
- one reference form provided by a professional acquaintance but cannot be a family member or an applicant's personal medical or behavioral health provider
- Personal Statement that addresses identified prompts
The Counselor Education master's admissions committee considers all applications through a holistic review process. After reviewing the pool of applicants, the master's admissions committee recommends the top candidates for interview process. Applicants invited for the interview are given specific guidelines for the process with the invitation.
| Code | Title | Hours |
|---|---|---|
| Master of Arts in Counseling - Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program (CACREP Accredited) | ||
| Specified Courses | ||
| COUN 5011 | Counseling Profession & Ethics | 3 |
| COUN 5334 | Diagnostics and Intervention in Counseling | 3 |
| COUN 5336 | Advanced Behavior Pharmacology | 3 |
| COUN 5364 | Theories Of Counseling | 3 |
| COUN 5370 | Career Counseling Across Lifespan | 3 |
| COUN 5379 | Methods Of Research | 3 |
| COUN 5385 | Pre-Practicum: Techniques Of Counseling | 3 |
| COUN 5392 | Cross Cultural Issues In Counseling | 3 |
| COUN 5393 | Administrative Clinical Mental Health Services | 3 |
| COUN 5394 | Crisis and Trauma Counseling | 3 |
| COUN 5397 | Human Growth & Development Across the Lifespan | 3 |
| COUN 6332 | Theories: Marriage, Couples, and Family Counseling | 3 |
| COUN 6350 | Counselor Ethics: Management, Law, and Practice | 3 |
| COUN 6363 | Assessment in Guidance and Counseling | 3 |
| COUN 6364 | Counseling For Addictions | 3 |
| COUN 6374 | Group Counseling | 3 |
| COUN 6376 | Supervised Practice In Counseling | 3 |
| COUN 6386 | Internship (First Semester) 1 | 3 |
| COUN 6386 | Internship (Second consecutive semester) 1 | 3 |
| Restricted Electives | ||
| Select one of the following: | 3 | |
| Child & Adolescent Counseling | ||
| Sandtray Therapy | ||
| Play Therapy Basics | ||
| Techniques Of Couples Counseling | ||
| Counseling For Sexual Concerns | ||
| Techniques of Family Counseling | ||
| Advanced Grief and Crisis Counseling | ||
| Neuroscience of Counseling | ||
| Complex Traumatic Stress in Counseling | ||
| Total Hours | 60 | |
- 1
COUN 6386 is taken twice for a minimum of six hours.
The Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) marketable skills initiative is part of the state’s 60x30TX plan and was designed to help students articulate their skills to employers. Marketable skills are those skills valued by employers and/or graduate programs that can be applied in a variety of work or education settings and may include interpersonal, cognitive, and applied skill areas.
The MA in Counseling is designed to provide graduates with the following marketable skills:
- Higher-order thinking.
- Oral and written communication.
- Professional conduct and ethical behavior.
- Multicultural and diversity competencies.
- Self-awareness of inter/intrapersonal relationships.
- Ability to apply counseling and development knowledge to professional practice in individual, group, couples, and family settings across the lifespan.
- Assessment skills: mental status exams, clinical interviewing, suicide assessment, threat assessment, diagnostic assessment.
- Use of Electronic Health Records to document biopsychosocial assessments, treatment plans, progress notes, and discharge summaries.
- Screening, assessment, and treatment of addictive disorders.
- Critically evaluate research, choose, and implement research-informed practices with diverse client needs.
- Mental health practice and agency management skills.
