Hi!! I just started my CMHC graduate program last week and I’m already overwhelmed with the balance of both having a GA position and completing my work. I just finished undergrad in May so i’m not new to reading or exams. But in undergraduate I would never take notes on the readings. Any recommendations on how to read for graduate school and if taking notes for each reading is necessary?
Wondering what the specific differences and limitations are for someone who wants to be a therapist between a MHC masters versus pursuing a masters in social work? I’ve read that there are more insurance and job opportunity benefits to the MSW, but I’m truly not as interested in SW as counseling from an education standpoint so I’m leaning towards MHC. I’m looking for specific pros and cons that I can consider.
By the way, I’m in NY if that makes a difference, but also might not stay here after school/licensure
Thanks! :)
I’m seriously considering going back to school in fall 2027 to get my masters in clinical mental health counseling. I have a bachelors degree in business administration from Ohio State.
I’ve always wanted to move to Miami, so I was looking into UM’s masters program and saw that they are MPCAC accredited. From my understanding, CACREP is the gold standard, but can someone in the field explain the difference to me? I’ve always known University of Miami to be a well-regarded school academically speaking, so I guess I’m a bit lost as to why their program wouldn’t be accredited by CACREP? Or maybe I’m misunderstanding and CACREP isn’t that important when considering programs?
I would really love if I could have the best of both worlds and move to city I love while getting the best education, but at the end of the day would prioritize the program over the city. Thanks for your help in advance!!!
Hi,
I've been accepted into these masters programs and am looking for any current or past student who can to share their experiences before I pick the school/program:
University of San Francisco - MA in Counseling Psychology, MFT Concentration
Antioch University Los Angeles - MA in Clinical Psychology
Azusa Pacific University - MA in Clinical Psychology MFT
For reference, I'm from Canada and will be an international student (I'll have family to stay with). I'm not religious but I don't mind attending a religious school as long as there is no mandatory religious curriculum or chapel attendance.
Thanks
Hi all! I recently graduated with my bachelors in psychology and I’m looking into grad schools that are online, CACREP accredited and affordable (under $30k). I got accepted into Walden (I’m a bit apprehensive about this school) and I was denied admission into UWA. I’m a bit discouraged by being denied admission into UWA because they have an extremely high acceptance rate and it isn’t a prestigious school. I’m not sure why I was denied, I submitted an outstanding portfolio (I may be biased). Any suggestions?
I was planning on attending an in person program for CMHC this fall. Unfortunately, due to the way things have shaken out it doesn’t look like I can afford to quit working full time yet. I am thinking of pivoting to an online part time program. My question is, if I do so, will it be extremely difficult to secure an internship in a group practice? I live in NYC.
I have been researching this for a week now, and I feel like I need some insight from current students, if there are any here who can chime in on this topic.
I live in the Bay Area, and about to start applying for master's programs in clinical counseling. Just finished my post-bacc in psychology in December. (I have another degree in something unrelated from my younger years)
I did a ton of research, and I fully understand that an in-person state school would be the best in terms of quality as well as cost.
I have been thinking a lot about my life situation and what would fit me. I genuinely would love to go to an in-person school. But I am 39, pregnant with twins, and I know that it won't be feasible for my situation to go in person. Which saddens me, as I know there are a lot of advantages to it. My husband is working, and we don't have any family or friends here ( we are both from Europe, and just moved to the area) who could help me out while I am going to classes. I understand that the practicum will anyway be in person, but by that time, the babies will be big enough that I am comfortable finding childcare. ( I prefer to spend time with them if I can in those early, crucial times; I know that is a luxury and a privilege in the US.)
But to me, there is the choice of doing it online or not doing the master's at all. So I started looking into online options.
I see that there are mostly terrible opinions about online counseling programs. But is there anyone who is actually going to one of these right now, or graduated and can give some insight on how their education held up? I have been looking at Alliant, Kaiser Permanente School of Allied Health Sciences, Palo Alto U., National, California Southerns Uni. in this order.
I do believe that it doesn't all depend on the school. But I want to be sure that there is nothing I am missing.
Thank you for the help!
Me again 😩, looks like my program requires professional liability insurance, which I knew I just put it in the back mind. With that being said any cost effective ones that are recommended for students? Thank
*The attached photos are the emails I am talking about that I received, it is not the retaliation part.
I’m aware that this might be more of a legal question but wondering if anyone has also been through this and/or has some advice. I’m a CMHC grad student currently in fieldwork and am set to graduate in April of next year. I have been in practicum since early May and really enjoy the site that I’m at. Sorry for the length but there’s lots of information that led up to this.
However, my school has not made this process easy and I think this might be a possible case of retaliation. There are 3 people involved at the site - let’s call them “K”, “F”, and “A”. When I got my offer, I was told that “K” would be my supervisor during the fieldwork experience. My school uses the site Tevera for us to log all of our hours and submit all the documents that need to be submitted. I put in “K”’s information and was told by my school shortly after that she could not be my supervisor because she hasn’t been a fully licensed LPC for at least 2 years (even though she’s other interns’ supervisors). I let the site know about this, and they said that “F” was going to be my supervisor for the majority of the internship. “F” was on maternity leave when I started and “A” was the covering supervisor. “F” communicated this to my school and the school told me to put “F” as the supervisor in Tevera as there can only be one site supervisor listed. There were documents that needed to be signed by the supervisor, as well as myself. I sign everything on time, but am still getting 0s in the class associated with practicum, because “F” isn’t signing the documents due to being on leave.
A few weeks ago, my instructor emailed me saying I missed 2 required live university supervisions, and to follow up with him. So I did, but was confused because I had only missed 1 due to a situation at work I had to be there for. He never clarified this, instead he sends me a list of all the assignments that are put in as 0s because there’s no supervisor signature. The assistant director of clinical training, not knowing I was still cc’d in the email, said to my instructor “just make sure she gets those 0s in the grade book. That might motivate her! Or not”. I responded to this a bit defensively but basically asking if this is what you do behind student’s backs and to take a look at what she’s missing before saying something like that about students. No response, probably bc she realized she got caught and is now pretending like it didn’t happen. I still keep trying to ask my instructor about what he said about 2 missed supervisions and he is denying that he ever said that.
There was some confusion about me receiving individual weekly supervision at my site, I wasn’t logging them bc I didn’t realize certain things could count as supervision. It has all been fixed as of now though. I get pulled into a meeting with my instructor, the other ACDT, and the DCT. I explained that “F” communicated with them about her maternity leave. They denied it. I also asked my instructor about the missed supervision because he STILL has not clarified to me about it. He goes “no no no no” and denies the whole thing, saying there was more to the email. The DCT, who I never met, asked where my responsibility is in this in a patronizing tone, implying that this was all my fault. I explain that yes maybe I could have reached out, but that their job is to support the students and that it’s unfair that all of the responsibility and blame is being put on us as we are still learning. I admit I raised my voice a bit out of frustration and said something like “I’m done trying to get through to you guys because it’s nothing but problems. So I’m leaving this meeting now” and logged off the zoom.
This past Wednesday, I got an email saying I had been placed on a Student Development Plan, which is basically the school’s version of a PIP at a job if that makes sense and that I need to sign it and it’s going into effect on Monday. The faculty put that I refused to take responsibility and accountability, was emotionally dysregulated, and that there were concerns about my ethical decision making, which are requirements that are assessed throughout the program. I didn’t violate ethics in any way. Of course they didn’t put all of the info that I put here that led up to this incident. They are making me meet with a mentor 4 times in the fall and I have to write a 3 page paper on how my decisions and my communication didn’t align with the ACA Code of Ethics and that how my meetings with my mentors changed that and how I have improved. They are acting like I screamed, threatened, and swore at them, but the worst thing I did was raise my voice just a little bit. I sent an email to all of them stating I was not going to sign anything until I get to share my side of the story with the committee in charge of SDPs. I have not received a response yet. And I don’t think I will. The thing is though, you will get disciplined and possibly dismissed from the program if you don’t comply. Even if the student doesn’t sign, it will go into effect.
My therapist thinks that I should threaten them with a lawyer. However I’m not sure a lawyer is going to take my case since nothing illegal is happening and there’s no money involved. I live in Connecticut and the school is based out of Chicago IL so idk if anything is different across state lines. I do want to take some sort of action though because this doesn’t seem fair and I’m not doing this bullshit paper on how I didn’t take responsibility even though THEY were the ones denying they ever sent the emails and deflecting everything I said. I think they’re just mad that I called them out on their mistakes and gave them any sort of criticism and they’re punishing me. Ugh is there something I’m missing?? They’re making me feel like I’m genuinely losing my mind. Please go easy on me if I’m missing something obvious.
So what’s everybody schedule on obtaining their hours like how many days a week are you contributing to your practicum hours, because I see most people complain about being burned out, but I honestly only plan on doing two days a week to earned my 100 hours for my practicum course, let me know your thoughts because my Course is 10 weeks long so I anticipate on completing my hundred hours at least by nine weeks and it’s not really 100 hours Direct you know there’s client hours supervision hours and I believe Group supervision with the faculty as well so I believe I can accomplish these doing two days a week, it will be community mental health office I’m not worried about the direct contact hours I’m pretty confident I will get those.
Hi all,
I’m currently on track to become an LPC and am about to start my practicum/internship in August. The population is mainly children/adolescents and the majority of issues I’ve been told is mainly depression, anxiety, and OCD.
If I’m being honest, I feel very lost and unconfident. I have no idea how I am actually going to run a session and what not. I feel like I don’t know anything and everything I have learned has just gone in one ear and out the other. I truly feel like I am going to blank and be a terrible intern/counselor.
Did anyone else ever feel this way and what advice do you have for me. What should I be studying and try to master with the last few weeks I have left?
I’m a counseling intern, and I feel that I am experiencing the results of significant burnout. My last semester is this Fall, but i’m having a hard time seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. Besides internship, I am juggling class and a lot of schoolwork plus working and other things I have on my plate. I have tried to eliminate as much as possible but there are things that I absolutely cannot get rid of. I also was going to counseling but due to my Internship and work schedule, I can’t fit it into my week at all without feeling even more stressed.
I want to be honest with my program director/professor and my site supervisor about how i’m feeling, but I am scared of being told I can’t continue the program or that they will think i’m not fit to be a counselor. I want to do what is most ethical for my clients more than anything, and I have really enjoyed my journey as a counselor in training.
I feel like I handle my caseload well and I enjoy sessions, but I feel the burnout when it comes to the documentation, training, and then the homework and hours of reading we have to do for classes
How can I bring this up to my supervisor and professor? Any suggestions for tackling burnout at this time and how to move forward?
Thank you🙂
Hello,
I just wanted to get some ideas on current students or alumni’s thoughts on The Chicago School online MFT program. I got accepted in addition to a few other programs and need to make a decision in the next month or so. I want to make sure I’m making the right decision, I really value student professor interaction and the ability to ask questions and have access to resources, especially since it’s online this is important to me. I also want to make sure they give students support in finding an internship. If anyone has any thoughts on these specifics or the program as a whole let me know!
I received an email saying that the program has decided that no students would be able to get higher than a “meet expectations” score until we enter practicum. They say this is developmentally appropriate, however this seems shady and unethical practice.
A lot of us students have gotten higher scores our first evaluation, so on paper, this actually marks us down without any evidence beyond a blanketed grade ceiling. When we read the scoring rubrics, it becomes glaringly obvious that our performance deserves a higher score and we are penalized for no reason. These scores apply not only to counseling skills (we all agree that we need improvements, but based on written feedback we received all throughout the class and the rubric, this is not appropriate) but to things like attendance and class engagement.
They are not raising the actual performance standards, as it seems no one is going to get a “concerning” evaluation (another shady thing) but it feels like a slap in the face to those of us who have done our best (and some of us who have had decades of professional experience) to be gaslit that we are only meeting the bare minimum.
This raises a big ethical red flag for me, and with a heavy heart, I’m considering withdrawing from the program. I want to ask here if this is standard practice?
Hi everyone,
How do you determine target schools for clinical mental health counseling? I'm finding it very hard to figure out which programs are reasonable for me to apply to/how many I should apply to to maximize my chances of an acceptance.
What is everyone's advice on Kean University for the masters program? Is there any better than Kean University if so bonus points if it's done online. Also for the masters program do they help with internships or is that something I need to find on my own? And advice is welcomed.
Hi everyone!
I’m here looking for a little advice. I am currently an attorney, but went to undergrad originally set on becoming a counselor/therapist. Well, I’ve been doing the law thing for about 6 years now, and I still have a longing to be a therapist.
I’m looking to maybe start classes next year, as I need time to save some cash and get things in order. But, I was wondering what your experiences have been like in school? What the field looks like job-opportunity-wise? Any regrets or things I should consider before making such a big change?
Thank you in advance!
I’m so glad I wasted 65 hours of my life this summer and a bunch of money to have to just redo it this fall.
Hello! I am a current masters student in CMHC and want to eventually get my PhD in CES. I want to apply to one specific school that is traditionally more competitive (R1) where tuition would be covered through a plethora of employment opportunities while attending. This may sound stubborn, but I am pretty set on this school and just want to keep applying even if it takes a couple years after graduation or licensure to get in.
I am currently part of three research projects, where the highest authorship I have is third author. I will certainly be contributing to more before my graduation (I am less than halfway through my program). I do not plan to start my own research project because of time constraints, internship, and many other things I am currently involved in that would prevent me from starting a project from scratch. I truly enjoy and care about the research I contribute to, and don’t want to rush research.
My main question: Do you think that only being the third author for multiple projects will be good enough to get into a CES program like the one I plan on applying for?
Additional information to consider: I currently have a 4.0 GPA, great leadership experience, TA experience, and I am also a student assistant.
hi I’m a student with a background in Linguistics (and psychology) that got offered a place in a Master of Natural Language Processing, I heard though that the job market wasn’t stable and this is making me doubt a lot.
Would you recommend working in that field or not? Is the job market as unstable as I heard? are long term employment possibilities available?
I know this is not the usual talk that you find here but I really needed someone’s "seasoned" opinion.
I also have an offer for a master in Human factors, and struggle to choose between the two, because ergonomics offers a more stable job market.
thank you so much.