The Clinical Counseling curriculum is designed to prepare you to deliver clinical service upon graduation. Our students receive training in the identification and treatment of a broad range of mental and nervous disorders. A variety of assessment and intervention approaches are covered with an emphasis on empirically supported techniques.

Our graduates are well-prepared clinicians and consumers of the research literature. The training ensures the development of broad-based clinical skills and encourages close, cooperative work with other healthcare specialists such as physicians, other mental health professionals and allied health professionals. Graduates meet the educational requirements for licensure as a professional counselor in Illinois and many, if not all, other states.

Students who wish to improve their chances of admission to doctoral programs in psychology may wish to pursue the Research Track in the Clinical Counseling program. This course of study provides additional experiences in research-related coursework and application of research skills in addition to the clinical service delivery curriculum.

what do graduates do with this degree?

Graduates typically work in community mental health centers, hospitals, correctional facilities, private practices and other outpatient mental health facilities. About 20 percent of graduates pursue doctoral level studies, usually in clinical psychology.

Almost all of our graduates find employment immediately upon graduation and a high percentage of our graduates, more than 96 percent, pass the National Counselor Examination on the first attempt. This is the examination used by most licensure boards for entry-level licensure as a professional counselor.

how this program is different

• License-eligible curriculum
• Empirically supported curriculum
• Small cohort size and individual attention
• Clinical experiences in first and second years