Clinical Mental Health Counseling
The LaGrange College Department of Sciences offers the Clinical Mental Health Counseling program. More information about that program is available in the Graduate Bulletin and is available at
https://www.lagrange.edu/academics/undergraduate/academic-bulletins.html.
Majors and Minors
Major Minor
Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health CounselingCourses
This course is designed to provide an overview of Clinical Mental Health Counseling, including a survey of theoretical foundations, research, diagnostics and practice. Topics also covered include role of the Clinical Mental Health Counselor, outreach to vulnerable client populations, preventative education, client advocacy, referral practices, and the facilitation of these practices in community mental health agencies and specialized settings.
This course is designed for students to explore major theorists involved in the development of major theoretical explanations of human nature and behavior. Students will also explore the impact of these theories on current practices in the counseling profession.
This course is designed to provide an overview of Clinical Mental Health Counseling, including a survey of theoretical foundations, research, diagnostics and practice. Topics also covered include role of the Clinical Mental Health Counselor, outreach to vulnerable client populations, preventative education, client advocacy, referral practices, and the facilitation of these practices in community mental health agencies and specialized settings.
This course is designed to provide students with the theories and skills used to facilitate counseling groups in mental health or community settings. Students will practice newly acquired skills in the classroom with other students and will also experience what is like to serve as a group member.
In this course, students will explore ethical standards and legal precedents that guide the professional counselor in making decisions related to the many issues that arise in practice. The primary focus of this course will be the most recent version of the Code of Ethics of the American Counseling Association.
This course will explore research and counseling approaches related to diverse populations, including issues related to ethnicity, gender, gender-identity, sexual orientation, age, and disabilities. Students will also explore factors involved in identity development within themselves and within individuals in the different populations studied.
This course will explore various theoretical frameworks for the understanding of human development from birth to late adulthood. Students will explore definitions of normal development and factors that may cause normal development to go awry.
This course will introduce students to career and vocational development and the issues that may arise or interfere with that process. Students will explore resources and instruments that may assist individuals in this developmental process.
Students in this course will explore techniques for collecting, organizing, and applying data from a variety of assessment instruments used to assist individuals in both self-understanding and the decision-making process.
This course is a one-term supervised counseling experience in a community or area site offering counseling service. Students will spend a minimum of 100 hours serving individuals and groups of individuals as well as participating in agency or site activities that include staffing, consulting, case conceptualizing, case management, and other tasks related to counseling that are assigned to them. Students will audio- and/or video-record sessions with individual clients. While counselors at the site will participate in the supervision of student counselors, the majority of supervision, both individual and group supervision, will be the responsibility of the faculty supervisor. Proof of current Liability Insurance is required at the beginning of this course.
This course will focus on techniques specific to various theories, such as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Brief Solution-Focused Therapy, and Motivational Interviewing. Students will practice new techniques in and outside of class with student partners. Sessions will be recorded for review in supervision sessions both individually and in groups.
This course will explore the classification system of mental disorders as defined by the most current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Students will learn criteria for categories of disorders as well as appropriate psychological and pharmacological modalities of treatment.
In this course, students will examine aspects of alcohol and other drug use disorders as well as other compulsive or obsessive behaviors, often referred to as process addictions, and learn skills for identifying and treating people with these issues. The course also addresses the role counselors can play in the prevention, treatment, and recovery process both with individuals and with groups.
This course focuses on the family as a system, how it affects individual family members, and how individual family members affect the system as a whole. Students will explore various family issues and their impact as well as the theories that attempt to explain family behavior and offer therapeutic interventions. Students will work to understand the impact that their own family system has had on them as individuals and the impact they have had on their families and other systems to which they may belong.
In this course, students will explore the impact of serious occurrences/events on the psychological and developmental well-being of individuals. The focus will be on the theories and techniques related to the processing and treatment of people in individual and group counseling settings.
This course is designed to provide an understanding of research methods, statistical analysis, needs assessment, and evaluation of practices and/or programs. In this course, students will design a quantitative study, gather data, interpret their findings, and apply findings to counseling and educational practices.
In this course students will examine mental health services and program management involving administration, finance, and budgeting in private and public agency settings. Students will also explore the processes of consultation, advocacy, and clinical supervision.
The introduction to internship experience is designed to introduce students to internship. Students will accrue between 600 and 1000 hours of internship over the course of 3 semesters. Students will serve both individuals and groups of individuals as they did during the practicum experience. Students will become more involved in the daily tasks of the clinical mental health counselor. Their individual supervision will be completed by a site supervisor; the faculty supervisor will be involved mainly in group supervision of student counselors.
The internships are designed to extend over three semesters and may occur at the same site both terms or occur at two different sites. Students will accumulate a total of 600 hours serving both individuals and groups of individuals as they did during the practicum experience. They will become more involved in the daily tasks of the clinical mental health counselor. Their individual supervision will be completed by a site supervisor; the faculty supervisor will be involved mainly in group supervision of student counselors. Proof of current Liability Insurance is required at the beginning of each of these courses.
The internships are designed to extend over three semesters and may occur at the same site both terms or occur at two different sites. Students will accumluate a total of 600 hours serving serving both individuals and groups of individuals as they did during the practicum experience. They will become more involved in the daily tasks of the clinical mental health counselor. Their individual supervision will be completed by a site supervisor; the faculty supervisor will be involved mainly in group supervision of student counselors. Proof of current Liability Insurance is required at the beginning of each of these courses.
