Clinical Instruction in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC)

(A full description of Clinical Instruction can be found in Section III Professional Practice).

For students in the CMHC program, clinical instruction occurs in COUN 690 Practicum Seminar and COUN 693 (one term) or COUN 694/695 (two terms) Internship. COUN 690 Practicum requires 120 hours of supervised experience in a clinical mental health setting including a minimum of 40 direct service clock hours. In this course students receive weekly one and a half hour group supervision with a faculty member, one hour each week of on-campus individual supervision with a faculty member and one hour each week of supervision from the site supervisor. COUN 693 (one term) or 694/695 (two term) Internship occurs in a clinical mental health setting and requires a total of 600 hours including 240 direct service clock hours including a minimum of 10 hours of group counseling. For students in the Substance Abuse and Addiction specialization at least 300 of the 600 clock hours must occur in an addiction-related treatment setting. In this course students receive weekly one and a half hour group supervision with a faculty member and one hour each week of supervision from a site supervisor.

Practicum Seminar (COUN 690) and Internship (COUN 693 or 694/695) provide students the opportunity to acquire specific experiences, knowledge, and skills that are endemic to the clinical mental health setting in which the students have chosen to function.  Within these two courses, students develop appropriate skills unique to the particular setting and learn about the resources available for gaining information and developing skills uniquely applicable to the particular work setting.

In these clinical courses  students are required to explore the organizational and administrative structures of clinical mental health  agencies as well as their staffing patterns, typical physical facilities, employment and evaluation procedures, operational resources, provisions for continuing professional development, and relationships among the various counseling and helping services within the system. Furthermore, students choosing the Substance Abuse and Addiction specialization explore the above parameters unique to addiction treatment settings.

The College of New Jersey is located near Trenton, the capital city of New Jersey.  Numerous social service agencies, mental health clinics, substance abuse and addiction treatment centers, hospitals and college and university counseling centers are located in the Greater Trenton area.  Therefore, students in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program can choose from a wide variety of settings to engage in supervised counseling experiences as interns.  Students identify and arrange placements in clinical settings in theTrenton region that will prepare them for the type of work they plan to do after the completion of their master’s degree. 

Students are given the opportunity to begin the counseling practicum at the novice level and move along to a capstone experience of working in the identical capacity as their practicum/internship field supervisors.  This is achieved by exposing the student intern to all of the myriad elements in counseling a client, group or family from the initial intake/consultation to the final therapy termination session. As part of the clinical instruction students must demonstrate increasing developmental appropriate competencies in the full range of counselor skills and practices including: individual and group counseling skills; advocacy and consultation; the ability to work with diverse populations; assessment of client concerns, diagnosis and development and implementation of treatment plans; and, designing effective programs utilizing effective  research and evaluation practices. Students selecting the Substance Abuse and Addiction specialization also develop skills in providing effective counseling practices  to substance abusing and chemical dependency clients in inpatient, outpatient, detoxification, and rehabilitation types of programs.