Earn Your Clinical Mental Health Counseling Master’s Degree
Prepare for a rewarding career helping individuals, groups, and families navigate mental health challenges with Lindenwood University’s MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling in St. Charles, Missouri – available fully online or on campus. This flexible graduate program equips you with the comprehensive training and clinical experience needed to make a meaningful impact in a wide range of professional mental health settings.
Develop a strong foundation in psychological theory while gaining extensive hands-on practice in essential counseling skills. Through coursework grounded in evidence-based therapeutic techniques and real-world application – including cognitive-behavioral therapy, family systems, and trauma-informed care – you’ll build the expertise needed to assess, diagnose, and treat diverse populations with varying mental health needs.
Whether you choose on-campus or distance learning, Lindenwood’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling master’s program provides the advanced knowledge, supervised practicum and internship training, and practical experience required to become a confident and effective mental health professional. Graduates emerge prepared to support individuals, couples, families, and groups across many clinical and community environments.
100%
Online
2-3 Yrs
Program Length
60
Credit Hours
$584
Cost per Credit
What You’ll Learn
Students in Lindenwood’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling, MA program develop a broad base of psychological theory integrated with intensive training in counseling skills, assessment, diagnosis, and treatment planning for diverse populations. Further your expertise in key aspects of counseling through core courses like:
- Foundations of Clinical Mental Health Counseling
- Family Counseling
- Personality Theories and Psychopathology
Course Spotlight
IPC 55200 – Counseling Skills Lab
This course consists of experiential integration of theoretical material and counseling skills to enable the counselor to understand the client’s problems more fully and accurately and to intervene effectively.
Essential Skills & Insights
- Mastery of core counseling skills: active listening, rapport building, assessment, diagnosis, and evidence-based treatment planning.
- Deep understanding of human behavior across the lifespan, including psychopathology, cultural influences, trauma response, and factors that shape mental health.
- Professional readiness for clinical practice, gained through supervised practicum and internship experiences that build confidence in real-world counseling, crisis intervention, and ethical decision-making.
Tuition Details
The cost per credit hour for this program is $584. Besides being ranked No. 17 on Niche.com’s list of Best Value Colleges in Missouri, we build in unique benefits such as our 20 percent discount per credit hour for returning alumni pursuing their master’s degree.
Admissions Requirements
- Evidence of an earned bachelor’s degree
- All undergraduate and graduate transcripts
- Completed application to Graduate Admissions
- Current résumé
- Achieved a minimum of 3.0 cumulative GPA in the highest degree earned and earned a minimum 3.0 during any graduate coursework
- Three professional references (contact information)
- Completed writing sample in response to department prompts assessing counselor program readiness and earned with a minimum score of 12 or higher on the CMHC writing sample rubric
- CMHC core faculty and the Department Head review the completed applications once received from Admissions. Each core faculty will evaluate the writing sample, based on the CMHC writing sample rubric. If there is a tie, the Department Head will discuss and review the application in its entirety with the faculty, and make an admission determination. Faculty will consider all application pieces when making a decision regarding admission to the CMHC Program.
Transfer Credits
Lindenwood offers a generous transfer policy of up to 9 credits toward your degree completion to further offset tuition costs. This means you can complete your degree in as few as 21 credit hours at Lindenwood—saving you time and money on your education!
Plus, you can personalize your transfer experience through Lindenwood’s Transfer Guides. These guides are part of our articulation partnerships with area community college to help you get the most value from your transfer credit.
We are committed to helping you succeed.
Throughout each step of your online degree program, you will receive support. From enrollment and tuition planning to staying on the right track, your support team is there to ensure your success.