The Personal Choice for Your Professional Journey

The Marist College MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program will prepare you for your career as a professional counselor so that you can make a difference in the lives of children, adolescents, and adults. The Program provides both on campus and online courses, and professional field experiences in a variety of mental health settings. Students can complete the program in 2 years in a full-time, accelerated plan or through a more flexible and less time-intensive 3 year schedule. Marist's Program is fully accredited by the NY State Education Department and provides the knowledge and skills to become a NY Licensed Mental Health Counselor. Request a program brochure to learn more! Ready to begin? Start your application today!

Why You Should Choose the Marist College MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program:

Affordability and Financial Support

In the past 6 years, more than 95% of students qualified for Merit Scholarships of $3000-$5000, and about 35% of students were awarded a two-year graduate assistantship valued at $9000. Overall, the cost of tuition is moderate compared to other programs in NY.

A Path to Professional Employment

Over the past 3 years, about 85% of graduates succeeded in finding employment or entering a doctoral program within 3-4 months of graduation. 

Success with the NY Counselor Licensing Exam

The NY licensing exam is very difficult - only about 61% of individuals pass the exam on the first attempt.* The pass-rate of graduates of the Marist Counseling Program is very good - higher than that of the majority of other NY counseling programs.

*Based on NYS Education Dept. data for 2006-2012.

High Training Standards

Marist's Program standards exceed the NY State Licensure requirements and call for additional clinical coursework in:

• Family & couples counseling
• Crisis & trauma intervention
• Psychopharmacology
• Chemical dependency counseling
• Counselor supervision.

In addition to the required counseling courses, a number of advanced counseling electives allow students to choose training in specialized clinical areas such as:

• Grief Counseling
• College Mental Health Counseling
• Counseling the Seriously Mentally Ill
• Counseling Children & Adolescents.

Student-Faculty Research Opportunities for Students Preparing for Doctoral Applications

Counseling students (L to R) Melanie Desrosier, Amanda Krulle, Elizabeth Bruno, and Joseph Cook presented a research poster with Professor del Rosario (not pictured) at the April 2014 NY Mental Health Counselor Association (NYMHCA) Conference in Albany NY. Their research project was "Training issues in supervision: A literature review and survey of NY master's in mental health counseling programs." Marist College had the most graduate counseling students in attendance for the second NYMHCA conference in a row compared with other mental health counseling programs.

Success with Students Gaining Admission to Doctoral Programs

Graduates of our Program have gone on to Ph.D. and Psy.D. Programs in Counseling or Clinical Psychology at such prestigious programs as:

• Columbia University
• University at Buffalo
• Spalding University
• Palo Alto University
• Alliant International University

Wondering why our counseling students chose the Marist MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program over other programs?

Here's what they said were the most important reasons...

• Marist College's Reputation
• Affordability
• The Counseling Curriculum and Clinically-Experienced Faculty
• Small Class Sizes and Excellent Faculty: Student Ratio
• Location - in the beautiful Mid-Hudson Valley
• The Variety of Clinical Training Sites that includes: hospital mental health programs, community mental health agencies, college counseling centers, residential treatment programs, and substance abuse/mental health agencies.