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MSCMHC Field Placement

To become an effective clinical mental health counselor, you must be able to apply the theories and concepts you are learning in the classroom to real-life scenarios. Field placement provides you with an opportunity to shape your future and gain hands-on experience. With more than 100 field sites available, our dedicated Director of Field Placement identifies suitable locations where you can gain supervised experience from an on-site supervisor and a Monmouth professor.

The field placement experience is a required component of the Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program, Council for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), as well as the State of New Jersey.

According to CACREP guidelines, counselors in training should have the following opportunities through their field placement experiences:

  • Experience in individual and group interactions
  • Opportunities for students to counsel clients representative of the ethnic, lifestyle, and demographic diversity of their community
  • Involvement in a variety of professional activities in addition to direct service work
  • Use of a variety of professional resources such as measurement instruments, computers, print and non-print media, professional literature, and research
  • Application of the ethical code and guidelines of the American Counseling Association (ACA)
  • Extensive supervision supported by observational and communications technologies

There are three important outcomes of a successful field placement experience for the student:

  • It gives the student the opportunity to integrate and apply the fundamentals of the profession under the direction of qualified supervisors.
  • It forms the basis for the transition from the student role to the role of the professional counselor.
  • It shapes future employment by developing skills in working with particular client populations, in particular counseling modalities, and/or with particular presenting problems. The Director of Field Placement will assist all participating students through these experiences.