Clinical Mental Health Counseling

COU-501: Counseling Theories

Survey the history and development of major counseling theories, including linear and systemic models. Evaluate diverse approaches and establish a personal theoretical orientation through study, interaction, and research.

COU-502: Counseling Ethics & Issues

Learn the professional roles, legal standards, and ethical codes guiding the counseling profession. Examine common legal and ethical challenges and apply a decision-making model using the ACA (2014) and AAMFT (2015) Codes of Ethics.

COU-503: Introduction to Counseling/Professional Development

Examine the history and philosophy of counseling, systemic work, professional roles and responsibilities, supervision and consultation theories, and diverse practice settings. Address collaboration across individual, group, and organizational contexts. Establish a counseling model that reflects multicultural competence and a Christian worldview.

COU-521: Foundations of Marriage & Family Counseling

Gain a theoretical and practical foundation for counseling diverse couples and families using a systemic approach to assess, treat, and intervene effectively.

COU-525: Social & Cultural Foundations in Counseling

Discover key theories and dynamics involved in counseling across diverse cultural contexts. Emphasize cultural awareness, counselor bias, and the development of culturally sensitive practices. Address current research on race, ethnicity, class, gender, age, marital status, sexual orientation, and disability.

COU-602: Clinical Assessments

Understand the role of assessments in improving mental health services. Develop skills in selecting, administering, scoring, and interpreting psychological, educational, and vocational statistical tools. Apply assessment data to support diagnosis, guide treatment planning, and promote behavior change and client wellness.

COU-643: Trauma-Informed Advocacy & Crisis Intervention

Prepare to respond to a range of potentially traumatic events, including suicide, homicide, school violence, natural disasters, terrorism, and trafficking. Emphasize ethical guidelines, professional protocols, and immediate interventions that address the psychological impact of crisis from a counseling perspective across individual, family, and community settings.

COU-653: Addictions Counseling: Treatment & Intervention

Learn counseling theories, techniques, and ethical standards for treating addictive and compulsive disorders. Review evidence-based models that support recovery, healing, and change. Focus on treatment planning, documentation, crisis intervention, clinical supervision, and the impact of intrapersonal awareness on the counseling process.

COU-661: Psychopathology & Diagnosis

Examine the neurobiological and medical roots of mental health and addiction disorders, emphasizing accurate, culturally informed diagnosis using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5-TR) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD).

COU-662: Human Growth & Development

Trace human development across the lifespan through individual and family psychology. Analyze key developmental theories and examine factors that support or hinder flourishing within diverse cultural contexts.

COU-672: Treatment of Mental and Emotional Disorders

Create effective treatment plans and case conceptualizations, using trauma-informed and community-based strategies, while introducing common psychotropic medications for appropriate referrals.

COU-675: Technology-Assisted Counseling

Investigate best practices, ethical standards, and legal requirements for telemental health counseling. Review HIPAA-compliant technologies, emergency response protocols, and strategies for serving diverse individuals, couples, and families through digital platforms.

COU-680: Psychopharmacology & Neuroscience in Counseling

Analyze foundational neuroscience concepts, research, and practice issues related to psychopharmacology. Consider the psychological and physiological effects of medication in the treatment of mental disorders from a non-medical counseling perspective.

COU-700: Research Methodology

Apply foundational research designs used in counseling, including quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods. Address research ethics, statistical analysis, needs assessment, evidence-based practice, and program evaluation.

View all of the courses for your academic program.

Academic Catalog
Degree Planning Guide

Three-Day In-Person Residency

Strengthen your clinical skills and build meaningful connections during two immersive three-day, in-person residencies held throughout the program. These residencies offer valuable opportunities to:

• Engage with faculty and peers.
• Receive hands-on guidance.
• Grow professionally and personally.

Students will complete the first residency in conjunction with orientation before the start of the program. The second residency will occur mid-way through, in conjunction with the COU-610: Counseling Techniques course.

Michigan Counseling Licensure

The M.S. in clinical mental health counseling program at Cornerstone University is designed to meet the educational requirements for the state of Michigan for the limited license professional counselor credential (LLPC). In Michigan, the limited license is known as a provisional licensure. Four steps need to be completed before applicants can progress from the “limited” license (LLPC) to the “full” license (LPC). These requirements are completed after students earn their M.S. in clinical mental health counseling degree. They are as follows:

• Complete 3,000 hours working as a counselor.
• Attend supervision for at least 100 hours with an LPC who has completed the supervision requirements outlined by the state of Michigan.
• Pass the National Counselor Exam (NCE).
• Allow no less than two years and no more than ten years to pass before applying.

Please visit the Michigan Board of Counseling for more information regarding Michigan state licensure.

Marriage and Family Therapy Concentration

Prepare to counsel couples and families using a systemic, relational approach. Through this 15-credit hour program, you will focus on family assessment, communication patterns, and therapeutic interventions to address emotional and relational challenges and pursue licensure. Allows for Dual Licensure in Michigan.

• COU-520: Child and Adolescent Counseling – Explore developmental issues, strategies, theories, and methods for effectively counseling children and adolescents.
• COU-720: Advanced Marriage & Couples Therapy – Develop clinical skills in systemic assessment, treatment planning, and interventions for premarital, marital, and couples counseling, with an additional focus on human sexuality, sex therapy, and affair recovery.
• COU-730: Advanced Family Therapy: Assessment, Skills & Practice – Practical training with a focus on systemic family therapy theories, assessment, treatment planning, intervention and clinical skill development.
• COU-779: Internship III Lab – Taken alongside COU-788, this lab supports continued evaluation of clinical counseling skills through self-assessment and supervisor feedback during the final internship placement.
• COU-781: Internship IV Lab – Completed alongside COU-789, this lab supports continued development and evaluation of clinical counseling skills through self-assessment and supervisor feedback during the internship experience.
• COU-788: Internship III: Counseling Field Experience – Supervised clinical practice in professional settings, building competencies in interviewing, assessment, case conceptualization, and documentation with individuals, couples, families, and groups.
• COU-789: Internship IV: Counseling Field Experience – Engage in an extended supervised counseling experience within a professional setting. Strengthen skills in interviewing, clinical assessment, case conceptualization, and documentation while working with individuals, couples, families and groups. Clinical abilities are assessed through self-evaluation and supervisor feedback.