Clinical Mental Health Counseling

Mission of Lipscomb University Graduate Studies in Counseling

The mission for the Lipscomb University Graduate Studies in Counseling (GSC) is to provide an educational environment characterized by academic excellence, Christian faith, and cultural humility, where diverse students develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of professional counselors to serve various populations, especially those who are underserved and vulnerable in our community.

Graduate Studies in Counseling Program Objectives

 The GSC program promotes the following objectives:

1. Students will develop the knowledge to be ethically competent as professional counselors. 
2. Students will nurture and demonstrate dispositions identified as essential to the counseling profession (Honesty, Empathy, Relationships, and Diversity).
3. Students will demonstrate skills necessary to prevent, assess, diagnose, and treat mental health concerns with culturally responsive and developmentally appropriate counseling interventions.
4. Students will develop self-awareness, engage in personal and professional growth, and intentionally pursue wellness.
5. Students will develop knowledge and skills to engage in interprofessional collaboration and have opportunities for specialized learning in integrated behavioral health, play therapy, and substance addiction. 
6. Students will be representative of the demographic diversity of the Middle Tennessee community. 

For more information about accreditation, mission, goals and policies of the program, see our documentation.

When thinking of one’s profession, it is easy to focus on the knowledge and skills needed to do that career. However, we believe that being a counselor is not only something that you do as a career, but instead is something that you become; it is part of who you are in your core. Therefore, the character of a counselor is just as important as the knowledge and skills of a counselor. This belief is not unique to our program but is something valued by the American Counseling Association and CACREP. The GSC faculty has developed the HERD dispositions explained below to share our expectations for our graduate students’ character and behavior while in graduate school and as professional counselors. The HERD is unique to Lipscomb, whose mascot is the Bison. Bison do not roam alone but are always a part of the herd. Students and alumni are forever part of the Lipscomb Bison herd. 

Be Committed to the HERD: 

H - Honesty 

We strive for honesty in our professional and personal relationships and behaviors.  In being honest with ourselves, we strive to live and practice as our genuine selves. We value integrity and conscientiousness in interactions with ourselves and others and seek to conduct clinical practice with these values. From this place of honesty, genuineness, and conscientiousness flow ethical and professional behavior towards others, not only towards our clients but all humans.  Therefore, we strive to help others live in a place of genuineness, honesty, and integrity.

E - Empathy

We aim to develop empathy for others and ourselves in four ways: sustainable caring, emotional wellness, humanity, and humility. Sustainable caring includes maintaining healthy boundaries and practicing a consistent self-care routine. Emotional wellness means embracing a stance of self-compassion while striving for emotional stability. Humanity is our value of embracing an empathic understanding of the human experience informed by knowledge of human development. Humility is demonstrating a willingness to admit mistakes and misunderstandings and seek opportunities for growth and change. We strive to respond to all humans with empathy.

R - Relationships

We strive to develop interpersonal and interprofessional competence in relationships, while maintaining a sense of curiosity, remaining open and receptive to feedback, and valuing service. We believe the counseling process is a collaborative approach, and we desire to empower our clients by cultivating a solid therapeutic working alliance. We foster our practitioner growth through giving and receiving constructive feedback and nurturing interdisciplinary relationships through communication and cooperation. We seek to be aware of community mental health needs and seek opportunities to serve.

D - Diversity

We seek to foster, through awareness of self and others, a community of inclusion that is respectful of the dignity of the individual in the areas of age, gender, religion, ability, socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, culture, and sexual orientation. Moreover, we believe that maintaining the status quo is not enough. We are committed to improving lives through social justice efforts that advance equitable access to economic, political, and social rights and opportunities. With a foundation of awareness, respect, and social justice, we engage in advocacy that is aimed at deconstructing systems of oppression present in our community. 

During the second year of the program, students are required to complete one year of practicum and internship totaling 750 hours of supervised clinical experience; this experience helps the students develop their skills as counselors, preparing them for the counseling profession. After advising with the Clinical Director, students apply to local clinical sites, including community mental health centers, non-profit agencies, and university counseling centers. During the clinical experiences year, students present videos of themselves conducting real counseling sessions with clients for feedback from faculty supervisors and peers. Confidentiality of all client information is strictly maintained.

We've built our curriculum around the expectations for licensure and the requirements for accreditation. We are focused on training you to become competent, caring, confident, and committed professionals.

A foundational piece of our program is the Lipscomb Initiative for Behavioral Health Integration (LIBHI). The core mission is to facilitate the integration of mental health services into primary care health centers in the middle Tennessee area. Our goal is to be a catalyst for behavioral health innovations through training, research, advocacy, and practice. 

LIBHI was launched in 2017 by a $2.2 million dollar grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to train Clinical Mental Health Counseling students interning at health clinics treating people who are geographically isolated and economically or medically vulnerable.

One area of popular interest is how to foster the mental health and development of children and families. A great way to do that with children is through play therapy.

Play therapy is an empirically grounded therapeutic approach where clients use the natural medium of play and toys as tools to express themselves. As children's experiences and knowledge are often communicated through play, it becomes an important vehicle for them to know and accept themselves and others.

We are proud to offer a specialization in play therapy, a nine-hour training track structured to enable students to gain knowledge, personal experience, and practical application of play therapy and expressive arts techniques. This specialization does not require additional hours for the master's degree in clinical mental health counseling.

Learning about treating addiction through an addiction lens and a mental health lens creates a unique perspective and very marketable skills. Lipscomb is the only faith-based, CACREP accredited university in the south that offers this unique program.

Graduates of this track will complete the academic requirements to allow students to pursue two licenses in Tennessee: Licensed Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor (LADAC) and Licensed Professional Counselor with Mental Health Service Provider designation (LPC-MHSP). This unique perspective allows a counselors to simultaneously treat an addiction while also treating the underlying cause of the addiction. This program will provide you with coursework in theory, practice, and the treatment of addictions in addition to general counseling knowledge and skills, and will make you a highly marketable candidate in future employment endeavors. 

This specialization is provided in partnership with Cumberland Heights, a nationally recognized alcohol and drug treatment center located in Nashville, Tennessee. At Cumberland Heights, you will have the opportunity to choose from practicum experiences in the residential men's, women's, young men's, adolescent males' and family programs - as well as adult or adolescent intensive outpatient experiences. It is rare for a practicum site to be able to offer this range of choices.

With half a century of direct experience as one of the nation's top drug and alcohol addiction treatment centers, Cumberland Heights is perfectly positioned to help the next generation of licensed counselors and to assist with the instruction of Lipscomb University students who desire to pursue this important profession.

Clinical mental health counseling is the entirety of services provided by professionals, from intake interviews to psychological assessments, to help individuals navigate their life journey and overcome challenges.

To become a licensed counselor which allows you to legally provide counseling services, you must:

1. Obtain an undergraduate degree.
   
   While students often pursue a bachelor’s in psychology, there are many options for acceptable degrees.
2. Earn a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling.
   
   Coursework must cover necessary counseling skills and provide hands-on training. Lipscomb’s Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling meets these requirements. 
3. Complete clinical work
   
   Graduate students must complete the required number of clinical hours, including supervised clinical hours post-grad, to apply for a license. During the second year of Lipscomb’s program, students are required to complete one year of practicum and internship totaling 750 hours of supervised clinical experience. This training helps students develop their skills as counselors, preparing them for the counseling profession. 
   
   After advising with the Clinical Director, students apply to local clinical sites, including community mental health centers, non-profit agencies, and university counseling centers. During the clinical experiences year, students present videos of themselves conducting real counseling sessions with clients for feedback from faculty supervisors and peers. Confidentiality of all client information is strictly maintained. 
4. Pass examination and license application
   
   To enter the field of counseling, you must sit and pass any exams required by your state. Then, apply for a license. 
   
   Currently, Tennessee requires the successful completion of three examinations: National Counselor’s Exam (NCE), National Clinical Mental Health Counseling Exam (NCMHCE) and Tennessee State Jurisprudence Exam.