What is the primary focus of the HCMHC program?
The program prepares students to become Holistic Clinical Mental Health
Counselors. Training focuses on working with the whole system. This includes:
teaching students about the helping relationship; human development; social
justice; working with diverse clients; client and counselor wellness; professional
counseling orientation; meaning making; counseling theory; assessment; group
counseling; working with couples and families; research; and career counseling.

What is a holistic approach?
We recognize that human beings are made up of body, mind, and spirit and that healing takes place when all aspects of the human experience are recognized and validated. The holistic graduate programs helps students learn and understand how to observe, evaluate, and incorporate the integration of body, mind, and spirit into their personal and professional lives. The program defines integration and wholeness as an essential expression of personal and system well-being, compassion, and social justice. We see the interconnectedness of organic systems. Holistic counselors in training are presented with the idea that personal and system wholeness depends upon connecting with the human community and with the natural world that supports it. In recognition of our interconnectedness, courses address approaches through the physical, emotional, and spiritual components. Emphasis is on wellness, with symptoms seen as calls toward self-realization and system wholeness.

Is this a CACREP accredited Program?
We are in the progress of applying for CACREP accreditation. Our curriculum is in alignment with all of the CACREP standards.

How long will the 60-credit program take?
This depends on the pace the student takes to finish the program. For students
who are going full time (3 classes each semester, with summer courses) the
program typically takes three years. For students going part-time or slower, it
will take longer.

What sort of positions are available to students who graduate with this degree?
You will be on track to sit for the licensing examination as an LMHC, so you get traditional credentialing and can work in agencies or in private practice. People with a counseling degree can also find work in a variety of other settings, including higher education, school systems, and non-profits.

What are my elective options?
Elective options are listed in the Graduate Catalogue and are discussed with
faculty and staff during advising.

How long are classes and how many times a week do classes meet?
Typically, they meet once a week from 6pm-8:30pm. Some courses are intensives that meet over the weekend.

Do you have any courses involving meditation, reiki, and other mind/body exercises?
We have a full semester course on the Body-Mind Connection. Meditation is interwoven into many of our courses and there is some attention to the role of mindfulness on the part of the counselor engaging in practice. Specific training in preparation for certification in these areas is outside the scope of our program, but all are recognized and welcomed as potential parts of the journey toward wellness.

What is clinical fieldwork?
Clinical fieldwork is your opportunity to work as a practicum and internship
student within the field. You will enroll in a weekly seminar course as well as
have field hours and supervision at an organization that provides mental health
counseling services.

Am I required to find my own internship or does the school have places for me to go to?
It is a shared process between the student and the department. We do have certain partnerships, and you also have some freedom to choose a location that suits you, provided it satisfies the requirements for an internship. Again, there are a few specifics that would depend on your requirements and that we would need to discuss.

Does the HCMHC program have a religious focus? Do I need to be Catholic?
Although this program is housed at Salve Regina University, a Sister of Mercy
school, we welcome students from all different religious traditions as well as
those who identify as agnostic, atheist, secular humanists, non-practicing, and
spiritual but not religious.