West Chester University Masters Degrees in Psychology

The M.A. program in General Psychology is designed primarily for those students who seek to improve their knowledge, skills and research experience in psychology in order to strengthen their educational background for application to doctoral programs. A strong focus on student research experience helps to prepare students for continuing graduate study at the doctoral level. The program may also prepare students for a range of occupations in business, government, and other non-academic research settings, as students learn critical thinking and data analysis skills that are attractive to both public and private research firms. A mentorship model, in which students are accepted into the program only with an established agreement with a faculty member, ensures that students are involved in a program of research from their first semester. Course work for the General Psychology program is designed around a core curriculum of statistics, research design, substantive areas of psychology, and a research-based thesis. Thus, students enrolled in this program are expected to develop an understanding of the fundamental areas of psychology, to acquire a high level of sophistication in statistics, experimental design, data analysis, psychological measurement, and quantitative methods, and to conduct research in a specialized area of study. The General Psychology M.A. program does not, however, provide clinical preparation. Students interested in a career that includes clinical preparation should consider the Clinical PsyD program.

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Professionals with an understanding of Industrial/Organizational Psychology principles continue to be in high demand in the workplace. West Chester University is excited to announce a new online certificate program in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. Students in the program can acquire business, leadership, and psychology skills to help them advance their career in management or human resources.

In the certificate program, individuals interested in the scientific study of employees and organizations will learn to apply psychology to the workplace, use research methods to solve problems, and improve quality of work life.

Students will explore topics such as workplace motivation and attitudes; employee selection, training, and evaluation; leadership, group and organizational behavior; organizational culture and change management; people analytics and human resource management. Graduates from this I/O certificate program can help drive positive change in organizations, motivate teams, increase employee productivity.

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The Industrial/Organizational (I/O) program is designed for students who plan careers in Human Resource areas of business, industry, government, or other organizations. The program also prepares students for doctoral training in I/O and related fields.

See the website for details: https://wcupa.edu/sciences-mathematics/psychology/ioConcentration.aspx

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The Department of Counselor Education offers a Master of Science degree program in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. The program meets the educational requirements for counselor licensure in all fifty states, as well as the Federal government requirements to work with veterans and individuals receiving Medicare or Medicaid. Completion of this program will also qualify graduates to immediately sit for the National Certified Counselor (NCC) examination. The clinical mental health program will effectively prepare graduates for a broad range of career possibilities, including working in community settings, hospitals, educational institutions, VA treatment centers, and private practice settings.

In preparation for employment, WCU's programs offer a vast number of field placement sites with experienced supervisors as well as professional field experience coordinators who offer assistance in securing the best placement options available.

Our faculty are counselling professionals with real-world experience bringing their teaching to life. Many have authored the textbooks used in our courses. Additionally, each candidate in the program has a full time faculty member advisor to help make the most of their graduate experience.

The Clinical Mental Health Counseling program prepares students to be effective mental health counselors and provides the educational requirements for counselor licensure, while earning an M.S. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. The 60-credit hour program consists of:

• core counseling courses,
• clinical mental health specialty courses and
• 700 hours of field work.

The comprehensive program results in a strong foundation for serving the mental health needs of the community.

Curriculum

The M.S. in Clinical Mental Health Counseling is a Full-Time Program which consists of four specific curricular elements: the 27 credit Common Core (6 credits of which will be provided by the Department of Professional and Secondary Education), 15 credits of CMHC specialty coursework, nine credits of elective coursework (that can be taken within the department or in other departments), and nine credits of field experience coursework. Each student is required to pass a comprehensive exam that requires the student to take the knowledge gained through coursework and apply it to a real world case scenario.

For more information about the modules taught on this course, please visit the website:

http://catalog.wcupa.edu/graduate/education-social-work/counselor-education/clinical-mental-health-counseling-ms/

Accreditation

The Clinical Mental Health Counselling program is not yet CACREP-accredited, as it was recently launched and cannot be accredited until a first cohort of students are prepared for graduation. However, the Department of Counsellor Education is currently preparing application for accreditation of the Clinical Mental Health Counselling program and will seek accreditation as soon as possible. All of our master's programs satisfy the core educational requirements for licensure as a Licensed Professional Counsellor (LPC) in Pennsylvania and most other states.

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