The early part of the program is largely generic in nature and is concerned with the development of knowledge and skills in the areas of individual and group counseling, consultation, preventive mental health, education-vocational development, client appraisal, systems intervention, and program organization and evaluation. The latter part of the program is more differentiated towards the practice of mental health counseling. Independent study courses are available to allow students to pursue specialized interests and needs.

The prospective student should be advised that a substantial amount of time is spent in fieldwork to meet practicum and internship requirements. The practicum requirement is the equivalent of 25 hours per week spent in a field placement during one academic semester (for a total of 400 hours). The internship is the equivalent of a full-time position (five days per week) for the period of one academic semester (for a total of 600 hours). Since many of the field experience sites provide evening and weekend programs, in addition to those offered during business hours, students may be able to maintain part-time employment.