The Master of Clinical Mental Health Counseling program is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP).
An online Master of Clinical Mental Health Counseling at Grace College will explore the psychology and the social sciences. As you consider an array of online colleges for Clinical Mental Health Counseling near you in the Midwest, be assured that when you find your way to Grace, you will discover an accredited college for your Christian counseling degree online, taught with a biblical worldview. A Grace Online masters of counseling degree will help you make workable connections between behavior and relationship, preparing you to weigh questions and create conversation in a Christian college online context.
This program is for you if you are serious about creating an impact in a Counseling career and are looking to complete your graduate degree online. With a Masters in Counseling online, you will be trained to help guide and assist people with their personal troubles. This program is also committed to the professional and interpersonal development of the student, which is essential for effective counseling practice. Grace College and Theological Seminary have a rich history of offering graduate counseling degrees since 1995.
Future counselor, the way forward is Grace.
Students can complete the majority of their master’s degrees online while attending an annual seven-day residency on campus in scenic Winona Lake, Indiana.
You will have the opportunity to attend a week-long residency on the main campus of Grace College in Winona Lake, IN. The beautifully landscaped campus bustles with activity but also offers many quiet retreats. Numerous outdoor “friendship courts” provide seating areas, but students may also choose to enjoy a book under one of the many trees. Beautifully wooded walking trails inspire quiet reflection.
All online Master of Clinical Mental Health Counseling students are required to attend Residency each year they are enrolled and actively taking classes for the Online Counseling Degree program. Residency consists of counselor preparation and training, evaluation in skill development, and spiritual growth activities facilitated by online and residential faculty members. During Residency, faculty and students meet together for a period of intensive coursework as well as building personal and professional relationships with peers and faculty.
Online Admissions Counselor
Ph.D., LPC
Chair, Graduate Counseling Department, Professor of Graduate Counseling
In order to be considered for enrollment in one of the graduate programs at Grace, you must fulfill certain admission requirements. Below is a list of the requirements for the Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling program.
To begin classes in your preferred term, your admissions process must be completed by the deadline below.
FALL START
Classes begin in August
Admissions deadline: July 1
SPRING START
Classes begin in January
Admissions deadline: December 1
SUMMER START
Classes begin in May
Admissions deadline: April 1
We encourage you to begin the admissions process early to allow plenty of time to complete all required steps.
After all parts of your application have been completed and received in our enrollment office, your application will be reviewed by the Admissions Committee.
Transcript Request
Request official transcripts from the school where you obtained your degree. If you are currently working on your degree, you can submit an unofficial transcript for admission until term completion, at which time an official transcript is required. Transcripts should be sent to admissions@grace.edu.
Professional Reference
Fill out a Professional Reference Request form here. This reference cannot be a relative and should be completed by a recent (within the last three years) employer, instructor, or supervisor of one year or longer. A PDF version of the Professional Reference From is also available here.
Interview
Once you have completed steps 1-3 and your application pieces have been reviewed for the Masters in Counseling Online, you will be ready for an interview. This interview will take place with one of our faculty members. You will receive an email inviting you to schedule an interview. When all of the steps have been completed, you will be advised of the Admissions Committee’s decision. The Admissions Committee may request that you submit additional materials.
Clinical mental health counselors offer competently trained and experienced therapeutic guidance to individuals, couples, families, and groups who are dealing with issues that affect their mental health and well-being.
Clinical Mental health counselors can work in their own independent private practices or be employed in an agency or hospital setting as licensed professional counselors, marriage and family counselors, substance abuse counselors, clinical supervisors, crisis interventionalists, consultants, and more.
While you can begin a career in a counseling-related field (caseworkers, behavioral interventionalists, skills coach, etc.), the bachelor’s degree does not allow a person to become a licensed professional counselor. To practice counseling independently and use the title Licensed Professional Counselor or Licensed Mental Health Counselor, state laws require a graduate degree in counseling, passing a licensure exam, and post-graduate supervised experience.
The Clinical Mental Health Counseling master’s degree is a 60-credit-hour program targeted to accreditation standards. Depending on when a student begins, degree programs can be completed as quickly as 2-3 years. Scheduling is flexible, and some students choose a slower pace, factoring in their life responsibilities.
Degree completion will depend on when a student begins the program, due to prerequisites and class offerings. For students who enter in August, the fastest degree plan will take 8 semesters or 33 months. For students who enter in May, they can potentially complete the program in two years, or 6 semesters. For students who enter in January, the fastest degree plan is 7 semesters, or 2 ½ years. Regardless of when a student begins the program, there are 60 hours to complete, and some students choose to slow their pace to balance out the demands of other responsibilities. Advisors help students to evaluate their schedule of study and the best individual pace for completion.
Licensed professional counselors can earn on average between $70,000 – $82.000 annually. Many factors can influence salary, depending on licensure status, specialization, employers, and experience.
Students are required to attend an annual six-day summer residency each year that they are in the program. This will vary depending on the length of time that a student is enrolled in classes. Online Education assists students in locating housing during this week. Students have the option of staying in campus housing or area hotels. Remember to ask for the Grace rate!
Students are able to transfer a maximum of 12 credit hours of coursework into the MACMHC program. Transfer credit is defined as graduate level coursework that has been completed in a CACREP-accredited program. A student must earn at least a B or better in each course. Transferred courses must be taken within five years of the admission start at Grace. All transfer credit is approved by the department chair. Applicants will submit a course syllabus and transcript as part of the transfer credit review.
As a CACREP-accredited Clinical Mental Health Counseling program, Grace College meets most state educational requirements for licensure. However, a few states require additional educational experiences. Please see the link below for details on finding your state’s educational requirements.
See the State Licensure Requirements
Completion Rate
NCE / Licensure Pass Rate
CACREP Accredited
Applicants who are not seeking a degree but require additional or specific coursework to satisfy educational requirements related to state licensure may apply to the online Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) program as an Unclassified Student under the following conditions:
Unclassified students are eligible to take up to nine credits in the CMHC program.
Unclassified students are not eligible to take clinical courses in the CMHC program, including Counseling Skills, Group Counseling, Practicum, Internship, or Advanced Internship.
Unclassified students must submit a complete application for admission into the online CMHC program as per the graduate application process.
In all cases, unclassified student admission decisions will be based on the current enrollment numbers within the online CMHC program. Registration priority will be given to full-time online CMHC students.
For more information about applying to the Masters in Counseling Online as an unclassified student, please contact onlineadmissions@grace.edu or call 888-249-0533.
Upon acceptance, submit your $100 Enrollment Deposit to accept your offer of admission. Your $100 deposit will be credited to your student account. Welcome to the Grace College community!
Submit your deposit
*Please note: Acceptance is given pending the receipt of a clear background check for you, which Grace College will request. Once this is received, you will be officially enrolled in the program. Grace College will have a link emailed and texted to you for you to complete the background check requirement. It is free and takes less than 5 minutes to complete.
Deposit“The program is unifying because there are always disagreements in the world and in the field itself. But the Grace students and faculty are all unified through the faith element of this program.”
Jonathan Magee
2026 Graduate
