Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling (GRAD)
Division of Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling
Master of Science in Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling
The Division of Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling (CRMH) in the Department of Health Sciences offers a unique and challenging 60+ credit master of science degree in clinical rehabilitation counseling.
Graduates are eligible for national professional certification to become a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) or National Certified Counselor (NCC) and meet educational requirements for state license to practice in many states. Rehabilitation counselors use client centered approaches to prepare individuals with disabilities in attaining optimal function, including psychological, social, and vocational function in the context of their personal goals, abilities, and perception of quality of life. Rehabilitation counseling involves eliminating attitudinal and environmental barriers through use of counseling technology, advocacy, and support.
Mission of the Division
The mission of the Division of Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling (the “division”) is to serve the people of North Carolina by educating clinical rehabilitation counselors (“CRCs”) and clinical mental health counselors (“CMHCs”) with the knowledge and expertise to serve the state’s citizens with mental, behavioral, or neurodevelopmental disorders with an emphasis on those citizens who have psychiatric and/or developmental disabilities. The mission is based on the fundamental belief in the dignity and worth of all people, and in the rights of people with disabilities to live self-determined lives in inclusive communities of their choice. The CRCs and CMHCs will use the counseling relationship and their skills to work collaboratively with individuals to: (i) maximize functional capacity, productive and independent living skills, and quality of life; (ii) provide access to culturally sensitive and evidence-based counseling practices; and (iii) manage personalized services to support the unique needs and preferences of each individual, their family, and community. Fundamental to this effort is a focus on the whole person—their psychological, vocational, spiritual, and physical aspects—as well as family, social, work, and community relationships. Furthermore, the division is dedicated to inclusive practices, appreciating diversity, reducing health disparities, and serving marginalized and under-represented communities.
The division seeks to educate CRCs and CMHCs who possess the knowledge, skills and personal and professional qualities required to forge new models of community practice that address the diverse needs of individuals with disabilities now and in the future. In carrying out this mission, the faculty of the division has the obligation to acquire, discover, preserve, synthesize, and transmit knowledge, to serve as models of professional leadership, and to create a culture of educational excellence that will nurture students’ intellectual and ethical development. Students have the responsibility to fully engage in an educational process of research, free inquiry, and personal responsibility and to become foremost practitioners, scholars, researchers, and leaders in the professions of clinical rehabilitation counseling and mental health counseling.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is recognized, nationally and internationally, as a leading center of scholarship, research, and creative work with a mission to serve the people of North Carolina and the nation. The mission of the division is to contribute actively and substantively to this tradition.
Mission of the M.S. in Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling Program
The mission of the Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling master’s program at UNC is to develop professional counselors who have the knowledge, skills, and dispositions necessary to provide state-of-the-art services to culturally diverse individuals with physical, psychiatric, developmental, and/or intellectual disabilities in diverse settings (e.g., public vocational rehabilitation, high school and/or college, disability management, private-for-profit rehabilitation, assisted living facilities). The curriculum provides extensive training in evidence-based practices and service delivery models aimed at optimizing consumers’ functioning in major life areas (i.e., physical, vocational, educational, developmental, psychosocial, independent living). Counselors trained at UNC will serve individuals of transition age and beyond through developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive work. Graduates combine clinical rehabilitation counseling expertise with skills in individual, professional and systemic advocacy, leadership, consultation, and collaboration to assess consumer needs, goals, potential, resources, and barriers to empower and fully promote consumers’ quality of life, community inclusion, and personal fulfillment.
Objectives of the M.S. in Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling Program
Graduates of the CRC Master’s Program will:
- Learn and effectively apply current best practices in rehabilitation counseling within the continuum of care using a community-inclusion model.
- Accurately assess the rehabilitation counseling needs of people with disabilities and work in partnership with consumers, families, and affiliated agencies to provide the most appropriate rehabilitation services and supports needed.
- Acquire specific knowledge and skills to address the counseling and case management needs of people with disabilities with an emphasis on strategies and techniques for serving people with psychiatric and/or developmental disabilities; this includes assessing the impact of crisis and trauma, the impacts of biological and neurological mechanisms, and the effects of co-occurring disabilities.
- Demonstrate multicultural and social justice counseling competencies, including cultural humility practices.
- Work collaboratively with professionals as members of an interdisciplinary treatment team, family members, community providers, employers, and agency policy and decision makers to achieve optimal rehabilitation outcomes for people with disabilities.
- Engage in a process of lifelong learning, collaboration, collegiality, and ethical relationships as part of ongoing professional development as CRCs.
- Have the necessary leadership, business and management, and public policy skills to assume leadership roles; and
- Promote and support consumer empowerment and self-advocacy, with a focus on inclusion and removal of environmental, attitudinal, and individual barriers for individuals with disabilities.
MS in Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling Program
Requirements for Admission:
- A bachelor's degree transcript from an accredited college or university
- A pre-admission interview with the program faculty
- Eligibility to meet student requirements to participate in clinical training
- Minimum TOEFL or IELTS scores as required by the UNC Graduate School for any non-native English-speaking applicant.
- Three letters of reference
- Personal statement/statement of purpose
- Responses to five supplemental questions
We complete a holistic file review and consider academic success, experiences especially those relevant to working with people with disabilities, and how well a candidate's career interests and goals align with our program curriculum and clinical training opportunities.
Graduate-level Courses
CRMH 701 Foundations of Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling
3 Credits
The purpose of this course is to introduce the field of professional counseling, with a concentration on clinical rehabilitation counseling. This course focuses on clinical rehabilitation counseling history, philosophy, values, legislation, policy, and practice (models and methods of service delivery).
Rules & Requirements
Grading Status: Letter grade
CRMH 702 Theories of Counseling
3 Credits
An introduction to the traditional theories of individual and family counseling. Emphasis on application of theories to persons with disabilities, ethics, and multicultural awareness.
Rules & Requirements
Grading Status: Letter grade
CRMH 704 Medical & Psychosocial Aspects of Disabilities
3 Credits
Functional, psychological, vocational, familial, social, and sexual aspects of medical disabilities. Includes the human body system and medical terminology. Focus on assistive technology and functional capacity.
Rules & Requirements
Grading Status: Letter grade
CRMH 705 Ethical, Legal and Professional Issues in Counseling
3 credits
This course will assist students’ development of foundational knowledge of ethical, legal, and professional issues within the counseling profession, with a specific emphasis on clinical mental health counseling and clinical rehabilitation counseling practice. Students will learn to recognize ethical dilemmas and practice resolving them using ethical decision-making models.
Rules & Requirements
Grading Status: Letter grade
CRMH 706 Tests and Measurement in Clinical Rehabilitation & Mental Health Counseling
3 Credits
This course is an overview of the selection, administration, and interpretation of major assessment tools. Emphasis is on persons with mental illness or developmental disabilities.
Rules & Requirements
Grading Status: Letter grade
CRMH 709 Career Counseling & Development: Applications for Clinical Rehabilitation Counselors
3 Credits
This course will cover career development and counseling with emphasis on community integration in employment and leisure pursuits. This course will examine the world of work, life, career development, career decision-making theories, the process and techniques of career counseling and the interrelationship between career and life balance issues and mental health.
Rules & Requirements
Grading Status: Letter grade
CRMH 710 A Multicultural Perspective of Developmental Counseling through the Lifespan
3 Credits
A multicultural perspective of developmental theories and counseling through the lifespan will be covered with overall themes of positive development, resiliency, and healthy life transitions of persons with disabilities.
Rules & Requirements
Grading Status: Letter grade
CRMH 712 Fundamentals of CRMH Counseling Diagnosis & Practice with People with Psychiatric & Developmental Disabilities
3 Credits
An introduction to diagnosing clients with mental illness and developmental disabilities. Focus is on best practice treatment and the vocational, social, and familial implications of living with a DSM disorder.
Rules & Requirements: Prerequisites, CRMH 700 and 702.
Grading Status: Letter grade
CRMH 714 Principles of Group Counseling in Clinical Rehabilitation & Mental Health Counseling
3 Credits
Strategies and techniques in developing and implementing groups in counseling. Attention to group counseling with persons with disabilities, specifically those with mental illness and developmental disabilities.
Rules & Requirements
Grading Status: Letter grade
CRMH 718 Co-Occurring Disorders in Clinical Rehabilitation & Mental Health Counseling
3 Credits
This course covers counseling with those who have co-occurring psychiatric and developmental disorders with substance abuse.
Rules & Requirements
Grading Status: Letter grade
CRMH 800 Clinical Rehabilitation & Mental Health Counseling Research & Program Evaluations
3 Credits
Research methods, evidence-based practice, and ethical, legal, and cultural issues related to research and evaluation. Covers basic statistics, library research for rehabilitation-related information, proposal development, and grant writing.
Rules & Requirements: Prerequisites, CRMH 700 and 702
Grading Status: Letter grade
CRMH 802 Practicum in Clinical Rehabilitation & Mental Health Counseling
5 Credits
Required preparation, all rehabilitation counseling and psychology first year didactic courses. Direct experience with clients/patients in varied service delivery settings.
Rules & Requirements
Grading Status: Letter grade
CRMH 806 Applied Counseling Skills in Clinical Rehabilitation & Mental Health Counseling
5 Credits
Designed to teach foundational counseling skills that will enable students to begin counseling. Focus on counseling individuals with mental illness and developmental disabilities. Includes ethics and multicultural awareness.
Rules & Requirements
Grading Status: Letter grade
CRMH 811 Internship in Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling
10 Credits
Internship is a 640-hour (40 hours/week, 16 weeks) clinical experience designed to provide students with opportunities to apply theoretical and clinical skills in a clinical rehabilitation counseling setting.
Rules & Requirements
Grading Status: Letter grade
CRMH 816 Evidence-Based Counseling Practices with People with Developmental Disabilities
1-1/2 Credits
This course is designed to examine critical practice issues in the clinical rehabilitation and mental health counseling professions relevant to working with individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).
Rules & Requirements
Grading Status: Letter grade
CRMH 818 Evidence-Based Counseling Practices with People with Psychiatric Disabilities
1-1/2 Credits
This course prepares students for clinical practice with persons with psychiatric conditions and introduces the range of evidence-based practice and new, effective models for treating individuals with severe and persistent mental illness demonstrated through empirical evidence.
Rules & Requirements
Grading Status: Letter grade
CRMH 822 Marriage, Couple & Family Counseling in Clinical Rehabilitation & Mental Health Counseling Practice
3 Credits
Provides a general framework for understanding individuals with disabilities and chronic illnesses in the context of the family and related systems.
Rules & Requirements: Prerequisite, CRMH 702.
Grading Status: Letter grade.
CRMH 992 Master's (Non-Thesis)
3 Credits
Individual work by a student (supervised by faculty) to explore an area of interest in a research paper, program development, or a professional project.
Rules & Requirements: Repeat Rules: May be repeated for credit
CRMH 993 Master's Research and Thesis
3 Credits
Individual research supervised by a faculty member in a special field of study.
Rules & Requirements: Repeat Rules: May be repeated for credit.
CRMH 890 Special Topics in Clinical Rehabilitation & Mental Health Counseling
1-3 Credits
Faculty-mentored independent study to pursue specific interests and topics.
Rules & Requirements
Grading Status: Letter grade.
Professor
Eileen J. Burker, Ph.D., C.R.C., Quality of Life Associated with Heart and Lung Transplantation and Left Ventricular Device (LVAD) Surgery; Mental Health Aspects of Cardiac and Pulmonary Rehabilitation; Vocational Functioning in Individuals with Chronic Medical Conditions; Counseling Skills Development in Graduate Students in Counseling; Ethics in Counseling
Associate Professors
Dara Chan, Sc.D., C.R.C., Assistant Division Director, Admissions Chair, Career Counseling and Development for Adults with Developmental Disabilities; Community Participation and Integration of Adults with Autism Spectrum Disorder; Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Measures; Spatial Analysis of Environmental Accessibility and Resource Use
Eniko Rak, Ph.D., C.R.C., Program Coordinator-Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling Program, Life Transitions and Quality of Life Outcomes; Impact of Health Literacy and Self-Management Competencies on Well-Being; Professional Identity Development in Students in Counseling Programs
Assistant Professor
Blaise Morrison, Ph.D., C.R.C, P.C., Psychosocial Adjustment Counseling for Families Affected by Chronic Illness and Disability; Family Therapy Interventions for Adjusting to Life After TBI, Stroke, and SCI; Caregiver/CarePartner QOL; Interdisciplinary Psychosocial Research; Community Participation and Employment Outcomes in Individuals with Acquired Brain Injury; Psychiatric Rehabilitation; Family Functioning After Disability Onset
Clinical Assistant Professors
Terra Rose, Psy.D., L.P., LCMHC-QS., Assistant Practicum and Internship Coordinator, Supervision and Counseling Skill Development of Graduate Students; Evidence-Based Treatments for Individuals with Psychiatric Disabilities and Substance Use Disorders, Quality of Life Associated with Organ Failure and Transplant
Judy Schmidt, Ed.D., C.R.C., LCMHCA, Practicum and Internship Coordinator & Program Coordinator-Clinical Mental Health Counseling Program, Trauma Informed Care, Counselor Development and Training, Interprofessional Education and Practice in Counselor Training
Adjunct Faculty
W. Leigh Atherton, Ph.D., LCMHCS, LCAS, CRC, CCS, Substance Abuse, Dual Diagnosis and Motivational Interviewing
Alyse Bone, MS, LCMHC, CRC, RPT, Co-Occurring Developmental (ADHD, ASD, and LD) and Psychiatric Disabilities (Anxiety and Depression), Couples Counseling, and Spiritual Concerns in Counseling
Lee James, MS, LCMHC, CBT for Schizophrenia and Dual Diagnosis, Adjustment to Acquired Disability, Autism Spectrum Disorders, Emerging Adult Psychological Issues, Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Community Team Psychiatric Treatment Modalities
Harley Locklear, PhD (ABD), MA Ed, LCMHCA, NCC, LSC, Counselor Preparation and Queer Competence, Incorporation of Indigenous Cultural Practices and Ways of Knowing into the Counseling Setting, School-Based Mental Health
Corey Pitts, MA, LCMHC, LCAS, CCS, Treatment and Management of Co-Occurring Disorders, Including Experience in the Management of Trauma, Anxiety and Depression Related Disorders, Substance Use and Misuse, as well as Aspects of Self-Concept and Self-Esteem
Brianne Tomaszweski, PhD, Specializing in Examining and Promoting Functional Outcomes for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities
Katie Tompkins, M.S., C.R.C., LCMHC, Co-Occurring Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities and Psychiatric Disabilities, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Trauma-Focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Division of Clinical Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling
Visit Program Website
Director
Eileen J. Burker
Admissions Chair
Dr. Dara Chan
