Mental Health and Wellness

Adding this licensure to your eligible degree prepares candidates in advanced knowledge and skills to become leaders and practitioners in the field of professional counseling/psychotherapy. Practice is given in utilizing current counseling principles in real-world settings through practicum and internship experiences. Candidates are equipped with strategies including cognitive, affective, behavioral or systemic interventions that address wellness, personal growth, crisis and mental health including pathology.

This licensure program will provide candidates with competencies (as defined by CACREP and ACA) designed to positively impact a variety of people across the lifespan. The addition of this licensure to your eligible degree can lead to professional credentialing as a licensed professional counselor and prepares for professional counseling practice in a variety of settings including but not limited to schools, community, mental health, private practice and ministry.

Licensure in clinical mental health counseling is for applicants who already possess a master’s degree in counseling or a related field and are pursuing additional coursework for licensure in clinical mental health counseling.

Licensure in professional school counseling is open to applicants who already possess a master’s degree in counseling or a related field and are pursuing additional coursework needed to become licensed as a professional school counselor.

Adding this licensure program to your eligible degree helps prepare entrance-level professionals to become competent professional school counselors. Practice is given in utilizing current counseling principles in real-world settings through practicum and internship experiences. Candidates are equipped with strategies including cognitive, affective, behavioral or systemic interventions that address wellness, personal growth and crises. This program will provide candidates with competencies (as defined by CACREP and ACA) designed to positively impact a variety of people across K-12.

Courses meet current requirements for K-12 licensure/practice for counseling in public or private schools, including higher education, as approved by the Arkansas Department of Education.

Spring 2026

Summer 2026

Fall 2026

Canvas, our Learning Management System, has a built-in calendar and will notify you of when assignments are due. Instructors may change these as circumstances arise, but this is usually announced by the Announcements function in Canvas, Canvas messages or email in the case of mostly online courses or in class in the case of on ground, in-person courses.

2026-27 Tuition Costs for Mental Health and Wellness Degrees $665/hour

• Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling (60 hrs)
• Master of Science in Marriage and Family Counseling (60 hrs)
• Master of Science in Professional School Counseling (48 hrs)
• Educational Specialist in Counseling (12-15 hrs)

Additional Fees:

Graduation fee - Master’s $200
Graduation fee - Specialist $210
Program fee - Master’s degrees in the Mental Health & Wellness department $11.50/hour (up to $115/semester)
Technology fee - $40/hour

Financial Aid
Financial aid is available to most Harding graduate and professional degree students in the form of federal and private loans, graduate assistantships, veterans programs and vocational rehabilitation programs.

To qualify for federal loans, graduate and professional students must be enrolled in accordance with at least half-time status requirements. Half-time status requirements for graduate/professional degrees are 4 hours per term.

For students completing the Master of Science in Professional School Counseling, the Arkansas Teacher Academy (TAC) Scholarship, can provide up to $6,000 per semester for tuition and fees. To be eligible, you must be an Arkansas resident and plan to work in Arkansas public schools. Scholarship details and application can be obtained from the Arkansas Division of Higher Education Scholarship website.

Upon successful completion of the program:

1. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the history of professional counseling as well as the ethical practice of the profession in a variety of interdisciplinary settings.
2. Students will demonstrate an understanding of how issues of diversity influences help-seeking behavior as well as how to effectively help a diverse, multicultural client population.
3. Students will demonstrate an understanding of human development across the lifespan and how deviations can influence behavior.
4. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the role of career in wellness.
5. Students will demonstrate knowledge of and the skill to apply counseling approaches to client need.
6. Students will demonstrate knowledge and skill to provide group counseling to a variety of diverse client populations, concerns and settings.
7. Students will demonstrate the knowledge and ability to select and utilize appropriate assessment instruments to assist in client care.
8. Students will demonstrate the ability to read and understand research as well as conduct research necessary to better serve their clients.

For those students enrolled in the Clinical Mental Health Counseling specialty area:
Students will demonstrate an ability to provide evidence-based CMHC services to diverse clientele in a broad range of clinical settings.

For those students enrolled in the Marriage, Couples and Family Counseling specialty area: Students will demonstrate an ability to provide evidence-based MCFC services to diverse clientele in a broad range of clinical settings.

For those students enrolled in the Professional School Counseling specialty area:
Students will demonstrate an ability to provide evidence-based school counseling services to diverse student clientele in a broad range of educational & community settings

Harding University’s Cannon-Clary College of Education provides programs of study that, along with other qualifying criteria, allow candidates to apply for respective licenses as issued by the Arkansas Board of Examiners in Counseling. It will be the responsibility of the candidate to determine what requirements may be in place in the state they choose to apply for a license. The programs of study may not, however, necessarily meet other states’ requirements for licensing in those states. It will be the responsibility of the candidate to ascertain what program and state requirements will be necessary in the state they choose to apply for a license. Each jurisdiction has its own criteria and procedures for licensure, and requirements vary.

Harding University Mission can be found at harding.edu/about/mission.

College of Education Mission Statement: Touching hearts and challenging minds through Christ by preparing professionals for Christian service to children, families, and communities.

Mental Health & Wellness Mission Statement: The mission of the mental health and wellness programs is to prepare counselors to provide caring, compassionate and competent counseling services in a variety of settings to diverse populations. To that end, students will be provided with a current, practical, and ethical education consistent with Harding’s Christian foundations equipping them to be effective counselors/therapists capable of facilitating healthy change, growth and development.

At a minimum, students should have access to the following:

• A computer to be used for class assignments and interfacing with our institution’s LMS, Canvas, in order to complete assignments.
• A webcam either with a built-in microphone or a separate webcam and microphone for Zoom meetings (i.e. class meetings, advising sessions, etc).
• A stable, secure internet connection. Since we will be discussing potentially sensitive and confidential topics, you must be able to have a password-protected connection to the internet.
• Access to your Harding Gmail account. This will be the means of all official email communication to comply with FERPA. You will need to check this at least weekly.

In addition to the above requirements, we also make the following recommendations:

• We recommend using PC Windows computers. While Mac OS or Chromebooks may be used, students could encounter some issues interfacing with our institution’s LMS and other systems.
• See the Canvas Tutorial.
• We recommend students have access to headphones for Zoom meetings to avoid audio issues and feedback.
• We recommend students have access to a secure broadband connection. Some of the files we use are large and videoconferencing such as Zoom can use a lot of bandwidth.
• We recommend using a hardwired/ethernet cable connection to your modem/router. If using WiFi 4Mbps upload/4 Mbps download speeds are required. Please check speedtest.net if you are unsure.
• We recommend either having your Harding Gmail account accessible daily, or perhaps to forward it to another account you check regularly.
• Microsoft Office is available to all students. We strongly recommend completing papers using MS Word. Those using Mac OS products should plan on submitting their assignments in .doc, .docx or .pdf format to ensure they can be opened and graded through our institution LMS and to ensure all instructors can open and read submissions on University-supplied PC Windows computers.
• We recommend using Google Chrome or Firefox web browsers for accessing Canvas as many of the functions of our LMS are only supported with those browsers. Other browsers may be used, but students could encounter challenges with some submissions.

Mental Health and Wellness Annual Evaluation Report 2025

Mental Health and Wellness Annual Evaluation Report 2024

Drug Addiction and Abuse Info:

AllTreatment

drugrehab.com

Addiction Center

Drug Dangers

Rehab Spot

drugrehabus.org

Equine Therapy:

stablechange.weebly.com

Suicide:

The Jed Foundation

Crisis:

Try Nova

Organizations:

American Counseling Association

American School Counseling Association

Arkansas Counseling Association

Chi Sigma Iota - Exemplar

National Board of Certified Counselors

Licensing Boards:

Arkansas Board of Examiners in Counseling

Arkansas Board of Education

Student Resources:

How to Sleep When Stressed

Veterans/Military Training Info:

MilitaryOneSource.mil offers training on "Treating the Invisible Wounds of War"