Counselor Education - Clinical Mental Health Counseling (Education Specialist)

Application Deadlines

Deadline dates for applications and receipt of all required application materials are:

Date Event
July 1 Fall Admission
November 1 Spring Admission
April 1 Summer Admission

Any exceptions to these deadlines must be granted by the graduate program chair.

Application Materials Required for the EdS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling

Applicants for an Education Specialist (EdS) program must submit all of the following documentation to Graduate Admissions to be considered for admission:

Graduate Admissions
Jacksonville State University
700 Pelham Road North
Jacksonville, Alabama 36265-1602

Applicants will not be considered for admission until all required documents are received by Graduate Studies.

  1. Completed JSU Graduate Application for Admission.
  2. Non-refundable $35.00 application processing fee.
  3. Official transcripts from the baccalaureate degree awarding institution and all transcripts from institutions where post-baccalaureate work has been completed. To be considered for admission, applicants must hold a degree from an institutionally accredited institution or its foreign equivalent. (Students who have previously attended JSU do not need to request a transcript from the university.) 
  4. Master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Marriage and Family Counseling, Community Counseling, or a related field.
  5. Background check. Any candidate applying for admission to a state approved teacher education program shall be required to be fingerprinted for a criminal history background check, including Clinical Mental Health Counseling, through the Alabama State Department of Education to the Alabama Bureau of Investigation (ABI) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Instructions for completing the background process can be found here.
  6. Professional resume.
  7. Three Graduate Reference Forms completed by individuals who can provide qualitative assessment of the applicant’s potential for success in graduate coursework. Reference forms will be submitted electronically. Instructions for submission will be sent through email to the applicant upon submission of the online graduate application.
  8. International student applicants must see the International Student Applicants section of this catalog for other application and enrollment requirements.
  9. Applicants whose packages are complete will be contacted to schedule an appointment for a writing sample and an interview with faculty members of the program.

Admission Requirements for the EdS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling

Applicants are admitted on a selective basis by the faculty members of the program, upon review of the completed application package.

Minimum Requirements for the EdS in Clinical Mental Health Counseling

An overall GPA of 3.25 is required on all coursework attempted for the education specialist degree. Transfer credit cannot be used to raise the GPA to the required 3.25.

Any course completed for the master’s degree may not be repeated or counted for the EdS degree. Graduate courses at the 400 level will not count as credit towards the EdS degree.

Course Title Credits
Core Requirements
ECG 634Advanced Counseling Theories3
ECG 637Advanced Career Counseling3
ECG 691Action Research Counseling I (to be taken toward the end of the program)3
ECG 692Action Research in Counseling II (must be taken in the last semester of enrollment)3
ECG 646Advanced Group Procedures in Counseling3
Concentration Requirments
Select fifteen semester hours by advisement from the following:15
Assessment in Counseling
Professional Ethics and Legal Issues
Organization and Administration of Counseling Services
Introduction to Play Therapy
Children and Grief
Couple, Marriage and Family Counseling
Rehabilitation Counseling
Psychopathology: Diagnosis and Treatment of DSM Disorders
Geriatric Counseling
Substance and Behavioral Addictions in Counseling
Psychopharmacology
Crisis Counseling Intervention Strategies
Psychological First Aid & Disaster Counseling
Internship in School Counseling
Internship in School Counseling
Holistic Counseling: Spirit, Soul and Body
Supervision in Counseling
Psychological Principles of Learning
Leadership in Education
Survey Course in Special Education
Total Hours30

30 Graduate Semester Hours Required for this Degree

Graduation and Comprehensive Exam

A comprehensive exam is required for this degree; please see the graduate advisor for full details. All students must apply for graduation by the given deadline of the semester in which they plan to graduate. Please see the Graduation and Comprehensive Exam section of this catalog for more information.