What is it like getting a Clinical Mental Health Counseling Degree online?

[susieque]

I am currently applying to some CACREP accredited Clinical Mental Health Counseling Degrees. I want to know what my education will be like if accepted into one of these programs.

[PsyDuck90]

I wouldn't recommend an online-only degree for this field. Clinical skills are very hard to learn in an online environment, and you will also have a harder time finding clinical placements, as the program is unlikely to have agreements with local clinical settings. While certain, more didactic courses are fine online, the clinical component, such as in-class role plays and feedback is very difficult to mimic online. I'm in a clinical psych program right now, and with COVID we are online, and luckily I am several years in, but I can see a distinct difference between my in-person and online experiences, with the in-person being far more enriching. You are trying to enter a field where human connection and communication is everything, and online instruction creates a lot of barriers that full-fledged clinicians are struggling with during this pandemic. The idea that a student entering the field can effectively grasp it in a short time is highly unlikely.