Mental Health Counseling, PhD

Campus: Westchester

This program is designed to train mental health counselors in advanced clinical and supervisory skills, prepare counselors to conduct research that will further the profession’s knowledge base, and foster the next generation of leaders who will be teachers and advocates for the mental health counseling profession across the country.

Application requirements include:

An earned Master’s degree in mental health counseling with a curriculum equivalent to that in Pace University’s 60-credit graduate Master of Science program in Mental Health Counseling.
Earned Graduate-level GPA of 3.6 or higher.
Met one of the following permit/licensure requirements:
- Be eligible for New York State limited permit in mental health counseling in New York State.
- Has obtained a limited permit in New York State.
- Be licensed in mental health counseling in New York State.
- Be licensed in mental health counseling in a state other than New York.
Submitted letters of recommendation, personal statement, official academic transcripts.

Students who substantially meet the above requirements will be invited to an interview with the departmental admission screening committee.

This program requires the completion of 48 credits of coursework, passage at the conclusion of the first year of a written qualifying examination for advancement of candidacy for the PhD, 600 hours of internship requirements and the successful completion of a doctoral dissertation as described below. This is a full-time program with a cohort-model.

Note: “Per the CACREP 2024 standards, students entering doctoral programs on or after July 1, 2026, must complete a minimum of 60 semester hours beyond the entry-level degree (Standard 6.A.1).”

Program Curriculum

Plan of Study Grid
Summer		Credits
MHC 700	Foundational Concepts of Research Design and Statistic	0
Students who have not taken a graduate-level statistics course within 3 years must take this class as a pre-requisite to enter the program.
	Credits	0
Year 1
Fall
MHC 705	Statistics and Research Design	4
MHC 707	Qualtative Methods In Counseling Research	4
MHC 731	Theories and Methods of Counselor Education	4
	Credits	12
Spring
MHC 706	Statistics and Research Design II	4
MHC 830	Research Design: Special Topics Seminar	4
MHC 732	Theories and Methods of Counselor Supervision	4
Doctoral Comprehensive Exam: At the end of this semester all students will be required to pass a comprehensive written exam in order to enter into the second year of the program.
If needed, a student may retake the examination in the summer. A second failure will result in dismissal from the program and an appeal will not be considered.
	Credits	12
Year 2
Fall
MHC 721	Advanced Scientific Literacy in Social Interactions	4
MHC 831	Doctoral Dissertation Seminar I	4
MHC 725	Doctoral Internship I	4
Note: Students are required to take a second Doctoral Dissertation Seminar in Year 2 - Spring term.
	Credits	12
Spring
MHC 742	Advanced Theory and Practice of Counseling	4
MHC 832	Doctoral Dissertation Seminar II	4
MHC 733	Leadership and Advocacy in the Counseling Profession	4
MHC 726	Doctoral Internship II	0
	Credits	12
Year 3
Dissertation Sequence
Dissertation Proposal		0
Dissertation Defense		0
	Credits	0
	Total Credits	48