CMHSAC Program Guide

M.A. Concentration in Mental Health and Substance Abuse Counseling

CMHSAC Program Guide

The CMHSAC Program And The CASAC

With the pressures of health care reform in general, and managed care in particular, there has been a growing interest at the State and National levels in standardizing and raising the educational and training standards for providers of substance abuse services. The Master of Arts degree in mental health/ and substance abuse services (CMHSAC) is a response to these developments and is intended to place students in an advantageous position for securing future employment throughout the substance abuse/mental health system.

In addition to providing a firm grounding in general psychology, the program is designed to allow students the with opportunity to satisfy the academic eligibility requirements for the Certified Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselor (CASAC) examination by completing all of the required and optional CASAC –relevant courses offered through the CMHSAC program. The CASAC certificate is a credential offered by the New York State through the Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (NYSOASAS) to indicate that an individual has met the local and national standards for clinical practice the substance abuse field. The certificate is granted on the basis of a combination of: Educational/academic training, relevant clinical/work experience, and successful completion of the CASAC exam ( http://www.oasas.state.ny.us/index.cfm ).

Certified individuals are currently accorded professional status in most states and it has become increasingly difficult to secure certain types of clinical positions in the field without the benefit of a CASAC certificate or a comparable type of credential.

Although only three of the six CASAC-relevant courses currently offered under the auspices of the CMHSAC are considered requirements for the completion the concentration, there is a significant benefit to taking all of the courses. One major advantage lies in the fact that NYSOASAS has recently created “CASAC Trainee Certificate” as an intermediate level certification for those individuals who have completed a specific portion of the overall requirements for certification and intend to continue working towards full CASAC certification. The certificate will remain effective for a period of five years from the date that it is issued. During that time CASAC trainees will be considered a “Quality Health Professional” (QHP) in terms the mandated staffing mix of OASAS-licensed substance dependence programs, and thus immediately employable. One of the ways of becoming eligible for this designation is to complete the required 350 clock hours of academic training; something that can be accomplished by completing all the required and optional CASAC –relevant courses offered through the CMHSAC program, students.

Another reason for pursuing CMHSAC lies in the fact that individuals with M.A. degrees in fields such psychology, are required to complete only one year (rather than the usual two years) of paid clinical/work experience in order to become eligible to sit for the CASAC exam. Consequently, students who are currently working in the substance abuse field, or have done so in the past, may be eligible to sit for the exam immediately upon completion of the program. However, as noted above, the Trainee Certificate permits students with little or no paid clinical experience to seek and obtain employment in the field, provided that they have completed the CASAC academic requirements.

Who Should Consider The CMHSAC?

The CMHSAC was created to meet a number of curricular and programmatic needs in the psychology department at the Graduate Faculty. Specifically, it is a program that was designed to be particularly attractive and beneficial to:

(1) Those students who do not intend to continue on to doctoral study but would like to significantly enhance their marketability after graduation; (2) students who currently work with substance abusing or dually diagnosed populations and who would like to complement their practical experience with formal academic training and credentials; and (3) M.A., and Ph.D. students who intend to enter into a career in the substance abuse field.

CMHSAC Program Details

Admission to Program There are no separate requirements for admission to the CMHSAC program. All students who have been admitted to general M.A. study in the Psychology Department are also eligible to enroll in the CMHSAC. However, students will not be considered enrolled in the program until they have completed an enrollment form and submitted it to the Psychology Student Advisors’ office. Blank copies of the enrollment form can be obtained from the advisors’ office or from one of the co-directors. There is also a blank form appended to the manual (Appendix III). There is no deadline for enrolling, and students are free to take any number of the required courses before submitting a formal application. However, students should be aware that until a formal application is submitted, they will not be eligible for fieldwork placements at the New School - Beth Israel Center for Clinical Training and Research.

Advising and Registration It is extremely important that students confer with the student advisors prior to registering for any of the courses offered in the CMHSAC.

Tuition and Fees The latest fee schedule can be found on the New School Web site at www.newschool.edu/tuition/. The New School reserves the right to alter this schedule of fees without notice.

Course Requirements The CMHSAC degree requirements consist of a total of 30 credits, nine of which are in the area of substance abuse. All of the courses are usually offered once a year. The three required courses for the CMHSAC, (Introduction to Substance Abuse Counseling; Advanced Issues in Substance Abuse Counseling; Psychopathology III) are offered during the regular academic year. Please see the CMHSAC Student Handbook for further details.

NOTE: It is important to reiterate and emphasize the fact that electing to pursue an CMHSAC degree does not in any way preclude a student from applying for admission to the Doctoral program. CMHSAC students who wish to apply to the doctoral program are subject to the same admission requirements that apply to those enrolled in the general M.A. These requirements include: a satisfactory grade-point average; passing the comprehensive exam ; successfully passing both a M.A. level research methods course and the “Assessment of Individual Differences” course; and completing the elementary statistics requirement. However there are some some caveats:

Given the possibility that some students will feel disadvantaged in their ability to take some of the so-called “comps -relevant” courses as electives, students are strongly encouraged to audit as many comps-relevant courses as their schedule allows.

The one-credit Ethics course is NOT a requirement for the CMHSAC, but it is necessary for fulfilling the academic requirements for CASAC eligibility. Consequently, those students who wish to complete all of the academic requirements for the CASAC will need to do so by taking the Ethics, thus increasing their total credits to 31.

Students who wish to apply for admission to the clinical Ph.D program will also have to take a research methods course. This means that students who intend to apply to the Ph.D. program will have to complete a total of either 33 credits (for the CMHSAC only) or 34 credits (for the CMHSAC & CASAC).

Description of CASAC Requirements

The CMHSAC Masters by itself does not satisfy all of the CASAC requirements. There are also requirements for work experience and supervised practical experience that must be met before a student can apply for and take the CASAC exam. However, the CASAC academic eligibility requirements (and hence, eligibility for a CASAC trainee certificate) can be easily met by taking, in addition to the required CMHASAC courses, the 1 credit Seminar on Professional Issues and Ethics. Note: A Masters degree in psychology is considered the equivalent of 4000 hours of work experience. Consequently, the required amount of work experience for CMHSAC graduates is only 1 year, rather than the customary 3 years of full time paid work.. For more information on the CASAC requirements please consult the CMHSAC handbook or the Student Advisors for the most recent description. Information is also available at New York State Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) website: http://www.oasas.state.ny.us/sqa/credentialing/CASACCover.cfm

CMHSAC Enrollment Form

Recommended Course Sequence for CMHSAC

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