Mental Health Pathway

The Mental Health field is extremely broad, encompassing a wide variety of careers that focus on helping people meet their basic human needs including: social worker, counselor, health aid, and much more. Essentially, mental health careers focus on areas where people need help. The day in the life of someone in mental health could include: working with clients and other professionals, such as social workers, to develop a treatment plan and help clients complete paperwork to apply for assistance programs and researching services, such as food stamps and Medicaid, that are available to clients.

Why Choose Mental Health?

Employment in the mental health field is projected to grow 17 percent from 2019 to 2029, much faster than the average for all occupations.*

  • The Human Services Certificate of Accomplishment offers greater work opportunities as social-service technicians, case management aides, mental health technicians, social worker, counselors and other human service careers.
  • The Associate in Arts degrees offer individuals the opportunity to study a specialized area in mental health that can translate into a variety of careers within the mental health field.
  • Mental Health workers across healthcare settings including hospitals, family services, nursing and residential care facilities, community and vocational rehabilitating services.

* Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook 

Program Locations

Find your region below and click to expand to find out about program length, prerequisites and more:

Online - All regions

Provider: Capella University (Online)

Bachelor’s Degree: Psychology
Master’s Degrees: Psychology, Clinical Psychology, Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Marriage & Family Therapy, Human Services, Social Work, Social Work Advanced Standing
Graduate Certificates: Counseling, Psychology

Prerequisites: Vary depending on degree/certificate.

Northern California (Bay Area)

Provider: Coastline College Extended Learning Division (Online)

Associate’s Degree in Human Services (1 year)

Human Services Certificate (6 months)

 

Provider: Contra Costa College

Health & Human Services Associate Degree

Program Length: 60 units

Prerequisites: None, degree requirements

 

Health & Human Services Certificate

Program Length: 24 units

Prerequisites: None

 

Dual Diagnosis Specialization Certificate

Program Length: 51 units

Prerequisites: None

 

Peer Support Service Certificate

Program Length: 9 units

Prerequisites: None

 

Psychosocial Rehabilitation Certificate

Program Length: 12 units

Prerequisites: None

 

Substance Abuse Case Management Certificate

Program Length: 12 units

Prerequisites: None

Northern California (Central Valley)

Provider: Coastline College Extended Learning Division (Online)

Associate’s Degree in Human Services (1 year)

Human Services Certificate (6 months)

 

Provider: Modesto Junior College

Human Services Associate Degree

Program Length: 60 units

Prerequisites: None

 

Human Services Certificate

Program Length: 36 units

Prerequisites: None

Southern California

Provider: Coastline College Extended Learning Division (Online)

Associate’s Degree in Human Services (1 year)

Human Services Certificate (6 months)

 

Provider: West Los Angeles College

Associate’s Degree in Addiction Studies (2 years), Addiction Studies Certificate (6 months)

Prerequisites: None

 

Provider: Moorpark College

Registered Behavior Technician

Program Length: 40 hours training

Prerequisites: None

 

Provider: Ventura College

Social Work & Human Services

Program Length: 2 years

Prerequisites: None

 

Provider: Oxnard College

Addictive Disorders Studies

Program Length: 2 years

Prerequisites: None

 

 

Northwest (Washington and Oregon)

Provider: Clackamas Community College

Human Service Generalist Associate Degree

Program Length: 90-92 units

Prerequisites: Complete Human Service Interview and Assessments

 

Provider: Clatsop Community College

Psychology Degree

Program Length: Two years

Prerequisites: Degree requirements

 

Provider: Portland Community College

Family & Human Service Associate Degree

Program length: 90 Units

Prerequisites: Complete with a C or better in College Composition. Complete with a C or better or a Pass in Math literacy or Introductory Algebra. C or better or a Pass in Career-Technical Computation or equivalent placement.

 

Addiction Counselor Associate Degree

Program length: 90 Units.

Prerequisites: Complete with a C or better in English Composition, Library Research & Beyond, Addiction, Theories of Counseling, and Basic Counseling Skills.

 

Foundations in Human Service Certificate

Program length: 13 units

Prerequisites: Complete with a C or better in Introduction to College Composition, College Reading or Introduction to College Reading and Composition and Fundamentals of Mathematics or equivalent placement

 

Addiction Studies Certificate

Program length: 44 units

Prerequisites: Complete with a C or better in English Composition, Library Research & Beyond, Addiction, Theories of Counseling, and Basic Counseling Skills.

Nevada

Provider: Coastline College Extended Learning Division (Online)

Associate’s Degree in Human Services (1 year)

Human Services Certificate (6 months)

 

Provider: College of Southern Nevada

Applied Psychology Associates Degree

Program Length: 24 months

Prerequisite: None

Colorado

Provider: Coastline College Extended Learning Division (Online)

Associate’s Degree in Human Services (1 year)

Human Services Certificate (6 months)

 

Provider: Arapahoe Community College

Associate’s Degree in Psychology

Program Length: 2 years

Prerequisite: None

 

Provider: Community College of Denver

Associate’s Degree in Psychology

Program Length: 2 years

Prerequisite: None

Program status

We appreciate your interest in the Education Fund’s programs and services. We have received a tremendous response to our education and training programs and have reached our enrollment limit for many of our current programs. As a result, we are not accepting applications for this Education Fund program. (We may have limited availability for members in the Northwest, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico and we encourage you to login to MyEdFund to check availability.)

We anticipate a high level of interest and limited availability again in 2023, and we encourage you to create an individualized educational plan for 2023 with your Career Counselor/Regional Coordinator. You can make an appointment via MyEdFund, our secure, online member portal.