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.