The University of Rhode Island introduced a master’s degree that allows students to become provisionally licensed as mental health counselors in Rhode Island – something they couldn’t do before.
The new degree in mental and behavioral health counseling will begin its first term in summer 2025, according to Mark Robbins, professor and chair of the Department of Psychology.
“Unfortunately, if you want to be a practitioner, or if you want to help deliver mental health services, or work with anxious children or help individuals struggling with substance abuse, you need a master’s degree,” Robbins said.
Part of the motive for the initiative to add this master’s program had to do with increasing rates of depression, anxiety and substance abuse, Flannery-Schroeder said. Global prevalence of anxiety and depression increased by 25% in the first year of the pandemic, according to a release by the World Health Organization.
While many people are seeking services, the number of service providers has yet to expand, according to Flannery-Schroeder.
“There’s a lot of attention and interest to issues pertaining to mental health and I hope there’s interest in people who want to do some good in that area, because we need them,” Flannery-Schroeder said. “There’s just not enough providers.”
By serving as an avenue for students to become provisionally licensed, the master’s program aims to meet the real world need and rising demand surrounding mental health professionals, according to Flannery-Schroeder.
The design for the program was spearheaded by Robbins and Ellen Flannery-Schroeder, the director of URI’s Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program, according to Flannery-Schroeder.
Initially proposed and then accepted by URI President Marc Parlange and Provost Barbara E. Wolfe, the master’s degree is a part of university initiatives that emphasize program growth, according to Robbins. Work toward initiating the master’s degree started in June 2023 and the program was officially approved on June 28 by Parlange.
The new master’s program will work with the university’s existing doctorate program in clinical psychology, according to Robbins. While many of the master’s and doctorate courses will overlap, the doctorate is focused on research and the master’s program will focus on training students to be therapists and service providers.
“The new master’s students won’t be taking heavy statistics or methodology or things like that because they don’t need that training,” Robbins said.
With an average of four to five doctorate students in clinical psychology, there are not enough students to run courses frequently, according to Robbins. In turn, flexibility is one of the doctorate program’s biggest complaints.
“[The program] will make their lives easier in terms of meeting their requirements to get through the program,” Robbins said.
In addition to working with the doctorate program in clinical psychology, the program has formed a collaboration with URI’s Human Development and Family Science Program.
Some of the HDF courses will be used by the master’s program and some of the new courses opening for the master’s program will remain open to their students, according to Robbins.
“We’re trying to make use of resources that already exist in the college with a department we have very close ties to because there are a lot of psychologists in human development and family sciences,” Robbins said.
After students finish the master’s program, which will span two full years and two full summers, they will be allowed to practice in supervision of a licensed professional. To become fully licensed professionals, students will need to complete 2,000 hours of supervised clinical work.
With a fairly new nation-wide initiative toward accredited master’s programs, URI is looking to gain American Psychological Association accreditation in order to further strengthen the program, Flannery-Schroder said.
Getting the program accredited by APA is a multistep process, which will be initiated from the get-go.
Once the program gains APA accreditation, it will likely hold a positive influence on the reputation and prestigiousness of the psychology department considering that APA has very high standards for education competencies, Flannery-Schroder said.
Accreditation will help build upon the base URI already has, Flannery- Schroeder said. This includes a strong undergraduate program in psychology as well as two strong doctorate programs: one in clinical psychology and one in behavioral science.
“It reflects back well when you have highly qualified graduates, going out doing wonderful work,” Flannery- Schroeder said.
The deadline to apply for the summer program is Jan. 15, 2025. Students can apply to the master’s program through the graduate school application portal .