Program Outcomes

2018-2019 Academic Year

2017 RMHC grads
Download RMHC 2018-2019 Academic Year Outcomes Report

The Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling (RMHC) program is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP), until 2022. The Program offers a master's degree in rehabilitation and mental health counseling and two graduate certificates. The two certificates offered are:

  1. Addictions and Substance Abuse Counseling
  2. Marriage and Family Therapy

The mission of the Program is to promote quality services for individuals with differences in abilities and to help the state meet its human service needs in the areas of rehabilitation and mental health through teaching, research and service. The Program offers both a non-thesis and thesis program. Successful completion of a comprehensive examination to assess student learning across all CACREP knowledge domains covered in the standards is required of all students before the degree is awarded.

In keeping with CACREP standards, the program fosters continuing public awareness and confidence about academic quality. Information below addresses these standards:

Enrollment, Graduation, and Employment Data
YEAR 2017 - 2018 2018 - 2019
ENROLLMENT 143 129
GRADUATED 47 43
EMPLOYED 39 -
EMPLOYMENT RATE

95%*

-

*Based on reported employment from 39 out of 41 graduates who responded to the survey.

Completion Rate 2016 Cohort 92%**
** Out of 25 students, 23 completed. 77% completed in less than 3 years.

Where Do Our Graduates Work?

Employment settings where graduates work include state vocational rehabilitation agencies, not-for-profit rehabilitation facilities or community-based rehabilitation programs, federal agencies (e.g., Veterans Administration), for-profit or non-profit agencies providing mental health counseling, private practice-rehabilitation, private practice-counseling, substance abuse treatment, and community based settings (e.g., clinics, schools, workplace).

Licensure and Certification

  • Licensed Mental Health Counselor
    All graduates of the Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling Program are eligible to apply for licensure to become a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC) in the State of Florida. Approved applicants for the credential are designated as a Registered LMHC Intern. A Registered LMHC Intern will be required to fulfill direct service hours along with approved LMHC supervision before full licensure is granted. In addition, a Registered LMHC Intern will be required to pass a state license examination. For more information contact: Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling.

  • Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist
    Graduates who complete the Marriage and Family Therapy Certificate (Track 1), are eligible to apply for licensure to become a Licensed Marriage and Family (MFT) Therapist in the State of Florida. Approved applicants for the credential are designated a Registered MFT Intern. A Registered MFT Intern will be required to fulfill direct service hours along with approved supervision before full licensure is granted. In addition, a Registered LMFT Intern will be required to pass a state license examination. For more information contact: Florida Board of Clinical Social Work, Family Therapy and Mental Health Counseling.

  • Certified Addiction Professional
    Graduates who complete the Graduate Certificate in Addictions and Substance Abuse Counseling are eligible to apply for certification with the Certification Board for Addictions Professionals of Florida approved provider (CBAPF approved provider #179A). This graduate certificate program is approved for education and training by the Board and is designed to satisfy the addiction-specific training required. This includes the transdisciplinary foundations of Understanding Addiction/Treatment Knowledge, Application to Practice/Professional Readiness. Additional hours in several performance domains and The Florida Certified Addiction Professional Exam are required. A specified number of hours of direct experience performing addiction-related services hours and a specified number of hours of direct supervision of the applicant's performance of addiction-related services required as well.

  • Certified Rehabilitation Counselor
    All graduates are eligible to apply for certification with the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification (CRCC). Applicants must pass a national examination to become a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC). According to CRCC, certification indicates a higher level of specialized education and training, a thorough understanding of key competency standards based on current practices in the field, adherence to the Code of Professional Ethics for Rehabilitation Counselors, and an ongoing commitment to continuing education. For more information contact: Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification.

Length of Time, Cost of Program, & Scholarship Availability

The average time to complete the degree is usually 2.3 years for full-time students. The maximum amount of time to complete is 5 years.  The average cost to complete the 60 credit hour program is $25,886 for residents and $52,630 for non-residents. The RMHC program offers the following scholarships: Calvin M. Pinkard Scholarship Fund, Susan D Kelley Textbook Scholarship, and the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) Scholarship. In addition, there are USF Graduate Scholarships and National Scholarships available to our students accesable from our website.

Additional Student Outcome Data

Additional student outcome data is required by CACREP, the University, and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Data are evaluated on two metrics that are part of the overall program evaluation. They are:

  1. a comprehensive examination that is administered in fall and spring semesters; and
  2. employment status one year following graduation.

In addition to the required courses and a total of 60 semester hours, all students must pass a final written comprehensive examination to measure student competency prior to receiving the master's degree. The comprehensive examination is comprised of questions across fifteen knowledge domains underlying rehabilitation and mental health counseling. The knowledge domains are based on the standards set by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP).

Comprehensive Examination

Criterion: 90% of students will achieve a score of 80% or higher

Date Number of Students that took exam
Number of students that passed
Percentage of students that passed
March/June 2017 24 23 96%
April 2018 21 20 95%
November 2018 35 35 100%
April 2019 10 10 100%

All RMHC program graduates are eligible for certification as a rehabilitation counselor (CRC) by the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification and licensure by the State of Florida as a Licensed Mental Health Counselor (LMHC).

Data collected from graduates:
  Report Period Rate
CRC 10/2017 – 3/2019 85% (27 sat, 23 passed) Well above the national average of 58%
LMHC and/or LMFT Spring 2015 – Fall 2016 56% Licensed / 32% Registered Intern, 12% other (not seeking license at this time)

Faculty

The RMHC program has a highly qualified faculty who are active locally, nationally and internationally. Their research and creative activity rank among the highest in academic literature, funding and awards annually. Faculty maintain a very active teaching portfolio and work closely with students as mentors and researchers. Currently, the program has four full-time tenure-track faculty, four clinical faculty, and 9 part-time adjunct faculty.  The faculty-to-student ratio is 1 to 10.  Tenure-track and clinical faculty serve as advisors to full-time and part-time students. Faculty teaching effectiveness is based on, among other measures, the Student Assessment of Instruction, an instrument that is required by the University. The average rating of overall teaching effectiveness for 2019 was approximately 4.48 / 5.0. (compared to USF average for Spring 2019 was 4.27/5.0)

National Ranking

U.S. News & World Report's America's Best Graduate Schools rankings released in March 2019, listed our Department at 27th in the nation in Best Health Schools, Rehabilitation Counseling, which is a significant accomplishment compared to the 2010 listings where the Department was ranked 39th of 166 programs in the nation.