The Department of Counseling at Western New Mexico University (WNMU) is a three-year, CACREP accredited, 60-credit online program that prepares students to become professional counselors within a variety of settings including schools, community mental health centers, state agencies, clinics, hospitals, and private practices. The focus of the program is to assist students in developing the skills and nurturing the dispositions needed to provide innovative and effective counseling experiences for diverse clients in multicultural settings. The Department of Counseling provides four separate specialties which include Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Clinical Rehabilitation Counseling, School Counseling, and Addiction Counseling. More detail regarding each specialty can be found below, under the Counseling Specialties section of the website. Graduates of the Department of Counseling at WNMU are eligible for licensure as School Counselors, Licensed Mental Health Counselors (LMHC), and Licensed Rehabilitation Counselors (LRC) in New Mexico. The program is also designed to meet the National Board for Certified Counselor requirements for students who wish to become National Certified Counselors (NCC) as well as the Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification requirements for students who want to become Certified Rehabilitation Counselors (CRC).

Application Process

Applicants hoping to be admitted to the Department of Counseling at WNMU must submit a Graduate Admissions application AND a Department of Counseling application. These two applications are accessed through different links. Applicants should first submit the Graduate Admissions application, be admitted to the Graduate School, and receive a W# and WNMU email address. Both the W# and the WNMU email address is required in order to submit the Department of Counseling application. Both applications must be submitted by October 15th in order for an applicant to be eligible to be admitted to the Department of Counseling for the Spring semester. Applicants should submit their Graduate Admissions application well before the start of October so that they can receive their W# and WNMU email address to include in the Department of Counseling application

The Graduate Admissions Application

The Graduate Admissions application can be accessed at the following link: https://wnmu-19676.app451.sites.451.io/. Questions regarding the Graduate Admissions application should be directed to gradadmissions@wnmu.edu.  

The Department of Counseling Application

The Department of Counseling application can be started and submitted without paying an application fee. There is no application fee, but purchasing a Castle Branch background check, getting fingerprinted, and sending the fingerprints to Castle Branch is a required process of the application. The application cannot be saved, so applicants should first click on the link provided to them, make note of the requirements, gather the requirements, and then submit the application and requirements all at once. Gathering all requirements could take up to two weeks, so this process should be started well before the start of October. Applicants who wish to receive the link to the Department of Counseling application should email the Department Chair, Dr. William Lane at william.lane@wnmu.edu to receive the link.

Questions regarding the Department of Counseling application should be directed to Dr. Lane

It is important to note that although applicants may receive an admissions letter from the Department of Counseling, they are only officially admitted to the Department of Counseling once they have received full admissions through Graduate Admissions.

Application Deadline

Applicants wishing to be admitted to the Department of Counseling at WNMU must complete the Graduate Admissions and Department of Counseling applications by October 15th for the following Spring semester, which starts in January every year. If an applicant believes they may have challenges meeting the deadline, they should reach out to the Department Chair, Dr. William Lane at william.lane@wnmu.edu, and the program will do its best to work with the applicant’s individual circumstances.

Admissions Notification and Acceptance

Applicants who are admitted to the Department of Counseling will be sent a WNMU Department of Counseling admissions letter to their WNMU email address and personal email address they included in their Graduate Admissions application. Applicants who have met the October 15th deadline should hear back from the program no later than the end of October. Those who wish to accept this offer must respond to the Department Chair, Dr. William Lane at william.lane@wnmu.edu, by the deadline given in the letter. Admission to the program and registration for classes may not be guaranteed if the Department Chair is not notified of the acceptance of the offer by the stated deadline.

Course Substitution/Transfer Policy

It is the policy of the Department of Counseling at Western New Mexico University to substitute some graduate coursework completed outside of the program. The Department of Counseling offers this to partially fulfill the university’s mission to foster a “diverse, inclusive, creative, and caring community of learners.” 

Applicants who have completed graduate coursework with another counseling program or other mental health related field may substitute such coursework if it matches the Department of Counseling’s curriculum and the syllabus identifies all the same CACREP standards. Applicants may expect to have no more than 18 credits substituted. All students within the Department of Counseling at WNMU must take COUN 579 Pre-Practicum in Counseling, COUN 581 Practicum in Counseling, COUN 582 Internship in Counseling I, and COUN 583 Internship in Counseling II within the program. Applicants cannot receive course substitutions for these courses. The Counseling Core Faculty of the Department of Counseling at WNMU reserve the right to accept or deny any previously completed coursework submitted for credit toward completion of a Master of Counseling from WNMU. Students may appeal the determination of the Counseling Core Faculty, according to this policy, by following the student appeals process stated within the WNMU Student Handbook: https://admin.wnmu.edu/handbooks/student-handbook/ 

If an applicant wishes to have courses substituted, then the applicant must attach the syllabi and unofficial transcript reflecting the courses they wish to substitute to the Department of Counseling application. The applicant must also complete a degree plan that matches the current program rotation for all remaining classes that the applicant must take if their requested courses are substituted. The current program rotation is located on the Department of Counseling website. Reach out to Dr. Lane at william.lane@wnmu.edu for help on how to develop the degree plan. This degree plan must be attached to the Department of Counseling application. Only after these documents are attached to the application and the application is submitted on time, will course substitutions be considered. Upon acceptance to the program, the applicant will be informed of which courses, if any, will be substituted.

Maintaining Your Seat in the Program

In order for students to maintain their seat in the Department of Counseling, they must be enrolled in at least 1 graduate-level Department of Counseling class every Spring and Fall semester. If a student does not maintain this requirement, then the student is immediately dropped from the program and the Graduate School. The student may reapply to the program and the Graduate School, but readmission is not guaranteed. If a student must take a leave of absence, the student may submit a Request for Leave of Absence (see heading below), and upon approval, the student will maintain their seat and be able to return without having to reapply to the Department of Counseling.

Request for Leave of Absence

If a student needs to take a leave of absence from the Department of Counseling, the student must meet with their advisor and create a Plan of Return, which includes the semester the student is leaving and the semester in which the student plans to return along with a Course Sequence Sheet with the semesters in which the student plans to take all remaining classes that are part of their degree plan. Once the student has created a Plan of Return with their advisor, the student must submit a Request for Leave of Absence via email to the Department Chair, Dr. William Lane at william.lane@wnmu.edu before final grades are due for the last semester the student is taking classes before they take the leave of absence.

The Request for Leave of Absence must contain all items in the Plan of Return, which includes the last semester the student is taking classes before they take the leave of absence, the semester they plan to return, and the Course Sequence Sheet with specific semesters for every class for the remainder of the student’s degree plan. This must match the current Course Rotation. The Department Chair along with the Department of Counseling faculty review the Request for Leave of Absence. If the request is approved, then the student will receive an Approval for Leave of Absence (see heading below).

Approval for Leave of Absence (only for Spring return)

The Approval for Leave of Absence is a letter that outlines requirements that students who submit a Request for Leave of Absence must meet in order to return to the Department of Counseling without having to reapply. Only students who plan to return during a Spring semester are eligible to be granted an Approval for Leave of Absence. If a student desires to return a Summer or Fall semester, the student may receive a Conditional Leave of Absence (see heading below). If the student does not return the semester stated within the Approval for Leave of Absence, then the student must reapply to the program, and readmission is not guaranteed. The student cannot return earlier unless they reapply to the program and get readmitted.

Conditional Leave of Absence

The Conditional Leave of Absence is a letter that outlines requirements that students who submit a Request for Leave of Absence must meet in order to be considered for the possibility of returning to the Department of Counseling without having to reapply to the program. If a student plans to return during a Summer of Fall semester, they may return if the program has seats available. Seats can only be guaranteed when students return during the Spring semester (see heading above). If the student does not return the semester stated within the Conditional Leave of Absence or if seats are not available, then the student must reapply to the program and readmission is not guaranteed. The student cannot return earlier than the semester stated within the Conditional Leave of Absence.

Counseling Exit Exam Policy

Students must pass the Counselor Preparation Comprehensive Examination (CPCE), as the exit requirement for the program unless other arrangements are approved by the Counseling Core Faculty. This exam and other requirements are normally completed during the final semester of the program of study.