Support improved wellbeing with a Mental Health and Addictions certificate
As more and more people seek treatment for mental health and addiction issues, the need for skilled, compassionate addictions and mental health professionals skyrockets. The Chang School offers a well-rounded Certificate in Mental Health and Addictions that provides you with a strong foundational knowledge in general psychology to help both in your future mental-health and addictions courses and career.
The certificate will teach you assessment, treatment, and self-help strategies within individual, group, family, and community contexts, and there’s the opportunity to participate in psychological research as well.
You can then choose from a wide variety of electives like child development, human brain circuitry, and developmental psychopathology to tailor our addictions and mental health program to your interests and deepen your knowledge. Other electives include coursework around law, health, and healthcare, immigration, and human sexuality. And if you’re intrigued about exploring the ever-growing death doula career path, our mental health and addictions program has a Death, Dying and Bereavement elective, too.
Currently working full-time? Our online certificate allows you to complete your studies at your own pace. You can even obtain your Certificate in Mental Health and Addictions in just one year.
There’s no better time to start than now: our community needs more educated mental health and addictions professionals, and you could be one of them.
Information Session
Date: Monday, March 24, 2025
Time: 12:15 pm–1:00 p.m.
Location: Online through Zoom
Who should take this Mental Health and Addictions certificate?
- You’re ready to pivot to a new career path in mental health and addictions and need to master the basics
- You’re already working in the mental healthcare or addictions space and want to further specialize in a specific mental health or addictions discipline to advance your career in a different direction
- You want to boost your mental health and addictions knowledge to enrich your work and better understand the lived experience of clients, employees, and colleagues
- You’re a student who’d like to use the degree-credit courses towards completion of your undergraduate degree or strengthen an application for graduate school
- You have an undergraduate degree and want to enhance your education with additional specialization in mental health and additions
What will you learn while taking the Mental Health and Addictions certificate?
You’ll learn how to:
- Apply the basic principles of psychology to everyday experience
- Utilize the psychology of addictions and disorders to help clients
- Provide support to people experiencing depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, schizophrenia, personality disorders, and eating disorders
- Find, read, understand, and apply empirical research in an applied setting
Career Options
This certificate can prepare you for jobs like:
- Psychologist
- Social worker
- Child and youth worker
- Mental health and addictions counsellor
- Mental health advocate
- Hospital administrator
- Clinical coordinator
- Counselling administrator
Certificate Requirements
- 4 required courses
- 6 electives**
- Cumulative grade point average (GPA) of 1.67+
**Select 2 (or 3) selections from Electives – Group A and 3 (or 4) courses from Electives – Group B.
Admission Criteria
Recommended:
- Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) or equivalent
- With 6 Grade 12 U or M credits
OR
- Mature-student status with 3 years of professional experience in business, community service, or industry
If you’re an undergraduate student, you should be aware of possible certificate restrictions. For complete details, check Curriculum Advising.
Questions?
Contact Client Services ce@torontomu.ca
