Walden University is at the forefront of leveraging real-world simulations and skill-building platform Skillsetter for academic instruction.
A conversation between a mental health counselor and their patient can go in any direction.
“It’s terrifying the first time you have to ask a client ‘are you thinking about harming yourself or someone else?,’” says Dr. K. Elizabeth McDonald, director of skills training and curriculum for Walden University’s School of Counseling.
What if you could practice that conversation long before you were ever sitting with your first client? Skillsetter is a video simulation platform bringing that opportunity for students in mental health-related degree programs to practice day and night, over-and-over again.
Through its module-based library of scenarios, students gain familiarity and comfortability with the varying outcomes of a counseling appointment. “Skillsetter gives students a safe space to get comfortable with it before they face a client.”
Students are graded by submitting their own video-recorded responses to their professor, a process through which they can re-record as many times as needed until the student is comfortable with what they are saying back to the mock client, observing their body language, and checking off other course-based topics that need to be covered in a response.
A Better Way to Teach Mental Health Counseling
Dr. McDonald says Walden was the first academic institution to adopt Skillsetter and integrate the platform directly into its learning management system (LMS), thanks to a close partnership with the platform’s development team.
“At the onset of our partnership, Skillsetter wrote code to make it compatible for academic instruction within our already existing platforms.” The customization enables students to access Skillsetter’s resources without leaving the LMS, offering seamless practice and review capabilities.
More than 20 Walden courses incorporate Skillsetter, with students able to engage in realistic counseling scenarios at their own pace.
Walden chose Skillsetter because of its revolutionary deliberate practice approach to interpersonal skills training in counseling, education, and corporate training. This method breaks down complex interactions into manageable skills, allowing students to engage in real-world simulations that build confidence before facing live clients.
Embedding Skillsetter in Mental Health Degree Programs
Walden has embedded Skillsetter into its curriculum in three primary ways: regular classroom practice, skills coaching for additional support, and end-of-course modules that reinforce cumulative skills. This layered approach addresses a key gap in traditional training. Dr. McDonald notes that without continuous practice, students can lose essential skills between courses or during breaks.
“Skillsetter allows students to practice skills continuously, so they retain these abilities when they move on to the next stage in their program,” she adds.
Watch Skillsetter demos from both student and faculty perspectives.
Feedback from students and faculty has been overwhelmingly positive.
Faculty appreciate how Skillsetter segments skill-building exercises, allowing students to construct a counseling session from “micro” skills like reflecting feelings to “macro” skills like session management. This systematic practice helps students build rapport with clients more effectively.
Enhancing Mental Health Counselor Skills
The impact of Skillsetter on Walden’s programs goes beyond technical proficiency. Dr. McDonald pointed out that students not only learn evidence-based practices but also get to explore their own counseling style.
“Our use of Skillsetter lets students try responses multiple times, allowing them to refine their approach to sound authentic rather than robotic,” she explains. This self-evaluation process empowers students to be fully present with clients, bringing genuine empathy and connection to each session.
With online and telehealth counseling becoming a new standard, Skillsetter equips students with skills to use technology more effectively. “Our students already have an advantage in using technology with clinical counseling because of Skillsetter,” Dr. McDonald says. “Even the little things like proper lighting to a functional microphone, these small adjustments make a big difference in a virtual counseling setting.”
For more information, email the Adtalem Global Communications Team: adtalemmedia@adtalem.com.
