Counseling Education (COED)

In this course, candidates will be able to understand the stages of lifespan development with applications to counseling. Current research findings on major developmental issues including physical, social, emotional, speech and language, and cognitive processes of individuals will be emphasized.

This course provides an orientation to ethics in the counseling profession through identifying and exploring relevant issues in counseling practice through research, teaching and examining ethical dilemmas commonly experienced by professional counselors. Coursework covers ACA ethical standards, national and state laws, and regulations as related to accountability, responsibility, client welfare, emotional health, institutional policies, cross-cultural and cross-social class practices, and their impact on the counseling profession. Focal areas include professional roles and functions, professional identification, the discipline appropriate professional associations and organizations, and publications regarding best practices and strategies in providing counseling services to students, individuals, and families in various counseling settings.

This course provides an understanding of counseling theory and strategies. Focus is placed on developing skills to work with families, individuals, and crisis interventions. Participants will gain an understanding of the counseling theories used in psychodynamic approaches, humanistic, cognitive, and behavioral genres.

This course is designed to explore the counseling process by examining specific theories and related research. The counseling theories examined in the course include Psychoanalytic, Adlerian, Existential, Person-Centered, Gestalt, Behavior, Cognitive Behavior, Reality, Feminist, Postmodern, and Family Systems with emphasis placed on developing effective techniques for facilitating individual counseling sessions and interviews, helping clients adjust to change, and sponsoring clients' self-exploration, self-understanding, and self-evaluation. This course aims to familiarize counselor candidates with the application of counseling theory in all aspects of the program as well as the counseling profession.

This course is intended to give the beginning counselor an opportunity to explore and focus on the practice of basic counseling skills and the experiential application of theories and basic techniques of counseling. This course includes in-class and outside class components. Class time will include instruction, demonstration of skills, student practice of skills, showing of students' videos, evaluation of students' work, and the giving of feedback by the professor and by class members. The outside class component requires small group cooperation in the making of a video each week to demonstrate the skills being taught and practiced.

This course provides an in-depth study of community counseling settings. Pre-service counselors are exposed to relevant issues in the counseling profession including, but not limited to, national accreditation standards for counselor education programs, counseling certifications, and state licensure guidelines. Coursework emphasizes counseling and consulting skills that prepare counseling candidates to provide effective client assistance and work collaboratively in the community.

This course highlights the basic roles and skills of a professional counselor. The historical developments that led to the establishment of counseling as a profession, the impact of the profession on society, the significance of the counseling process, and research and trends in the profession are discussed. This process encourages exploration of personal motivations for wanting to become a professional counselor and professional counseling identity.

This course is designed to introduce interpersonal counseling skills necessary in group counseling by exploring group dynamics and group procedures in various counseling settings. This course focuses on analysis of the group process by examining theories and research related to group counseling. Coursework emphasizes the development of effective techniques for conducting group sessions, discussions and interviews, helping clients adjust to change through a group counseling setting, and facilitating clients with self-exploration, self-understanding, and self-evaluation through the group process. The course provides counseling candidates an opportunity to observe and participate in the group counseling process.

This course focuses on the theory and practice of classroom teaching and management. Students learn ways to create a positive, supportive, and respectful learning environment, create and present interesting and meaningful classroom guidance lessons, and effectively address a range of challenges in the prek-12 classroom. Candidates will also discuss and understand diverse learning styles of students in order to utilize interventions to positively impact their achievement.

This course is designed to assist candidates in the study of family systems and dynamics by critically analyzing counseling theories and techniques. Emphasis is placed on family structure, dynamics, strategies, and techniques employed in family counseling and family functioning.

This course provides a summary of addictions counseling based on practical application of both theory and research. Trends in substance abuse counseling are highlighted throughout the course. Experiential activities are utilized to further enhance understanding of addictions theory and research.

This course is designed to examine individual and group approaches to formal and informal counseling testing and assessment techniques used in the community and schools. The course includes an examination of the various assessments, use of collaborative information, clarification of assessment concepts, tests selection for various populations, test administration, results interpretation, statistically relevant measures, and ethical and legal issues relative to assessment. Throughout the course, interactive exercises, such as observation, immersive studies, and discussion exercises are provided to assist in applying the information and to assist in facilitating the integration of the material into assessment, administration, and interpretation. This course addresses the growing trends of assessment in the counseling profession in various settings within community and school systems.

This course provides an in-depth review of a broad spectrum of psychopathological conditions as defined in the DSM-5. The focus of this review includes the etiology, prevalence and incidence, signs and symptoms, and criteria for differential diagnosis. The emphasis of this review will be on comparing and contrasting different theoretical perspectives on each disorder and reviewing the empirical literature in support of these theoretical perspectives.

This course provides candidates with knowledge, skills, and competencies to respond appropriately to the attitudes, behaviors, feelings, and thoughts of students implementing the career counseling function. Additionally, candidates will learn how to assist students in acquiring, processing, and applying information relative to themselves and the world of work. This course is also designed to assist the candidate in synthesizing theoretical constructs and the application of theory in all career development areas.

This course explores supervision and consultation as unique skills and practices for counseling professionals and counselor educators. Candidates develop their understanding of the purposes of clinical supervision and consultation, theoretical frameworks and models of supervision and consultation, the roles and relationships related to clinical supervision and consultation, and legal, ethical, and multicultural issues associated with clinical supervision and consultation.

This course is designed to provide an integrated approach for treatment of psychopathology for helping professionals in counseling and other behavioral health professions. Emphasis is placed on psychopharmacology, prevalent psychotherapies, theories of abnormal behavior, and development in clinical settings.

The course is designed to provide orientation for candidates as they begin supervised work in the counseling profession. During this initial practicum experience, the candidates will apply knowledge and skills learned throughout the program in working with clients in a supervised, field placement. The candidates are required to complete 100 clock hours which are to be fulfilled in an academic term to includes a minimum of 80 hours per term of direct contact (counseling) hours with clients and a minimum of 10 hours of group work. The remaining 20 hours per term consists of indirect hours accrued performing other counseling-related duties. Candidates receive 1 hour of individual supervision by site and university supervisors weekly and 1-2 hours of group supervision during the academic term. The experiences must be approved by the Practicum Supervisor and Professor.

This course highlights conceptual and practical ideas of the impact of crises and other trauma-causing events while learning about the operations of an emergency management system within mental health agencies and in the community. Students will explore assessments, interventions, and other applications in crises and trauma situations. The effects of trauma due to crisis and the role of the mental health provider will be discussed.