Graduate Counseling

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Graduate studies in Counseling

MISSION STATEMENT

The Graduate Studies in Counseling Program educates and trains students for socially responsible careers as professional counselors in the field of Mental Health Counseling.  As a professional degree-granting program, we provide a strong and distinctive graduate education.  Our core guiding principles are academic excellence, transformative education, multicultural and diversity awareness, and ethical practice and leadership.  We strive to build an inclusive community of learners who value personal and intellectual growth through collaborative relationships among students, faculty, and staff.

INTRODUCTION

The Graduate Studies in Counseling program welcomes and values students from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, identities, and social locations. We believe that a program comprised of students, staff, and faculty bringing diverse identities, experiences, and perspectives enriches the quality, breadth and depth of the counselor education process and prepares students for counseling in the twenty-first century. The Master of Arts in Mental Health Counseling is a 60-semester-hour program designed to prepare individuals to enter the field of mental health counseling.  It is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) and includes all courses, practical and internships required by the State of Florida for licensure as a Mental Health Counselor.  The curricula include didactic courses, seminars, laboratory courses, and practical experiences necessary to pursue a counseling career in a wide array of community-based settings.

The Certificate Program in Family and Relationship Therapy is offered as a supplement to the counseling degree for students interested in gaining experience in relationship counseling. The Certificate Program also meets the curricular requirements for licensure as a Marriage and Family Therapist in Florida. 

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE COUNSELOR

The Department of Graduate Studies in Counseling is committed to providing a program that includes a personal growth component with experiences that will extend students’ competencies as persons and as professionals engaged in helping relationships. The program operates with the philosophy that effectiveness as a professional counselor depends on personal development and the ability to communicate effectively as well as commitment and academic preparation. The faculty believe that it is essential for students to examine their own values, motivations, personal characteristics, and relationships with others. Thus, students are required to participate actively in growth experiences within the program. Prominent examples include participation in a small group experience in CPY 520; development of a family genogram in CPY 550; and various course requirements involving journal keeping, self-reflection papers, in-class role-play, practice demonstrations, and other activities that call for interpersonal exploration. Ultimately, students are required to develop an individually relevant philosophy and approach to the helping process based on an expanded awareness of their beliefs, values, and understanding of contemporary theory and methods.

RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY

Students are expected to interact with others with sensitivity and understanding, to listen effectively to the words and ideas of others, to communicate orally with precision and appropriateness, to be able to examine personal issues that impact their counseling relationships, and to conduct themselves professionally in compliance with the ethical standards of the American Counseling Association. The department strives to provide a learning environment that cultivates an understanding and appreciation of the multicultural world in which we live and an understanding of the effects of oppression. We do not expect all graduates of our program to think the same way, but we do expect that they will be accepting of differences and strive to understand how other people's perspectives, behaviors, and world views are different from their own. Both faculty and students work to increase personal awareness regarding the full range of human experience and to eliminate oppressive practices and abuses of power within all areas of the program, the counseling profession and in the world at large. For general guidelines, students are asked to read the article Multicultural Counseling Competencies and Standards: A Call to the Profession included in the back of this Handbook.

Program Objectives

Graduate Studies in Counseling program objectives expand on and operationalize the program mission statement and reflect the standards of the CACREP. The sequence of coursework and the activities in each course are based on a developmental model of training and courses and activities within courses build on previous learning. Multicultural and social justice values are at the core of the training process in order to offer an education that responds to diverse human experiences and identities. The program faculty regularly review existing courses to ensure that they reflect the CACREP standards, student and community input, and the realities of the mental health community in which services are provided. On completion of the program students are expected to demonstrate knowledge and competency in the following areas:

1) Professional Identity and Foundations of Mental Health Counseling

a) Objectives:

1. Students will develop a professional identity as a mental health counselor and will demonstrate knowledge, skills and clinical practices in accordance with the ACA code of Ethics, Florida law governing mental health counseling, and other appropriate standards.
2. Students will engage in self examination and self reflection in relation to their own psychological functioning and will address personal issues that impact professional practice.
3. Students will participate in the compulsory client experience, counseling group membership, and other experiential learning opportunities.

b) Content and Practice areas:

1. Historical and philosophical aspects of the counseling profession, including significant factors and events, supplemented by the societal, cultural, economic, and political dimensions of and current trends in mental health counseling;
2. roles, functions, and professional identity of mental health counselors;
3. (3) professional roles, functions, and relationships with other human service providers;
4. professional organizations, primarily ACA and AMCHA, their divisions, branches, and affiliates, including membership benefits, activities, services to members, and current emphases;
5. professional credentialing, including certification, licensure, and accreditation practices, preparation standards and public policy issues relevant to the practice of mental health counseling;
6. effective advocacy strategies for influencing private policy, public policy and government relations on local, state, and national levels to enhance funding and programs that affect mental health services in general, institutional and social barriers that impede access, equity, and success for clients, and the practice of mental health counseling in particular;
7. implications of professional issues that are unique to mental health counseling, including recognition, reimbursement, right to practice, core provider status, access to and practice privileges within managed care systems, and expert witness status;
8. assumptions and roles of mental health counseling within the context of the community and its health and human services systems, including functions and relationships among interdisciplinary treatment teams, and the historical, organizational, legal, and fiscal dimensions of public and private mental health care systems;
9. principles, theories, and practices of community intervention, including programs and facilities for inpatient, outpatient, partial treatment, and aftercare, and the human services network in local communities;
10. management of mental health services and programs, including administration, finance, and budgeting, in the public and private sectors; principles and practices for establishing and maintaining both independent and group private practice; and concepts and procedures for determining outcomes, accountability, and cost containment;
11. the role of racial, ethnic and cultural heritage, nationality, socioeconomic status, family structure, age, gender, sexual orientation, religious and spiritual beliefs, occupation, and physical and mental status, and equity issues in mental health counseling;
12. technological competence and computer literacy as it relates to the practice of mental health counseling; and
13. ethical and legal considerations related to the practice of mental health counseling (e.g., the ACA and AMHCA Code of Ethics)

2) Social and Cultural Diversity

a) Objectives:

1. Students will demonstrate self-awareness, knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for working effectively with a clients, groups, and colleagues from diverse backgrounds and identities.
2. Students will participate in the experiential learning opportunities to increase self-awareness related to social and cultural diversity.
3. Students will demonstrate skills in advocacy and activism in relation to diversity and social
   justice counseling.

b) Content and Practice areas:

1. multicultural and pluralistic trends, including characteristics and concerns between and within diverse groups nationally and internationally;
2. attitudes, beliefs, understandings, and acculturative experiences of diverse populations;
3. individual, couple, family, group, and community strategies for working with diverse populations and ethnic groups;
4. counselors’ roles in social justice, advocacy and conflict resolution, cultural self-awareness, the nature of biases, prejudices, processes of intentional and unintentional oppression and discrimination, and other culturally supported behaviors that are detrimental to the growth of the human spirit, mind, or body;
5. theories of multicultural counseling, theories of identity development, and multicultural competencies; and
6. ethical and legal considerations related to the practice of multicultural counseling (e.g., the ACA and AMHCA Code of Ethics).

3) Human Growth and Development

a) Objectives

1. Students will articulate theories of child and human development.
2. Students will apply human development principles to mental health counseling cases.
3. Students will apply strategies to counseling cases necessary to work with normal and abnormal behaviors in individuals, groups, couples, and families across the lifespan.
4. Students will participate in the experiential learning opportunities to increase self-awareness related to human growth and development.

b) Content and Practice areas:

1. general principles and practices for the promotion of optimal human development and mental health;
2. theories of individual and family development and transitions across the life-span;
3. theories of learning and personality development;
4. human behavior including an understanding of developmental crises, disability, exceptional behavior, addictive behavior, psychopathology, and situational and environmental factors that affect both normal and abnormal behavior;
5. general principles and practices of etiology, diagnosis, treatment, referral, and prevention of mental and emotional disorders and dysfunctional behavior, including addictive behaviors;
6. strategies for facilitating optimum development over the life-span; and
7. ethical and legal considerations related to the practice of mental health counseling (e.g., the ACA and AMHCA Code of Ethics).

4) Career Development

a) Objectives

1. Students will articulate theories and decision-making models of career development.
2. Students will effectively incorporate career development and education into mental health counseling.
3. Students will participate in the experiential learning opportunities to increase self-awareness related to career development.

b) Content and Practice areas:

1. career development theories and decision-making models;
2. career, vocational, educational, occupational and labor market information resources, visual and print media, computer-based career information systems, and other electronic career information systems;
3. career development program planning, organization, implementation, administration, and evaluation;
4. interrelationships among and between work, family, and other life roles and factors including the role of diversity and gender in career development;
5. career and educational planning, placement, follow-up, and evaluation;
6. assessment instruments and techniques that are relevant to career planning and decision making;
7. technology-based career development applications and strategies, including computer-assisted career guidance and information systems and appropriate world-wide web sites;
8. career counseling processes, techniques, and resources, including those applicable to specific populations; and
9. ethical and legal considerations related to the practice of mental health counseling as it relates to career counseling (e.g., the ACA and AMHCA Code of Ethic

5) Helping Relationships

a) Objectives

1. Students will develop effective and working therapeutic relationships.
2. Students will demonstrate effective helping, communication, problem solving, conflict resolution, consultation and other interpersonal and intrapersonal skills related to helping relationships.
3. Students will conceptualize cases, develop counseling goals, design assessment and intervention strategies, evaluate client outcome, and successfully terminate the counselor-client relationships with a variety of counseling cases.
4. Students will articulate a personal model of counseling by writing a “My Theory of Counseling” paper.
5. Students will participate in supervisory experiences, receive and apply feedback, and demonstrate understanding of the relationship between self-awareness and practice as a counselor.
6. Students will participate in the compulsory client experience, counseling group membership, and other experiential learning opportunities.

b) Content and Practice areas:

1. counselor and consultant characteristics and behaviors that influence helping processes including age, gender, and ethnic differences, verbal and nonverbal behaviors and personal characteristics, orientations, and skills;
2. essential interviewing and counseling skills necessary to develop a therapeutic relationship, establish appropriate counseling goals, design intervention strategies, evaluate client outcome, and successfully terminate the counselor-client relationship.
3. application of modalities for initiating, maintaining, and terminating counseling and psychotherapy with mentally and emotionally impaired clients, including the use of crisis intervention and brief, intermediate, and long-term approaches;
4. principles and guidelines of conducting an intake interview, a mental status evaluation, a biopsychosocial history, a mental health history, and a psychological assessment for treatment planning and caseload management;
5. basic classifications, indications, and contraindications of commonly prescribed psychopharmacological medications so that appropriate referrals can be made for medication evaluations and identifying effects and side effects of such medications;
6. historical development of counseling theories and current, research based models of counseling consistent with current professional research and practice in the field including an exploration of affective, behavioral, and cognitive theories;
7. application of a systems perspective that provides an understanding of family and other systems theories and major models of family and related interventions and the ability to apply a rationale for selecting family and other systems theories as appropriate modalities for family assessment and counseling;
8. ability to apply the theoretical material and models of counseling to a personal model of counseling and to client cases;
9. counseling theories that provide consistent model(s) to conceptualize client presentation and select appropriate counseling interventions;
10. ability to construct a general framework for understanding and practicing mental health, including an examination of the historical development of consultation, an exploration of the stages of consultation and the major models of consultation, and an opportunity to apply the theoretical material to cases and develop a personal model of consultation;
11. the application of concepts of mental health education, consultation, collaboration, outreach and prevention strategies, and community mental health advocacy;
12. self-awareness as it impacts the counselor-client relationship therapeutically and the ability to maintain appropriate professional boundaries;
13. knowledge of clinical supervision, including counselor development;
14. integration of technological strategies and applications within counseling and consultation processes; and
15. ethical and legal considerations related to the practice of mental health counseling (e.g., the ACA and AMHCA Code of Ethics).

6) Group Work

a) Objectives

1. Students will identify the various types of groups and stages of group development.
2. Students will demonstrate the ability to lead groups.
3. Students will participate in the experiential learning opportunities to increase self-awareness relate to group membership and group leadership.

b) Content and Practice areas:

1. principles of group dynamics, including group process components, developmental stage theories, group members’ roles and behaviors, and therapeutic factors of group work;
2. group leadership styles and approaches, including characteristics of various types of group leaders and leadership styles;
3. theories of group counseling, including commonalties, distinguishing characteristics, and pertinent research and literature;
4. group counseling methods, including group counselor orientations and behaviors, appropriate selection criteria and methods, and methods of evaluation of effectiveness;
5. approaches used for other types of group work, including task groups, psychoeducational groups, and therapy groups;
6. professional preparation standards for group leaders;
7. ability to lead various types of groups; and
8. ethical and legal considerations related to the practice of group work in the mental health counseling (e.g., the ACA and AMHCA Code of Ethics).

7) Assessment

a) Objectives

1. Students will conceptualize cases and construct appropriate treatment plans.
2. Students will identify the appropriate use and limitations of assessment instruments for specific case situations and for clients from diverse backgrounds and identities.
3. Students will select, administer, and interpret assessment tools for which they have received appropriate training.
4. Students will demonstrate diagnostic skills in using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual.
5. Students will participate in the experiential learning opportunities to increase self-awareness related to assessment and diagnosis.

b) Content and Practice areas:

1. historical perspectives concerning the nature and meaning of assessment;
2. basic concepts of standardized and nonstandardized testing and other assessment techniques including norm-referenced and criterion-referenced assessment, environmental assessment, performance assessment, individual and group test and inventory methods, behavioral observations, and computer-managed and computer-assisted methods;
3. specific principles and models of biopsychosocial assessments, case conceptualization, and theories of human development and concepts of psychopathology leading to diagnoses and appropriate treatment plans;
4. knowledge of the principles of diagnosis and the use of current diagnostic tools, including the current Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, and the ability to apply diagnoses to cases;
5. statistical concepts, including scales of measurement, measures of central tendency, indices of variability, shapes and types of distributions, correlations, reliability (i.e., theory of measurement error, models of reliability, and the use of reliability information), and validity (i.e., evidence of validity, types of validity, and the relationship between reliability and validity;
6. age, gender, sexual orientation, ethnicity, language, disability, culture, spirituality, and other factors related to the assessment and evaluation of individuals, groups, and specific populations;
7. strategies for selecting, administering, and interpreting assessment and evaluation instruments and techniques in counseling;
8. understanding of general principles and methods of case conceptualization, assessment, and/or diagnoses of mental and emotional status and the ability to demonstrate these skills; and
9. ethical and legal considerations related to the practice of assessment in the mental health counseling (e.g., the ACA and AMHCA Code of Ethics).

8) Research and Program Evaluation

a) Objectives

Students will apply research methods, statistical procedures, needs assessment, and program evaluation in order to improve agency, program and counselor effectiveness.

b) Content and Practice areas:

1. the importance of research and the opportunities and difficulties in conducting research in the counseling profession,
2. research methods such as qualitative, quantitative, single-case designs, action research, and outcome-based research;
3. use of technology and statistical methods in conducting research and program evaluation, assuming basic computer literacy;
4. principles, models, and applications of needs assessment, program evaluation, and use of findings to effect program modifications;
5. strategies for community needs assessment to design, implement, and evaluate mental health care programs and systems;
6. use of research to improve counseling effectiveness; and
7. ethical and legal considerations related to the research and program evaluation in the field of mental health counseling (e.g., the ACA and AMHCA Code of Ethics
   

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