Graduate Course Descriptions

Special topics courses in psychology. See course listing each semester for specific titles and descriptions.

A culminating experience which reflects the student’s synthesis and integration of knowledge. All students pursuing the M.A. degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling are required to sit for the Comprehensive Examination. In order to be eligible to take the Comprehensive Examination, the student must secure the chair’s approval and have completed the following requirements as described in catalog.

This course specifically designed for counseling education, will discuss the topics that are relevent to intelligently laying a solid groundwork of creating, consuming, and evaluationg research in a graduate program and for professional counselor’s post-graduation continuing education. The students will learn the basics of research, including formulating a problem, completing a literature review, selecting a design, collecting and analyzing data, and reporting results in APA format. Topics will include a broad range of quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods designs, as well as action research and program evaluation, pertaining to types of research used in the field of professional counseling.

This course is designed to provide an understanding, and use of, the fundamental techniques of helping processes. The course emphasizes the development of effective relationship building skills as well as the practice of action oriented approaches that facilitate client growth and change. Counselor and client characteristics, relationship variables, and external factors (e.g., societal and environmental) that influence the helping process will be addressed. Topics include legal and ethical issues; working with culturally diverse clients; basic helping skills; establishing a therapeutic alliance, and problematic clinical situations.

The Counseling Theories course provides students with knowledge of the most current major counseling theories that can be applied to Clinical Mental Health Counseling clients. The basic theory, principles and techniques of counseling and its application to professional counseling settings are explained. Students will begin to develop their own personal style of helping.

This course will provide an overview of small group behavior, development, and hands on experience in a small group. There will be two components to the group course; first, students will engage in didactic learning where group content will be provided and discussed; second, students will directly engage in experiential learning as both a member of and a leader of small group experiences. Specifically, the content overview will include focusing on stages of small group development, therapeutic factors, roles of group members, counselor interventions, effective group management, diversity, and ethical and legal issues specific to group work. The experiential component of class will provide students with direct experience as small group participants for a minimum of 10 clock hours over the course.

This course provides an in-depth exploration of the principles of human growth and development across the lifespan. Students will examine the biological, psychological, social, and cultural factors that influence individual development and their implications for clinical mental health counseling and music therapy. Emphasis will be placed on ethical and culturally responsive counseling practices.

This course provides an overview of the application of general systems theory to assessing, conceptualizing, and intervening with families. The course reviews several major models of family therapy and introduces attitudes and techniques from each model to support families in their effort to modify relationships. The course also examines issues of family development, including the roles of gender and culture on developing family beliefs, rituals, rules, and values. Ethics in family therapy and applications to practice settings are reviewed.

This course provides an overview of the therapeutic approaches and interventions which address the unique psychological and developmental needs of children and adolescents. Theoretical models and ethical counselor-child/adolescent relationships are explored, along with a focus on multicultural awareness. Effective communication strategies for counselor with family and school communities are emphasized, and empirically supported treatments are reviewed.

Review of moderate and serious pathological and diagnostic schemas using DSM, with secondary emphasis on treatment implications. Strategies for assessing and formulating clinical and cultural material are examined. Students are introduced to symptom clusters which distinguish different mental health problems and are presented with a dimensional model for understanding diagnosis within the context of personality styles. Implications for diversity are examined.