Community Counseling

Every Counselor Education student is expected to meet the program common core, emphasis area knowledge, and skill requirements. Opportunities for students to meet these requirements will occur in the classroom and during the practicum and internship. You will develop and demonstrate knowledge and skills in the following eight common core areas.
  1. Human Growth and Development. Students will understand the nature and needs of individuals at all developmental levels.
  2. Social and Cultural Foundations. Students will understand issues and trends in a multicultural and diverse society.
  3. Helping Relationships. Students will exhibit effective counseling and consultation.
  4. Group Work. Students will understand group development, dynamics, counseling theories, group counseling methods and skills, and other group approaches.
  5. Career and Lifestyle Development. Students will understand career development and related life factors.
  6. Appraisal. Students will use individual and group approaches to assessment and evaluation.
  7. Research and Program Evaluation. Students will apply research methods, statistics, and ethical and legal issues in research.
  8. Professional Orientation. Students will understand all aspects of functioning as a professional counselor including history, roles, organizational structures, ethics, standards, and credentials.

The gains each student makes in the eight program common core areas are a function of the degree the student is pursuing. Students enrolled in the doctoral degree programs are expected to have a greater understanding of the issues in each of the program common core areas than candidates for the Masters degree. The understanding students have gained will be assessed by faculty in the classroom through course assignments and examinations and through the comprehensive, qualifying, and preliminary examination processes.

Community Counseling Objectives

  1. Students understand the functioning of community counseling agencies and processes.
  2. Students apply the principles of psychosocial rehabilitation and family counseling.
  3. Students develop specialized skills in one of the following curriculum areas:
    a.  psychosocial rehabilitation counseling
    b.  chemical dependency counseling
    c.  counseling elderly clients

Community Counseling Degree Programs