Counseling Courses (CNSL)

CNSL A702 Research and Statistical Methods in Counseling 3 crs.
This course examines research designs and concepts commonly used in the social and behavioral sciences. The course also covers parametric statistics related to univariate and bivariate statistics; students will learn to calculate these statistics both by hand and through SPSS and interpret the results. 

Course co-requisite required CNSL A704

CNSL A704 Research Writing Lab 1 cr.
This one hour lab requirement offers development of graduate level research writing skills including APA format through the production of a manuscript. Students will be provided detailed instruction in APA writing format and writing philosophy.

Course co-requisite required CNSL A702

CNSL A706 Philosophy and Counseling 3 crs.
This course provides philosophical inquiry into human relationships and the importance of interpersonal process in the practice of counseling.

CNSL A725 Lifespan Development 3 crs.
In this course, instructors offer an advanced study of human development from conception to death. Students will learn about the human experience from a social, emotional, cognitive, learning, neurological, physiological perspective. Topics include developmental theory, unique therapeutic issues across the lifespan, and matching interventions to developmental stage. Relevant cultural and ethical intersections with lifespan development and differential interventions are explored. 

CNSL A776 Clinical Assessment and Psychometrics 3 crs.
This course covers clinical interviewing skills common to completing a biopsychosocial assessment as well as basic and intermediate psychometric analyse. This course covers proper instrument usage related to administering, scoring, and interpretation procedures.

CNSL A830 Counseling Theories 3 crs.
This is a study of selected counseling theories as they relate to personality, symptom development and therapeutic change. This course will examine the application of counseling theories in clinical practice.

CNSL A835 Introduction to Counseling 3 crs.
This course is a study of counseling principles, practices, and techniques. In this course, students learn the foundational relationship micro-skills used in counseling. Students are introduced to the basics of ethics, diversity, theory, and philosophy in creating a counseling relationship.

Course co-requisite required: CNSL A836

CNSL A836 Individual Counseling Skills Lab 1cr.
In this course, students develop clinical skills by providing a series of weekly 50 minute counseling sessions to trained actors who will serve as clients. The departmental laboratory includes digital video recordings in order to code counseling micro-skills for concrete and specific learner feedback. Students will meet in small groups with the instructor to review videos throughout the semester. Making and analyzing these digital recordings will efficiently improve clinical skills and provide preparation for the challenge of working with “real” clients in practicum and internship. This lab requirement is taken simultaneously with CNSL A835 Introduction to Clinical Mental Health Counseling under guidance of the same instructor. 

Course co-requisite required: CNSL A835
$100 Lab fee.

CNSL A837 Child Counseling: Play Therapy 3 crs.
In this course, the instructor explores the range of clinical and school based approaches used by mental health professionals to help children. This course is an introduction to play therapy, and includes an onsite micro-practicum experience. Topics will include play therapy history, child centered play therapy and introduction to theory, developing a therapeutic relationship with a child, child specific needs, diversity awareness and adaptions, micro-skills, therapuetic limit setting, and fostering involvement with the caregivers(s). 

CNSL A840 Group Counseling 3 crs.
This course offers an experiential investigation of group process theory as it pertains to counseling practice.

Course co-requisites required: CNSL A843
Course Prerequisite required: CNSL A835CNSL A836

CNSL A841 Career Counseling 3 crs.
This course is a study of history, theories, research, and techniques of career counseling.

CNSL A842 Multicultural Counseling 3 crs.
This course addresses the similarities and differences among various culturally diverse groups, and informs counselors of the characteristics and processes necessary to become a culturally skilled counselor. Special emphasis will explore the intersection of cultural identity as it relates to systemic forms of oppression.

CNSL A843 Group Counseling Skills Lab 1cr.
This one hour laboratory is required of all students enrolled in CNSL A840 Group Counseling, and develops clinical group skills by providing a series of weekly 45-minute counseling sessions to a group of trained actors who will serve as clients. The departmental laboratory includes digital video recording equipment and software that makes it possible for students to code and catalog each group counseling sessions. This technology allows more precise study of group counseling sessions and accurate charting of progress over time. Making and analyzing these digital recordings will efficiently improve group counseling skills and provides preparation for the challenge of working with “real” groups in practicum and internship. This lab requirement is taken simultaneously with CNSL A840 Group Counseling.

Co-requisite Course required: CNSL A840
Prerequisite Course required: CNSL A835, CNSL A836
$150 lab fee.

CNSL A845 Addiction Counseling 3 crs.
This course is designed to provide students with an overview of the issues associated with counseling clients with issues of substance use and abuse. In this course, we focus on the systemic interventions of individuals with addiction issues, and the importance of treating the whole family. Course content includes historical foundations of addiction, psychological and physiological effects of commonly abused substances, various theoretical etiologies of abuse, and an overview of multiple treatment strategies for individuals (adults and adolescents), couples, families and groups.

CNSL A848 Play Therapy Theories 3 crs.
This course is designed as an advanced play therapy course using both didactic and dynamic components of knowledge acquisition of skill competencies in play therapy as a therapeutic intervention for children, adolescents, and families. Students become capable of articulating: theoretical conceptualizations of child clients; stages of therapy according to a variety of theories as applicable to child clients; ethical, cultural, and diversity issues; diagnostic possibilities; and treatment plans. Additionally, an advanced micro-practicum experience is included in this course.

Prerequisite Course required: CNSL A837

CNSL A849 Activity Group Therapy 3 crs.
This course is designed to assist people who work with children, pre-adolescents, and adolescents in obtaining an understanding of the philosophy and rational for group work with child populations, as well as the use of expressive arts with diverse people of all ages across the lifespan, as a therapeutic modality. This course focuses on the goals of group play/ activity therapy, the role of the play therapist, screening and selection of group members, and planning and structuring of sessions. The course is designed to be both experiential and didactic and a micro-practicum experience is usually required. 

CNSL A850 Introduction to Family Counseling 3 crs.
This course explores the family systems theory and presents research on the family as an open system that functions in relation to its broader sociocultural context and that evolves over the life cycle. Various techniques of family counseling are covered as well as the ethical considerations of such a model.

CNSL A851 School Counseling 3 crs.
This course provides the theoretical and philosophical foundation and structural paradigm that forms the focus of school counseling. Practical information about programs, practices, resources, and research pertinent to the field of school counseling is intertwined with practical experiences. Cognitive learning through reading and research pertains to the history and evolution of school counseling, the role of the school counselor, comprehensive guidance programs, and program evaluation. This course develops the necessary knowledge to work at all levels of school counseling (elementary, middle, and secondary).

CNSL A852 Marriage and Couples Counseling 3crs.
After successful completion of this course students will have: a clinical, theoretical and personal knowledge of basic couples counseling techniques, a personal understanding of the dynamics common to couples, an effective way to assess the overall health of a couple, a set of clinical skills that honor the inherent difficulties of providing counseling services to a couple instead of an individual, experience conducting sample Tandem Couples Counseling therapy, and methods for managing a range of events that can seriously threaten the survival of the relationship.

CNSL A853 Child/Parent Relationship Therapy 3 crs.
In this course, students learn about the dynamic of the parent child relationship and how to work with parents and children in therapy. Students will learn how to navigate parent consults in play therapy, how to introduce, utilize and create filial therapy with parents, individuals and in groups, how to intervene in the parent/child relationship in a positive way, how to assess a problem in the parent child relationship, incorporating the family into child parent relationship therapy, and facilitating compassion for parents of diverse backgrounds.  Additionally, the course will help students be familiar with a variety of parenting education interventions. Volunteer parents are brought in to participate in an 8-week parenting education course, taught by the instructor and students, as part of this course. 

CNSL A855 Diagnostics in Counseling 3 crs.

The purpose of this course is to provide a comprehensive review of all psychological disorders as contained in the DSM-5.  

Prerequisite courses required: CNSL A706CNSL A830CNSL A835CNSL A836CNSL A776

CNSL A856 Clinical Thanatology: Death and Dying 3crs.
Students will review the latest theoretical and empirical literature related to death and dying, grief and loss, and grief counseling strategies. This experiential run seminar-style course will use a holistic perspective to understand how people experience grief, loss, and the dying process. Students will learn about their own grieving process and learn counseling strategies they can use in the respective fields. 

CNSL: A857: Psychopathology in Counseling 3 crs.
The purpose of this course is to synthesize the content of neurology, trauma theory, and psychopharmacology as etiological and treatment factors as they relate to psychological disorders in the DSM-5.  

CNSL: A858: Scholarship in Counseling 3 crs.
Students will engage in a scholarship project based on a topic of interest to them that will result in a publishable manuscript for a peer-reviewed journal and also construct a presentation proposal(s) (based upon the manuscript) for a professional conference(s).

CNSL A862 Family Systems 3 crs.
In this course students immerse themselves in Family Systems theory by learning the basic concepts and then understanding them as they relate to their own family and life experiences. Students will see that their efforts will be rewarded with a richer and more complete understanding of themselves, those with whom they relate, and clinically useful patterns of interaction will flow from their understanding of the concepts that Family Systems Theory is based upon.

CNSL A863 Fundamentals of Practicum and Internship 3 crs.
The purpose of this course is to provide students with the necessary tools to begin their clinical experience. In other courses students review Theory, Practice, Diagnosis, Ethics, Group Counseling and Research and practice translating what they’ve learned in previous classed into practice. This course will provide students with the knowledge of how to handle day to day activities in their Practicum and Internship setting such as documentation, Client Fees, Agency Policies, Supervision, etc. as they work with client actors in an agency-like setting.

Prerequisite courses required: CNSL A702CNSL A704CNSL A706, CNSL A830CNSL A835CNSL A836, CNSL A864

Corequisite courses required: CNSL A855

CNSL A864 Ethics in Individual, Marriage, and Family Counseling 3 crs.
This course examines ethical standards of practice as outlined by the American Counseling Association and the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. Students are introduced to the process of ethical decision-making and common ethical dilemmas facing mental health practitioners.

CNSL A865 Counseling Practicum 3 crs.
This course offers a supervised field experience in counseling for 10 hours a week in an off campus service learning site.

Prerequisite courses required: CNSL A702CNSL A704CNSL A706CNSL A830CNSL A835CNSL A836, CNSL A863, CNSL A864
Corequisite courses required: CNSL A840CNSL A842CNSL A843

CNSL A866 Counseling Internship 3 crs.
This course offers a supervised field experience in counseling for 20 hours a week in an off campus service learning site. Students will complete six credit hours of internship over multiple semesters until they complete the 600 hours of field experience. 

Prerequisite courses required: CNSL A865

CNSL A895 Special Project 1 – 3 crs.
Arranged in consultation with advisor. 

CNSL A896 Seminar/Workshop 1 – 3 crs.
Arranged in consultation with advisor. 

CNSL A898 Research Project 1 – 3 crs.
Arranged in consultation with advisor.