RP 400 Essentials of Distance Education

This course is often the student’s first opportunity to try a distance learning format. It is designed to aid the student through his or her distance education journey. It will help the student know what is expected for distance learning and aid the student in finding the answers needed to accomplish this goal. Finally, this course will prepare the student on how to begin college writing.

AD 553 Lesbians and Gay Men Chemical Dependency Treatment Issues

This course addresses in-depth specific issues in the treatment of chemical dependency in this population. The authors of the text discuss special problems of the gay population and describe specific clinical techniques and strategies for treating them. The text is filled with case studies and other helpful information and clinical techniques and strategies for treatment. Students can easily apply these ideas for treatment directly to their own work.

PT 502 Therapeutic Counseling

Structuring clinical interventions in support of the Medical Model of Psychobiology as well as Psychodynamic and Cognitive / Behavioral approaches is the focus of this course. It will emphasize Integrative Psychotherapy and require the demonstration of interviews, assessment, mental status exam completions, and knowledge of the five axes of diagnosis and counseling.

PT 503 Career Counseling

This course will review the 1997 text What Color is Your Parachute? Students will use their personal study of vocation and revelation to study the uses of contemporary techniques in Career Counseling.

PT 504 Counseling: Diagnosis and Appraisal

This course will feature the intensive development of diagnostic technique through the use of the DSMIV five axes, and correlations with the ICD-9-CM codes. The crucial roles of accurate diagnosis and rule outs are examined along with treatment planning and formulation. Testing, interviewing, and psychosocial assessment are also featured. Computer-based instruments and psychometry are examined.

CP 588 Advanced Case Studies in Counseling

This course is geared toward developing the student’s critical abilities. The course will require the student to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of several transcribed cases.

CP 589 Group Counseling: Concepts and Procedures

Group leaders need to be aware and anticipate problems that arise in group interactions. Students will be provided with an insightful and practical examination of group counseling procedures applicable to children, adolescents, adults and the elderly. Also included will be techniques for abused children, juvenile offenders, and clients with chronic conditions.

AD 583 Managing Dually Diagnosed Patient: Current Issues and Clinical Approaches

This course is one of the first to deal with the problems of mentally ill substance abusers. This comprehensive course offers a broad view of the theoretical, conceptual, and practical issues involved in caring for dually diagnosed patients.

AD 582 Ethnic and Multicultural Drug Abuse: Perspective on Current Research

The text for this course includes summaries of ethnic-minority drug abuse literature and identifies knowledge gaps, highlighting areas in need of more research. The authors, most from African-American, American Indian, Asian Pacific-American, or Hispanic backgrounds, discuss topics related to the research development process, report research findings, and make research recommendations for African-Americans.

AD 581 Counseling Chemically Dependent People with HIV Illness

This course describes a front-line clinical treatment of HIV-infected chemically dependent persons. It provides a realistic view of the daily responsibilities of working with this population. Specific, in-depth case examples and material give students a solid understanding of how to work more effectively with chemically dependent clients infected with HIV. By concentrating on practical versus theoretical aspects of treatment, this book helps practitioners understand problems in treatment and shows different ways treatment can be administered.

CP 593 Group Work

Students taking this course need to be familiar with the history and theories of group work. This course will focus on procedures, group dynamics, effective group leadership, member selection, as well as ethical and legal aspects of group work. Different styles of group leadership will be discussed.

PT 515 Clinical Training – 1,000 Hour Externship

The student will be required to document 1,000 hours of applied clinical observations and experiences to demonstrate knowledge in the field of professional counseling at the Master’s Degree level.

TH 510 MA Thesis – 15,000-word minimum

Upon completion of the required credit hours of coursework, the student will submit a 15,000-word thesis, demonstrating his or her understanding of the field of their choice. Students will have to demonstrate their grasp of the basic concepts in their fields and are encouraged to do a comparative study of techniques or philosophies. Students will be able to apply towards the thesis some of their homework, if relevant to the proposal.