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 683 What Works in Drug Abuse Epidemiology

An excellent overview of state-of-the-art drug abuse epidemiology provides the necessary information to approach the first step in solving the drug abuse problem; along with describing and identifying the elements that contribute to it. Featuring lively and descriptive accounts of drug abuse epidemiology from drug abuse researchers, public health experts, and social scientists as they gather and evaluate critical drug abuse information for the particular population served. Authoritative contributors offer practical advice regarding what works in drug abuse epidemiology, what doesn’t work, and the reasons why.

AD 681 Chemical Dependency and Intimacy Dysfunction

In this course, experts answer pressing questions about the relationship between chemical dependency and intimacy dysfunction and treatment for individuals and families.

AD 682 Addictive Behaviors

The natural history and social etiology of addictive behaviors are examined thoroughly.

AD 673 Clinical Supervision in Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counseling

This course synthesizes psychodynamic skills, family therapy, and developmental approaches to supervision into a coherent framework that captures the essence of this unique discipline.

AD 674 Group Psychotherapy with Adult Children of Alcoholics – Treatment Techniques and Countertransference Considerations

A powerful course that describes proven strategies for defeating alcohol and drug addiction through the use of group psychotherapy.

AD 667 Childhood and Chemical Abuse Prevention / Intervention

A compelling text that highlights the most recent prevention and intervention strategies for fighting substance abuse among children and adolescents. Edited by Stephanie Griswold-Ezekoye, M.Ed., MPH; Karol Kumpfer, Ph.D.; and William Bukoski, Ph.D.

AD 676 Treating Addicted Survivors of Trauma

Integrating mental health paradigms with disease models of addiction, this course combines psychotherapeutic techniques with 12-step recovery practices to provide an easy-to-replicate model for the effective assessment and treatment of substance abusers who are survivors of childhood abuse and other traumas.

AD 671 Practical Approaches in Treating Adolescent Chemical Dependency: A Guide to Clinical Assessment and Intervention

This course on adolescent chemical dependence illustrates, in a practical way, the major issues of ongoing care, from intervention and assessment through aftercare and relapse.

AD 672 The Treatment of Shame and Guilt in Alcoholism

Experienced alcoholism counselors offer proven strategies for resolving these feelings that are so deeply entangled in the development and perpetuation of alcoholism.

AD 669 Evaluation of Employee Assistance Programs

This course reviews the history and development of EAPs in North America and offers practical frameworks and suggestions for planning and implementing these programs.

RP 600 Data Gathering and Analysis

This course focuses on data collection from the standpoint of knowledge dissemination and utilization. This focus requires students to understand the process of data gathering from the perspectives of research and development, social science, and problem formation and solution. This course also reviews statistical inference and description. These competencies are addressed by topic in the course presentation.

RP 601 Research Methods

This is a survey course on research in the managerial, natural, and social sciences. It focuses on the whys and hows of doing research including the areas of experimental design, data collection, types of data analysis, and presentation of results. While we explore the kinds of analysis data are subjected to and when each kind is most useful for enabling us to draw reliable conclusions, there is no actual statistical analysis in this course.

RP 602 Professional Publishing Methods

Publishing one’s work in books, journals or magazines can boost one’s career, but having an advanced degree does not guarantee that a person will be published. In this course, the student will learn how to develop ideas for publication in books, professional and popular journals, how to sell those ideas to editors, and how to write books and articles in plain and readable, yet interesting, English.

RP 605 Research Project

The Ph.D. candidate will demonstrate, using standard research methods, new knowledge in a field of study that represents his/her degree path. A Précis, outlining the topic and a specific problem to be solved, must be submitted to the candidate’s committee for pre-approval. Depending on the nature of the research, the candidate will be required to prove or disprove a stated solution or theory through documented research, data gathering, and data analysis. A summation of the findings must be submitted in written form. The written research project will be included in the candidate’s dissertation as an appendix, with its own bibliography.

AD 690 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 addiction counseling at the Ph.D. level.

TH 610 Ph.D. Dissertation – 25,000 word minimum

Upon completion of the required credits of core curriculum courses at the 600 level, the student will prepare a 25,000-word dissertation in a publishable format following Westbrook University’s published guidelines. The dissertation will reflect the student’s theoretical and practical understanding necessary for their field of concentration. The dissertation will reflect the student’s newly acquired direction in his / her techniques and a presentation of a preferred approach in the field. Findings will be based upon the core curriculum of the course, however, the student will have ample latitude in using other sources as well. The goal of the dissertation will be for the student to bring in his contributions to the field of their concentration. The required research project will be an addendum to the dissertation.