Course Descriptions

COU 3301:  Substance Abuse in Family, Schools, andCommunity

This course introduces the student to the concept of addictions; their effect the individual, family, school, and community (including the workplace).  The course includes an examination of the basic physical and psychological impacts of addiction as well as current theory on how addictions develop.  The course then explores the pattern of interaction in society with an addicted person.  The course also reviews governmental efforts in safety sensitive occupations and current theories, trends, and practices in treatment.

COU 3302: Paradigms of Mental Health

This is a study in the various paradigms in the mental health field to include psychiatry, psychology, social work, counseling and family therapy.  Emphasis is upon the theoretical and practical delivery of these services and their differences and similarities.

COU 3303: “Bereavement Counseling”

A study of the factors involved in, and the recommended counseling procedures for, the bereavement processes commonly seen in marital separation/divorce, death/dying, and other grief/loss experiences.

COU 4301: Mental Health and Community Counseling

This course is designed to provide students with basic counseling skills that they can use during an approved, supervised community counseling experience of 100 hours, beginning at the eighth week of instruction and continuing weekly until the end of the semester.  As part of the course, students will have the opportunity to participate in individual and group counseling situations, take part in clinical staffing meetings, the intake process, and attend general staff meetings.  To prepare for the clinical experience, students will learn basic skills and practice of models typically used in a community based mental health agency, and practice such models through presentations and role play experiences in the classroom.

COU 4302:  Disaster Mental Health:  Crisis and

         Trauma

This course enables a student to differentiate between crisis and trauma.  It develops the fundamental skills that enable a student to assist with the psychological and physiological effects from traumatic stress and critical incident stress on the individual, the family, and the community.  The student acquires the intervention skills to be a valuable volunteer for community organizations.

COU 4303: Counseling Children and Adolescents in Schools and Communities

This course is designed to provide students with counseling skills that have been shown to be effective with children and adolescents, ages 5 through 18 years of age. In order to provide these skills, the course will involve direct instruction of models of counseling that work well with children and adolescents and role play situations throughout the semester to increase competency of the skills.

In addition to information on basic counseling skills, video cases will be presented by the instructor and the students will be required to make 10 hours of observations of children or adolescents in a university approved school or agency setting where counseling takes place.