SYLLABUS

COURSE: EDCP 610 PROFESSIONAL ORIENTATION TO COUNSELING

EMAIL ADDRESS: clement.marcantonio@lnd.amedd.army.mil

OFFICE HOURS: Prior to class; after class on day one or by appointment

REQUIRED TEXTS:

--Neukrug, E. (1999). The world of the counselor: An introduction to counseling. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

--Neukrug, E. (1999). The world of the counselor: An experiential workbook for developing professional competencies. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

--Egan, G. (1998). The skilled helper: A problem-management approach to helping (6^th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

--Egan, G. (1998). Exercises in helping skills (6^th ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.

--American Psychological Association. (1994) Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (4^th ed.). Washington, D.C.: Author.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

This course is designed to provide an introduction to the counseling profession and an overview of counseling strategies, concepts, and practices. Students will practice basic counseling skills. It reflects the common-core curriculum areas specified by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP)The course will consist of lecture and/or discussion, role-plays, and other experiential activities. Students should be prepared to be active and involved participants and to bring an open mind and a sense of humor!

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

By the end of this course, CAPS students will be expected to:

1. Know the history of the counseling profession;

2. Know a variety of counseling methodologies to include psychodynamic, affective, cognitive and behavioral theories;

3. Examine the personal and professional qualities of effective counselors;

4. Describe and discuss common aspects of ethical and legal issues in counseling;

5. Identify; discuss counseling as a specialty. This is to include areas on consultation, group counseling, school and college counseling, marriage and family counseling, rehabilitation and mental health counseling, career counseling, multi-cultural perspectives, evaluation and research and psychological tests.

6. Be familiar with the basic concepts of APA writing style.

COURSE EVALUATION/METHOD OF OBTAINING COURSE CREDIT:

Each student will have the opportunity to earn course credit through varied, required tasks. Credit will be earned in the form of points, with a point value attached to each task. These points will relate to the student's final grade.

* REACTION ARTICLES

The student will select two articles from journals specified in class, and the topic will focus on the philosophy of mental health counseling and/or intervention approaches. A report will be written to include:

The student will be expected to give a brief summary and critique of the article in class.

Assignment is due on Sunday, 3 September 2000.

* SPECIAL POPULATION REPORT

Each member of the class will choose a different, special problem from the list to be distributed in class. This selection should be done early in the term, and then the report: approximately 8-10, double-spaced, typewritten pages, will consist of the following components:

Incidence and prevalence, diagnostic issues; existing approaches from the literature to solve the problem.

Develop, conduct, and write a needs assessment for your special population. This should involve interviews with at least two persons experienced with the special problem (i.e., those having the problem or helpers).

Based on what you have learned in the needs assessment, select and develop an intervention strategy (see list B to be distributed). This will be done in the form of a class presentation, done as a presentation to an agency board of directors for their consideration. The rest of the class will act as the agency board. An outline of the intervention strategy will be included in your paper.

Visit an agency that works with this special problem. Find out their approach and evaluate how effective they work with this problem. In your paper include their stated approach to the problem, actual practices used, effectiveness, evaluation criteria, and ways that the agency could improve its service for clients with this particular problem.

* FACILITY VISIT REPORT

The handout to be distributed in class will indicate the areas that are to be covered in this report. Agencies will be identified in class, and the student is asked to write a 7-8 page paper responding to the identified areas/content, following their visit.

This report is due on Sunday, 1 October 2000.

* CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES

Basically, this is a "hands on" course. Students will be working in groups and class participation is expected. Role playing, simulated counseling interviews, practice of skills/techniques using concepts presented in class, etc. will be heavily emphasized. While the specific activities will not be graded, the overall performance and participation of the student will be part of the final grade.

The points a student may accumulate are as follows:

Reaction Article

30 pts

Special Population Report

90 pts

Facility Visit Report

60 pts

Attendance and Participation

40 pts

(25 of these points will be for class participation)

A: 200-220 pts

B: 175-199 pts

C: Less than 175 pts.

TEXT ASSIGNMENTS: NEUKRUG: THE WORLD OF THE COUNSELOR:

19/20 AUG: CHAPTERS 1-5

2/3 SEPT: CHAPTERS 6-10

16/17 SEPT: CHAPTERS 11-15

30 SEPT: CHAPTERS 16-20

FINAL EXAMINATION:

The final exam will include all assigned text material as well as any additional articles/handouts provided by the instructor. The final will be held on 1 October 2000, the last day of class.

CONFIDENTIALITY:

This course is designed to be highly experiential. It will allow students to share personal information with the members of the class. It is everyone's responsibility to create a climate of safety and respect for the rights to privacy of others. It goes without saying that confidentiality is a must and a responsibility on the part of all participants.

NOTE:

Students are expected to attend every weekend class. It is also understood that unavoidable circumstances may make absences necessary for some students. In such cases, it is the responsibility of the student to inform the instructor ahead of time and to compensate for the loss of classroom time by proposing a make-up project.

WELCOME TO EDCP 61O PROFESSIONAL ORIENTATION TO COUNSELING! I HOPE IT WILL BE A REWARDING EXPERIENCE FOR YOU!

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