Counseling Minor Courses

Course Number and Name	Description	Full Syllabus
COU1121 Counseling	[Course Description]	[Full Syllabus]
COU2121 Counseling II	[Course Description]	[Full Syllabus]
COU2688 Grief Counseling	[Course Description]	[Full Syllabus]
COU3121 Counseling III	[Course Description]	[Full Syllabus]

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COURSE DESCRIPTION

The Counseling course provides an advanced exploration of key counseling methodologies, practices, and techniques aimed at supporting clients with a range of mental health issues. Designed for individuals in the counseling profession or those aiming to deepen their understanding of therapeutic practices, this course covers various counseling approaches, from person-centered therapy to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and trauma-informed care. Students will gain insights into the ethical considerations of counseling, multicultural competencies, and specialized techniques for addressing issues like grief, anxiety, and addiction.

This course emphasizes the development of counseling skills that foster self-awareness, empathy, and the ability to work with clients from diverse backgrounds. By the end of the course, students will have the tools and techniques to engage effectively with clients in one-on-one and group settings, address complex psychological issues, and guide clients through the healing process.

Key Points

Counseling Ethics and Professional Boundaries: This key point addresses the ethical standards and boundaries essential to the counseling profession. Students will learn about confidentiality, informed consent, and the importance of maintaining professional boundaries. This section also emphasizes the counselor’s role in respecting clients’ autonomy and providing ethical guidance.
Person-Centered Therapy (PCT): Person-Centered Therapy, developed by Carl Rogers, emphasizes the importance of creating a safe and supportive environment where clients can explore their thoughts and emotions without judgment. This key point covers the principles of empathy, unconditional positive regard, and congruence as critical components of effective counseling.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT): Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is a widely used therapeutic approach that focuses on identifying and changing negative thought patterns and behaviors. This key point explains how CBT helps clients reframe unhelpful thoughts, develop coping mechanisms, and manage conditions such as anxiety, depression, and trauma.
Multicultural Counseling Competencies: This section highlights the significance of cultural competence in counseling. Students will learn to recognize and respect the cultural identities of clients and how to address the unique challenges that arise in multicultural counseling. Techniques for building rapport and understanding diverse worldviews will be covered.
Trauma-Informed Counseling: Trauma-informed care is essential for clients who have experienced trauma or PTSD. This key point delves into approaches for safely and effectively addressing trauma, including the use of techniques like Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and exposure therapy. Students will learn how to create a supportive and healing environment for trauma survivors.
Motivational Interviewing (MI): Motivational Interviewing is a counseling approach that focuses on enhancing clients’ intrinsic motivation to change. This key point explains how MI techniques help clients resolve ambivalence, overcome resistance, and commit to behavioral changes, particularly in the context of addiction and substance abuse.

Core Learning Outcomes

Understand Counseling Ethics and Boundaries: Demonstrate an understanding of ethical standards in counseling, including confidentiality, informed consent, and maintaining professional boundaries.
Apply Person-Centered Therapy Principles: Employ empathy, unconditional positive regard, and congruence in creating a supportive counseling environment for clients.
Use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Techniques: Identify and modify negative thought patterns in clients, applying CBT techniques to manage conditions like anxiety and depression.
Develop Multicultural Competency: Recognize and address the cultural identities of clients, adapting counseling techniques to meet diverse needs.
Provide Trauma-Informed Care: Use trauma-sensitive approaches to create a safe environment for trauma survivors, employing techniques like EMDR and exposure therapy.
Implement Motivational Interviewing Techniques: Guide clients in resolving ambivalence and achieving behavioral change, particularly in contexts involving addiction and substance abuse.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The Counseling II course offers an advanced exploration of modern counseling practices, specifically tailored for experienced counselors seeking to deepen their expertise. The course focuses on advanced therapeutic techniques and integrative approaches that address complex client needs. Emphasizing trauma-informed care, neuroscience in counseling, and multicultural frameworks, this course equips professionals with the tools necessary to handle challenging cases across various settings.

Participants will refine their skills in group counseling, somatic therapies, and attachment-based interventions while also learning how to integrate mindfulness and existential approaches into their practice. Through a combination of theory and practical applications, this course ensures that participants gain a comprehensive understanding of contemporary counseling techniques to support diverse client populations.

Key Points

Advanced Psychodynamic Counseling Approaches: This section delves into the unconscious conflicts and deep-rooted issues that affect clients’ present-day behaviors. The course covers techniques that help identify and resolve past conflicts that manifest in current relationships, enhancing the counselor’s ability to work with clients who have unresolved emotional struggles.
Trauma-Informed Counseling Practices: Focusing on trauma-sensitive approaches, this module highlights the importance of safety, trust-building, and avoiding re-traumatization. Participants will learn how to recognize trauma symptoms and integrate trauma-informed care into therapy sessions, ensuring a client-centered approach that respects emotional vulnerability.
Mindfulness-Based Counseling Interventions: This section explores mindfulness as an essential therapeutic tool, teaching counselors how to incorporate mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy (MBCT) to help clients manage anxiety, depression, and emotional regulation. The course emphasizes present-moment awareness and nonjudgmental acceptance of thoughts and feelings.
Somatic and Body-Centered Counseling Techniques: Somatic therapies focus on the body’s role in storing trauma and stress. This module helps counselors understand how physical sensations can be incorporated into the therapeutic process, enabling clients to release tension and process trauma through body-based interventions.
Integrative Counseling Approaches: Integrative therapy blends various therapeutic techniques to meet clients’ unique needs. This section covers how to effectively combine modalities like cognitive-behavioral therapy, existential therapy, and humanistic approaches, allowing counselors to tailor their interventions based on the complexity of each case.
Advanced Group Counseling Techniques: Group therapy provides a powerful platform for collective healing. In this module, participants will explore advanced group facilitation techniques, focusing on the “here and now” approach, fostering cohesion, and addressing group dynamics. Counselors will learn to manage complex group interactions while facilitating emotional growth among participants.

Core Learning Outcomes

Apply Advanced Psychodynamic Techniques: Utilize psychodynamic approaches to help clients uncover and resolve unconscious conflicts impacting present relationships and behaviors.
Implement Trauma-Informed Care: Integrate trauma-sensitive strategies to create a safe and supportive environment, minimizing re-traumatization and respecting client vulnerability.
Incorporate Mindfulness-Based Interventions: Apply mindfulness techniques such as MBSR and MBCT to assist clients in managing emotional regulation and stress.
Use Somatic Counseling Techniques: Employ body-centered approaches to support clients in processing trauma and releasing physical tension.
Integrate Diverse Counseling Modalities: Adapt integrative counseling techniques by combining therapeutic modalities tailored to complex client cases.
Facilitate Advanced Group Counseling: Utilize advanced group facilitation techniques to manage group dynamics, foster cohesion, and support emotional growth among participants.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The Grief Counseling course provides an in-depth exploration of the emotional, psychological, and physical aspects of grief. It is designed to equip professionals with advanced techniques and strategies for supporting individuals through the complex grieving process. This course goes beyond basic counseling techniques and delves into specialized topics such as complicated grief, the neuroscience of grief, and trauma-informed counseling, making it essential for counselors working with clients who experience various forms of loss.

By the end of this course, participants will be prepared to offer comprehensive support to individuals facing grief, using advanced approaches tailored to specific client needs, including children, aging individuals, and those impacted by sudden traumatic loss. The course also emphasizes the role of social support, expressive therapies, and cultural perspectives in grief counseling.

Key Points

Understanding Grief Across Cultures: This key point covers the diverse ways grief is experienced and expressed across different cultures. It focuses on the significance of cultural rituals, family structures, and how cultural beliefs shape the grieving process.
Complicated Grief and Its Implications: Complicated grief is a prolonged and intense form of grief that can disrupt a person’s ability to function. This point explores how to recognize complicated grief and provides evidence-based interventions for helping clients move through this difficult experience.
The Neuroscience of Grief: Understanding how grief impacts brain function is essential for addressing its effects on emotional regulation and cognitive processes. This section delves into the neuroscience behind grief and how it affects memory, emotional processing, and behavior.
The Role of Social Support in Grief Recovery: Social support is crucial for healing during the grieving process. This point explores the various types of social support available and how counselors can help clients build or access strong support networks.
Grief in Aging and Cumulative Losses: Older adults often experience multiple losses over time, which can complicate the grieving process. This point highlights the specific challenges of grief in aging populations and offers strategies for addressing cumulative losses.
Supporting Grief in Children and Adolescents: Children and adolescents experience grief differently from adults. This key point covers age-appropriate grief interventions, including expressive therapies like art and play therapy, which help young individuals process loss in healthy ways.

Core Learning Outcomes

Understand Cultural Perspectives on Grief: Recognize and respect diverse cultural expressions of grief, understanding the role of rituals, family structures, and beliefs in the grieving process.
Identify and Address Complicated Grief: Detect signs of complicated grief and apply evidence-based interventions to support clients through prolonged and intense grief.
Apply Neuroscience Insights to Grief Counseling: Utilize knowledge of how grief affects brain function to support emotional regulation, memory, and behavior in clients experiencing loss.
Facilitate Social Support Networks: Help clients build or access strong support networks as a crucial component of grief recovery.
Address Cumulative Losses in Aging Populations: Provide specialized strategies to support older adults facing multiple losses and the challenges associated with aging.
Support Grieving Children and Adolescents: Implement age-appropriate interventions, including expressive therapies, to help young clients process loss healthily and constructively.

COURSE DESCRIPTION

The “Counseling III” course offers an advanced exploration of integrative and specialized counseling techniques designed to address complex client issues. Building upon foundational and intermediate counseling concepts, this course delves into advanced therapeutic modalities, emphasizing a comprehensive approach that integrates cognitive, emotional, relational, and cultural dimensions of counseling. It is tailored for experienced practitioners seeking to deepen their expertise and enhance their ability to work with diverse client populations, including those facing intricate psychological, relational, and existential challenges.

The course covers a wide range of topics, including advanced cognitive-behavioral therapy applications, neuroscience-informed interventions, emotion-focused strategies, integrative family therapy, and existential counseling approaches. It emphasizes the development of a personalized and flexible therapeutic framework, equipping counselors with the knowledge and skills to address the unique needs of each client. This course is essential for counselors aiming to expand their repertoire of interventions, foster holistic healing, and promote resilience and growth in clients.

Key Points

Advanced Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (CBT) Applications: This key point focuses on the application of CBT in complex cases, such as personality disorders, trauma, and chronic mental health conditions. It introduces advanced CBT techniques like schema therapy and cognitive processing therapy (CPT) to target deep-seated cognitive distortions and maladaptive belief systems. By integrating mindfulness and experiential exercises, counselors learn to offer a more nuanced and effective approach to cognitive and behavioral change.
Integrative Family Therapy Approaches: Integrative family therapy approaches combine elements of systemic, narrative, and solution-focused techniques to address complex family dynamics. This section covers strategies for exploring communication patterns, relational roles, and family-of-origin influences. Emphasizing cultural sensitivity and adaptability, counselors gain the skills to foster positive change within diverse family structures and dynamics, promoting healthier interactions and conflict resolution.
Existential-Humanistic Approaches to Deep-Seated Issues: Existential-humanistic counseling addresses profound concerns such as existential anxiety, identity crises, and the search for meaning. This key point explores techniques like existential exploration, phenomenological inquiry, and values clarification, guiding clients to confront existential concerns and cultivate authentic living. Counselors learn to create a therapeutic environment that is accepting, non-judgmental, and conducive to deep self-exploration and personal growth.
Advanced Trauma and Grief Counseling: This section focuses on advanced techniques for trauma and grief counseling, including EMDR, somatic experiencing, and narrative therapy. It emphasizes the importance of creating a safe therapeutic environment for processing traumatic memories and integrating loss experiences. Counselors are equipped with the tools to navigate the complexities of trauma and grief, fostering healing, resilience, and the integration of clients’ experiences into their life narratives.
Counseling for Identity and Life Transitions: Counseling for identity-related issues and life transitions involves supporting clients through cultural identity challenges, gender identity exploration, and significant life changes. This key point covers techniques like narrative therapy, identity exploration, and life mapping, helping clients build a stronger sense of self and navigate changes with confidence. Counselors learn to facilitate self-exploration, validate clients’ experiences, and promote self-acceptance and resilience.
Advanced Techniques in Integrative Counseling Approaches: The course covers advanced integrative counseling approaches, including Integrative Psychotherapy and Multimodal Therapy. This section emphasizes the blending of cognitive-behavioral, humanistic, psychodynamic, and systemic approaches to create personalized and effective interventions. Counselors develop a client-centered focus, ethical sensitivity, and cultural awareness, enhancing their ability to promote holistic healing and address the complex and multifaceted nature of clients’ issues.

Core Learning Outcomes

Utilize Advanced CBT Techniques: Apply advanced CBT methods, such as schema therapy and CPT, to address complex cognitive distortions and support cognitive-behavioral change.
Implement Integrative Family Therapy: Use systemic, narrative, and solution-focused techniques to support positive change within diverse family structures.
Facilitate Existential Exploration: Apply existential-humanistic approaches to address deep-seated concerns, helping clients cultivate authentic living and confront existential issues.
Provide Trauma and Grief Support: Use advanced trauma and grief counseling techniques to foster resilience, healing, and integration of traumatic experiences.
Guide Identity Exploration and Transitions: Support clients in navigating identity-related issues and life changes through narrative therapy, life mapping, and self-exploration.
Apply Integrative Counseling Approaches: Blend therapeutic approaches, including cognitive-behavioral, humanistic, and psychodynamic techniques, to promote holistic healing tailored to client needs.