Individual Counseling and Psychotherapy Techniques

Catalog description

The crucial skills and strategies of counseling and psychotherapy establish a basic structure applicable to many theories that counselors can employ and integrate into their natural helping style. Students would study and apply the multi-culturally sensitive micro-skills approach to provide the necessary background for competence in listening, influencing, and structuring an effective counseling session with individuals, families, couples, and marriages. Through practice sessions, students would master a basic structure for the session applicable to many different theories, including developing an empathic relationship and working alliance with the client, drawing out the client’s story with special attention to strengths and resources, setting clear goals with the client, enabling the client to restructure and think differently about concerns, issues, and challenges, and helping the client move to action outside the session. In addition, students would acquire skills for identifying and addressing common issues in working with clients’ spiritual/religious issues to promote optimal functioning to increase meaning and purpose in life. Finally, strength and character assessment and feedback are employed to promote counselor dispositions in the counseling process.