F. CACREP Common Curricular Areas
All students in each of the four degree programs in the department will develop and exhibit the following knowledge and skill competencies:
- PROFESSIONAL COUNSELING ORIENTATION AND ETHICAL PRACTICE
- history and philosophy of the counseling profession and its specialty areas
- the multiple professional roles and functions of counselors across specialty areas, and their relationships with human service and integrated behavioral health care systems, including interagency and interorganizational collaboration and consultation
- counselors’ roles and responsibilities as members of interdisciplinary community outreach and emergency management response teams
- the role and process of the professional counselor advocating on behalf of the profession
- advocacy processes needed to address institutional and social barriers that impede access, equity, and success for clients
- professional counseling organizations, including membership benefits, activities, services to members, and current issues
- professional counseling credentialing, including certification, licensure, and accreditation practices and standards, and the effects of public policy on these issues
- current labor market information relevant to opportunities for practice within the counseling profession
- ethical standards of professional counseling organizations and credentialing bodies, and applications of ethical and legal considerations in professional counseling
- technology’s impact on the counseling profession
- strategies for personal and professional self-evaluation and implications for practice
- self-care strategies appropriate to the counselor role
- the role of counseling supervision in the profession
- SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY
- multicultural and pluralistic characteristics within and among diverse groups nationally and internationally
- theories and models of multicultural counseling, cultural identity development, and social justice and advocacy
- multicultural counseling competencies
- the impact of heritage, attitudes, beliefs, understandings, and acculturative experiences on an individual’s views of others
- the effects of power and privilege for counselors and clients
- help-seeking behaviors of diverse clients
- the impact of spiritual beliefs on clients’ and counselors’ worldviews
- strategies for identifying and eliminating barriers, prejudices, and processes of intentional and unintentional oppression and discrimination
- HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
- theories of individual and family development across the lifespan
- theories of learning
- theories of normal and abnormal personality development
- theories and etiology of addictions and addictive behaviors
- biological, neurological, and physiological factors that affect human development, functioning, and behavior
- systemic and environmental factors that affect human development, functioning, and behavior
- effects of crisis, disasters, and trauma on diverse individuals across the lifespan
- a general framework for understanding differing abilities and strategies for differentiated interventions
- ethical and culturally relevant strategies for promoting resilience and optimum development and wellness across the lifespan
- CAREER DEVELOPMENT
- theories and models of career development, counseling, and decision making
- approaches for conceptualizing the interrelationships among and between work, mental well-being, relationships, and other life roles and factors
- processes for identifying and using career, avocational, educational, occupational and labor market information resources, technology, and information systems
- approaches for assessing the conditions of the work environment on clients’ life experiences
- strategies for assessing abilities, interests, values, personality and other factors that contribute to career development
- strategies for career development program planning, organization, implementation, administration, and evaluation
- strategies for advocating for diverse clients’ career and educational development and employment opportunities in a global economy
- strategies for facilitating client skill development for career, educational, and life-work planning and management
- methods of identifying and using assessment tools and techniques relevant to career planning and decision making
- ethical and culturally relevant strategies for addressing career development
- COUNSELING AND HELPING RELATIONSHIPS
- theories and models of counseling
- a systems approach to conceptualizing clients
- theories, models, and strategies for understanding and practicing consultation
- ethical and culturally relevant strategies for establishing and maintaining in-person and technology-assisted relationships
- the impact of technology on the counseling process
- counselor characteristics and behaviors that influence the counseling process
- essential interviewing, counseling, and case conceptualization skills
- developmentally relevant counseling treatment or intervention plans
- development of measurable outcomes for clients
- evidence-based counseling strategies and techniques for prevention and intervention
- strategies to promote client understanding of and access to a variety of community-based resources
- suicide prevention models and strategies
- crisis intervention, trauma-informed, and community-based strategies, such as Psychological First Aid
- processes for aiding students in developing a personal model of counseling
- GROUP COUNSELING AND GROUP WORK
- theoretical foundations of group counseling and group work
- dynamics associated with group process and development
- therapeutic factors and how they contribute to group effectiveness
- characteristics and functions of effective group leaders
- approaches to group formation, including recruiting, screening, and selecting members
- types of groups and other considerations that affect conducting groups in varied settings
- ethical and culturally relevant strategies for designing and facilitating groups
- direct experiences in which students participate as group members in a small group activity, approved by the program, for a minimum of 10 clock hours over the course of one academic term
- ASSESSMENT AND TESTING
- historical perspectives concerning the nature and meaning of assessment and testing in counseling
- methods of effectively preparing for and conducting initial assessment meetings
- procedures for assessing risk of aggression or danger to others, self-inflicted harm, or suicide
- procedures for identifying trauma and abuse and for reporting abuse
- use of assessments for diagnostic and intervention planning purposes
- basic concepts of standardized and non-standardized testing, norm-referenced and criterion-referenced assessments, and group and individual assessments
- statistical concepts, including scales of measurement, measures of central tendency, indices of variability, shapes and types of distributions, and correlations
- reliability and validity in the use of assessments
- use of assessments relevant to academic/educational, career, personal, and social development
- use of environmental assessments and systematic behavioral observations
- use of symptom checklists, and personality and psychological testing
- use of assessment results to diagnose developmental, behavioral, and mental disorders
- ethical and culturally relevant strategies for selecting, administering, and interpreting assessment and test results
- RESEARCH AND PROGRAM EVALUATION
- the importance of research in advancing the counseling profession, including how to critique research to inform counseling practice
- identification of evidence-based counseling practices
- needs assessments
- development of outcome measures for counseling programs
- evaluation of counseling interventions and programs
- qualitative, quantitative, and mixed research methods
- designs used in research and program evaluation
- statistical methods used in conducting research and program evaluation
- analysis and use of data in counseling
- ethical and culturally relevant strategies for conducting, interpreting, and reporting the results of research and/or program evaluation