Individuals who would like to take some graduate courses for professional development, continuing education credits, or just personal enrichment may take up to 9 graduate credits as a non-degree special student. Learn more
MHC 501 Foundations of Mental Health Counseling
This course introduces the history and development of clinical mental health counseling, theories and models related to clinical mental health counseling, including the role of technology, principles of clinical mental health counseling, including prevention, intervention, consultation, education, and advocacy, self-evaluation within that role, and networks that promote mental health and wellness. 3 credits.
MHC 527 Human Growth and Development
This course provides an understanding of the nature and needs of persons at all developmental levels and in multicultural contexts. Students will learn theories related to the following: individual and family development and transitions across the life span; learning and personality development including neurobiological behavior; models of individual, cultural, couple, family, and community resilience; and theories and etiology of addictions and addictive behaviors, including strategies for prevention, intervention, and treatment. Effects of crises, disasters, and other trauma-causing events on persons of all ages will be explored. Students will learn a general framework for understanding exceptional abilities and strategies for differentiated interventions. Human behavior will be discussed, including an understanding of developmental crises, disability, psychopathology, and situational and environmental factors that affect both normal and abnormal behavior. Finally, strategies for facilitating optimum development over the life span will be covered. 3 credits.
MHC 535 Addictions
This seminar course provides an examination of substance use and abuse and the progressive nature of addiction. Effects on the user, children, and family are explored. An overview of the models of chemical dependency, dually diagnosed clients, intervention, treatment, DSM criteria and assessment tools are examined. 3 credits.
MHC 537 Assessment & Diagnosis in Addictions
This course will emphasize use of appropriate assessment tools and strategies for diagnosis of addictive disorders according to current diagnostic classification systems. This course will also include discussion of the effects of various psychoactive substances, and with a special focus on differential diagnosis and recognition of instances in which medical referral and/or consultation is appropriate. 3 credits.
MHC 538 Theories & Techniques in Addictions
This course will provide a review of leading theories and models of addiction. The application of these theories to treatment planning, counseling interventions, and relapse prevention will also be addressed. 3 credits.
MHC 539 Psychology of Stress & Coping
In this course the student will learn basic principles related to the psychobiology of stress & coping. Current psychological research regarding stress & coping will be examined. A variety of coping strategies will be outlined. The use of stress reduction techniques in therapy and in one’s own life will be highlighted. 3 credits.
MHC 545 Sports Psychology
Covers the basic concepts, theories & principles essential to understanding the psychological and behavioral aspects of sport. Emphasis is given to the applied aspects of the social and psychological factors of sport performance including leadership behavior, exercise motivation, personality, and self-perception. Serves to aid in the application of psychological principles to coaching in athletics. This course is cross-listed with L.CLD-545 Sports Psychology. 3 credits.
MHC 558 Child Psychopathology
A study of behavioral, developmental, and psychological disorders of childhood and adolescence. Emphasis is placed on the assessment and treatment of child psychopathology. 3 credits.
MHC 561 The Psychology of Gender
A cross-disciplinary examination of how gender influences and shapes the lives of women and men. Topics include: the process and history of gender socialization; gender in the workplace; gender images in the media and literature; differences and similarities in cognitive styles and moral reasoning. 3 credits.
MHC 595 Special Topics in Psychology
Flexible offerings that allow students an opportunity to explore, with a professor and other students, an area of mutual interest. The students for these courses are screened by the teacher(s) to ensure their potential for course contribution, since students as well as teachers are expected to present positions in the area to be studied. 3 credits.
MHC 605 Research and Program Evaluation
This course provides an understanding of research methods, statistical analysis, needs assessment, and program evaluation, including all of the following: The importance of research in advancing the counseling profession; research methods such as qualitative, quantitative, single-case designs, action research, and outcome-based research; statistical methods used in conducting research and program evaluation; principles, models, and applications of needs assessment, program evaluation, and use of findings to effect program modifications; use of research to inform evidence-based practice; and ethical and culturally relevant strategies for interpreting and reporting the results of research and program evaluation studies. 3 credits.
MHC 612 Professional Orientation & Identity
This course provides an understanding of all aspects of professional functioning. This includes history of the helping professions, roles and functions in comparison to related fields and in regards to an interdisciplinary emergency management response team, professional organizations with an emphasis on the ACA, the ACA ethical standards and their applications along with legal considerations, professional preparation standards, professional credentialing, advocacy for the profession and to address institutional and social barriers that impede access, equity, and success for clients, and self-care. 3 credits.
MHC 615 Assessment
Students will be provided with an understanding of individual and group approaches to assessment. This course includes a consideration of historical perspectives on assessment, basic concepts of standardized and non-standardized testing including norm and criterion referencing, environmental and performance evaluation, individual and group testing, behavioral observation, and computer-based methods of assessment. Statistical concepts central to the assessment process will be reviewed, with an emphasis on concepts of reliability and validity. Social and cultural factors related to assessment will be considered thoroughly. Students will become familiar with strategies for selecting, administering and interpreting assessment instruments as they relate to case conceptualization, diagnosis and the overall counseling process. Ethical and legal considerations will be considered throughout all aspects of the course. 3 credits.
MHC 623 Psychology of Adulthood and Aging
A survey of modern knowledge about the processes of becoming old (aging) and old age itself. Emphasis is placed on cognitive processes, personality, and mental health. 3 credits.
MHC 625 Psychopathology
This course will provide an understanding of emotional and mental disorders experienced by persons of all ages, characteristics of disorders, and common nosologies of emotional and mental disorders utilized within the U.S. health care system for diagnosis and treatment planning. This will include the study of cognitive, behavioral, physiological and interpersonal mechanisms for adapting to change and to stressors and the role of genetic, physiological, cognitive, environmental and interpersonal factors and their interactions on development of the form, severity, course and persistence of the various types of disorders and dysfunction. Students will examine research methods and findings pertinent to the description, and the classification, diagnosis, origin, and course of disorders and dysfunction and address theoretical perspectives relevant to the origin, development, and course and outcomes for the forms of behavior disorders and dysfunction. Finally, methods of intervention or preventions will be covered that are used to minimize and modify maladaptive behaviors, disruptive and distressful cognition, or compromised interpersonal functioning associated with various forms of maladaptation. 3 credits.
MHC 626 Diagnosis and Treatment Planning
This course provides an understanding of individual and group approaches to assessment and evaluation in a multicultural society. Students will learn principles of the diagnostic process, including differential diagnosis, and the use of current diagnostic tools, including the current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual and ICD. All diagnostic tools discussed will include relevance and potential biases as related to multicultural populations. Students will become familiar with the established diagnostic criteria for mental or emotional disorders, appropriate treatment modalities, and placement criteria within the continuum of care. Students will conceptualize clients, use diagnostic tools appropriately, and describe symptoms and clinical presentation of clients, including the impact of co-occurring substance use disorders and be able to communicate these to collaborating professionals. Finally, students will develop the ability to differentiate between diagnosis and developmentally appropriate reactions during crises, disasters, and other trauma-causing events. 3 credits.
MHC 633 Physiological Psychology
Neuroanatomical and neuro-physiological basis of behavior, relationships among anatomy and physiology, and motivation, emotion, learning, memory, and sleep. This course will also include a consideration of current major psychotropic medications, their use and impact on behavior. 3 credits.
MHC 635 Social and Cultural Diversity (PREQ 612)
This course provides an understanding of the cultural context of relationships, issues, and trends in a multicultural and diverse society. There will be focus on multicultural and pluralistic trends, including characteristics and concerns within and among diverse groups nationally and internationally. Students will identify their own attitudes, beliefs, understandings, and acculturative experiences and how these interact with others’. Experiential learning activities will foster students’ understanding of self and culturally diverse clients. Theories of multicultural counseling, identity development, and social justice will be covered, with a focus on multiple perspectives, including individual, couple, family, group, and community. Importance will be emphasized for both working with and advocating for diverse populations, including multicultural competencies. Students will earn the counselors’ roles in developing cultural self-awareness, promoting cultural social justice, advocacy, conflict resolution, eliminating biases, prejudices, and processes of intentional and unintentional oppression and discrimination. 3 credits.
MHC 637 Career and Lifestyle Development
This course provides an understanding of career development and related life factors. Students will learn career development theories and decision-making models; career, avocational, educational, occupational and labor market information resources and career information systems; career development program planning, organization, implementation, administration, and evaluation; interrelationships among and between work, family, and other life roles and factors including the role of multicultural issues in career development; career and educational planning, placement, follow-up, and evaluation; assessment instruments and techniques relevant to career planning and decision making; and career counseling processes, techniques, and resources, including those applicable to specific populations. 3 credits.
MHC 643 Group Counseling and Group Work
This course provides both theoretical and experiential understanding of group purpose, development of groups, dynamics, theories, methods, skills, and other group approaches in a multicultural society. From a theoretical standpoint, students will learn characteristics and functions of effective group leaders, group members roles and behaviors, approaches to group formation, types of groups, developmental stage theories, and ethical and culturally relevant strategies for designing and facilitating groups. The experiential component will consist of students participating as group members for a minimum of 10 hours, which will allow them to experience the theoretical applications. 3 credits.
MHC 645 Criminal Justice Risk Assessment
Examination of the historical context of risk assessment and the discovery of the principles of risk, need, and responsivity provide the backdrop for an understanding of the necessity of including risk assessment in the correctional system for purposes of prediction of recidivism and case management. Course work further extends the risk, need, and responsivity concepts in an examination of the three major types of risk assessments (adult male, adult female, and juvenile). In addition, the impact of age, race, and gender on the validity of risk assessment is examined. Finally, the course allows students to connect the academic material in the course to practical application as the theories, principles, and concepts learned during course discussions are applied to practical role modeling of risk assessment. Students completing the course will have competency in the field of risk assessment and the ability to assess male and female offenders and juvenile delinquents in the correctional and juvenile justice systems in the United States. 3 credits. As needed.
MHC 647 Helping Relationships
This course provides an understanding of counseling processes in a multicultural society, with emphasis on essential interviewing and counseling skills and the counselor characteristics and behaviors that influence the helping processes. There will be an orientation to wellness and prevention as desired counseling goals. Counseling theories will be introduced that provide the student with a model(s) to conceptualize client presentation and select appropriate counseling interventions. Students shall be exposed to models of counseling that are consistent with current professional research and practice in the field so that they can begin to develop a personal model of counseling. A systems perspective that provides an understanding of family and other systems theories and major models of family and related interventions will be covered. This course will also provide a general framework for understanding and practicing consultation and crisis intervention and suicide prevention models, including the use of psychological first-aid strategies. Finally, students will be taught the impact that technology can have on the counseling process. 3 credits.
MHC 648 Marriage and Family Counseling
A course intended for those who plan to be involved in dealing with couples whose marriages are either in trouble or who wish to actualize their marriage to a high level of fulfillment and functioning. The student will be taught how to utilize family systems theory in resolution of conflicts, communications, achieving compatibility, and in handling the spouse’s anger. The student will also acquire diagnostic and interpretive skills in uncovering underlying dynamics in marriages. 3 credits.
MHC 649 Theories of Mental Health Counseling (PREQ 647)
This course covers major theories of counseling, case conceptualization from each standpoint, and their techniques. Students will develop the ability to demonstrate competency in applying theory and selecting appropriate techniques when given specific client demographics and diagnoses. Students will also be able to analyze research support for each theory and the selection of techniques that are used within that theoretical framework. Students will develop a personal/professional philosophy of how to use theory to encourage and support therapeutic change by clients in clinical work. 3 credits.
MHC 650 Research Project
Under the direction of a faculty advisor the student designs, conducts, and interprets a research study. Prior to conducting the study the student presents a research proposal. Upon acceptance of the proposal, the student proceeds with the study. The course is completed with a final oral presentation. The research project must be completed no later than July 1 for summer graduation, November 15 for fall graduation, or April 15 for spring graduation. Open to degree candidates only. 3 credits.
MHC 655 Crisis and Trauma Counseling
Studies that include counseling approaches that effectively address crises and trauma and the impact of trauma and crisis and potential neurobiological responses. Students will learn skills and techniques for assessing and intervening in specific crisis or trauma situations, including suicide assessment and intervention, assessing risk of danger to others, and procedures for identifying trauma and abuse and for reporting abuse. 3 credits.
MHC 694 Practicum
A graduate-level clinical supervised counseling practicum in which students complete supervised practicum experiences that total a minimum of 100 clock hours. The practicum will include: At least 40 hours of direct service with actual clients that contributes to the development of counseling skills; weekly interaction with an average of one hour per week of individual or triadic supervision by a program faculty member or site supervisor; an average of 1 1/2 hours per week of group supervision that is provided regularly over the course of the practicum by a program faculty member; and evaluation of the student’s performance throughout the practicum including a formal evaluation after the student completes the practicum. 3 credits.
MHC 695 Seminar
Special topics in Psychology. Prerequisite: Written consent of instructor. Primarily for master’s candidates in Psychology. 3 credits.
MHC 696 Clinical Internship I (PREQ MHC 694)
The first half of a graduate-level clinical supervised counseling internship in a mental health setting in which students complete supervised internship experiences that total a minimum of 300 clock hours, leading to their 600 clock hours for the entire internship experience. The internship will include: At least 120 hours, leading to their 240 direct hours, of direct service with actual clients that contributes to the development of counseling skills; weekly interaction with an average of one hour per week of individual or triadic supervision by a program faculty member or site supervisor; an average of 1 1/2 hours per week of group supervision that is provided regularly over the course of the internship by a program faculty member; and evaluation of the student’s performance throughout the internship including a formal evaluation after the student completes the internship. The internship experience refelcts the comprehensive work experience of a professional counselor appropriate to clinical mental health counseling. The student will perform, under supervision, a variety of counseling activities that a mental health counselor is expected to perform. This includes the opportunity for the student to develop program appropriate audio/video recordings for use in supervision or to receive live supervision of the student’s interaction with clients. 3 credits.
MHC 698 Clinical Internship II (PREQ MHC 694, 696)
The second half of a graduate-level clinical supervised counseling internship in a mental health setting in which students complete supervised internship experiences that total a minimum of 300 clock hours, completing their 600 clock hours for the entire internship experience. The internship will include: At least 120 hours, completing their 240 direct hours, of direct service with actual clients that contributes to the development of counseling skills; weekly interaction with an average of one hour per week of individual or triadic supervision by a program faculty member or site supervisor; an average of 1 1/2 hours per week of group supervision that is provided regularly over the course of the internship by a program faculty member; and evaluation of the student’s performance throughout the internship including a formal evaluation after the student completes the internship. The internship experience reflects the comprehensive work experience of a professional counselor appropriate to clinical mental health counseling. The student will perform, under supervision, a variety of counseling activities that a mental health counselor is expected to perform working towards their independence as a mental health counselor. This includes the opportunity for the student to develop program appropriate audio/video recordings for use in supervision or to receive live supervision of the student’s interaction with clients. 3 credits.
MHC 699 Clinical Internship III (PREQ MHC 694, 696, 698)
Students are not required to take Clinical Internship III. If they do not, they will need to choose an elective course to meet the credit requirement for the Counseling program. 3 credits.
MHC 697 Independent Study
Primarily for master’s candidates in psychology. Individual investigation of a special topic under the direction of a faculty member. Permission of the Graduate Coordinator required prior to registration. Only open to degree candidates. 3 credits.
