Community Counseling - Northwest Christian University

Community Counseling from Northwest Christian University is a Campus Master Community Health degree that prepares you for a Healthcare career. Purpose The Master of Arts in Community Counseling Program trains students in the art and science of counseling within a Christian frame of reference. In this program, students gain a solid foundation of counseling skills, procedures, and theories based on current research. Building upon that base, students develop a theoretical orientation to counseling that matches their own personality and value system. The program is Board-approved by the Oregon Board of Licensed Professional Counselors and Therapists for those persons desiring to become Licensed Professional Counselors. Students are encouraged to individualize their graduate study experience through choices of topics for papers and presentations within the required coursework and through choice of internship site and topic of master?s thesis. Thus, students gain a balance between a broad perspective of counseling and a ?specialization? in an area of interest. The 48-credit curriculum is two years long. Required coursework in counseling theories and foundations is integrated with applied clinical experience. Students begin their clinical experience at the University?s on-site Counseling Center during their second semester, scheduling clients and supervision as their schedules allow. The capstone of the program is a three-semester 12-credit internship in the second year when students work about 16 hours a week in a counseling agency in the community. Students also complete a master?s thesis in their final semester of study or an Advanced Clinical Practicum the following academic year. Program Objectives Upon completion of the Master of Arts in Community Counseling Program, candidates will be able to: demonstrate an understanding of the theories and foundations of counseling and human behavior; verbalize a personal theoretical orientation to counseling; conduct an initial client assessment; formulate a treatment plan for brief counseling; deliver supervised counseling services to individuals and groups (a minimum of 600 clock hours of supervised clinical experience shall be documented, including 100 hours of clinical supervision); model professional ethical practices and adhere to legal requirements for counselors; demonstrate an awareness of current social issues affecting clients, including substance abuse, crime and violence, homelessness, unemployment, child and elder abuse, and sexual abuse; demonstrate an awareness of spiritual issues affecting clients, including guilt, forgiveness, and value conflicts; demonstrate tolerance and respect for differences among people and be able to work with a variety of individuals from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds; collaborate with community networks and referral resources to establish continuity of care for clients; demonstrate knowledge of basic statistical methods and content of the literature on counseling research and conduct library research by writing a comprehensive thesis on a topic related to counseling; and develop and exhibit a professional identity as a counselor. View more details on Northwest Christian University . Ask your questions and apply online for this program or find other related Community Health courses.