Course Outline - Principles of Counseling
Course Description
This course offers an introduction to the techniques of effective counseling and the characteristics of the effective counselor. It will acquaint the learner with Scripture-oriented methods of providing pastoral, educational, and professional counseling. Legal and ethical issues will be discussed and differences and similarities between pastoral and professional counseling will be described.
Course Objectives
Upon the successful completion of this course, you should be able to:
· Formulate a Biblical basis for counseling
· Describe a variety of counseling techniques which may be applicable to a specific situation
· Adequately demonstrate several different effective counseling techniques
· Describe the characteristics of the effective counselor
· Explain the differences and similarities of pastoral, educational, and professional counseling
· Identify legal and ethical issues which relate to the counseling process
Course Lectures
Every course lecture provided via CD-ROM, must be listened to in order to successfully complete this course. A one-page, typed, doubled-spaced summary for each audio segment is required. This load however will be shared by all the members of the class which will then reduce this load falling on any one person.
Course Discussion
Classes will meet for 5 sessions where we will discuss the main things that you have been learning. You should endeavor to listen to the audio material prior to coming to class. We will let you know which tapes that you should listen to. Some you will be responsible to briefly summarize the main points of the audio segments. Others will be assigned to provide a summary of the main points and ideas in the textbooks. We will proceed with some further discussion on the matters relevant to the course.
GENERAL OUTLINE OF THE COURSE
Syllabus
Introduction and the Goal of Counseling
Christianity and Psychology: Allies or Enemies
Characteristics of the Effective Counselor
Personal Needs
Motivation
Personality Structure
Quiz 1
How Problems Develop I
How Problems Develop II
What Do You Try to Change?
A Simple Model for Counseling
A Simple Model for Counseling continued
Counseling in the Christian Community
Quiz 2
Child Counseling
Adolescent Counseling
Pre-Marital Counseling
Marriage Counseling
Recognizing and Dealing with Child, Elder or Spousal Abuse
Dealing with Anger
Dealing with Depression
Dealing with Infidelity
Crisis Counseling
Quiz 3
Final Examination
Textbooks
Effective Biblical Counseling. Dr. Larry Crabb. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1977.
Healing for Damaged Emotions. David A. Seamands. Colorado Springs, CO: Chariot Victor Publishing, 1991.
Required Reading
The course textbooks will be read in their entirety by the end of the semester.
The Holy Bible (selected passages of Scripture will be read throughout the semester).
All class handouts must be read in their entirety.
Course Project
Each learner will be required to write and submit a 2,000-word term paper. The specifications for the paper are as follows:
1” margins on all sides (left, right, top, and bottom)
12 point font (Ariel or New Courier)
APA (5th edition) format (American Psychological Association; this can be obtained at any major bookstore or through a public library), including:
Title page
Abstract page
NO table of contents required
Body of paper (introduction, body, and conclusion)
Bibliography (a minimum of five resources other than the course text, Bibles, Bible Dictionaries, and Commentaries is required)
NOTE: Any papers not following this format and the specifications listed above will be returned for no credit. The course project is due when the learner is ready to take the final examination. Late papers will not be accepted. Papers will be graded on format, content, grammar, and spelling. The possible topics are as follows:
· Christianity and Psychology: Enemies or Allies?
· The Biblical Basis for Counseling
· Techniques for a Biblical Approach to Counseling
· The Impact of the Sin Nature on the Development of Human Problems
Quizzes
Three quizzes besides the final examination will be given. Each quiz will be based on three components: 1) audio lectures, 2) the assigned reading, and 3) any handouts presented in class. To see what each quiz will cover, refer to the course outline on below. The quizzes will contain true or false, multiple choice, short answer, and some short essay questions.
Final Examination
The final examination will draw largely from the material on the three quizzes.
Grading
Your final grade will be an average of four components:
Audio Lectures/Summaries
200 points
Required Reading
100 points
Quizzes
100 points
Course Project
450 points
Final Examinations
150 points
Total
1000 points
Accommodations for Learners with Disabilities
Learners with a documented disability who would like to request reasonable academic accommodations are invited to contact the instructor to discuss accommodative arrangements.
NOTE: The instructor reserves the right to make any necessary changes to the syllabus