Course Syllabus

Read Chapter 1: An Invitation to Counseling Work

Read Love Executioner in the book Love's Executioner by Irvin Yalom

You will notice that along with your reading you have weekly assignments
You will also notice that there are supplemental material, such as video clips of counseling sessions and interviews. These are helpful elements of the class and offer you some insight into how working with a client might look like.

Assignment#1

Love and Fear What does the literature say about the role of love and fear in counseling?

Assignment#2. Personal Reflection Share with the class why you think you want to be a counselor/therapist and why do you think people seek out/receive counseling?

Read Chapter 2:Getting Started: Skills and Tasks for Engaging a new Client

Read "If Rape Were Legal" in Love's Executioner

Assignment #1 Questions

Questions-counselors ask a lot of questions. Share your thoughts about various questions, silence, prompts. In what ways do we engage in questioning without appearing “nosey.” What are some unique considerations/purpose when asking types of questions Share your thoughts about engagement with the client. Make sure to reference the text and or other material you used to support your thoughts.

Assignment #2 Communication./Counseling

What have your learned about nonverbal communication and its factor in the counseling relationship? Consider exploring some outside material to enhance what you are learning in the reading.

Find some time to people watch this week and observe some non verbal behavior-share what you notice. Refer to page 64: Reflection exercise 2.3-

Incorporate what you are learning about nonverbal communication and your Observation Exercise on page 64

Video Journal #1

Assignment 2 Expression of Feelings Communication and our responses to clients plays a large role in the therapeutic relationship. The reading this week explored empathy, range of responses, reflection-important elements going with the client, engagement, and developing the relationship. What are your take aways regarding these approaches and efforts with the client. What are important about these pieces? How do you see yourself integrating these communication skills?

Chapter 4 Establishing the Cultural and Ethical Foundation for Good Practice

Read "The Wrong One Died" in Love's Executioner

Assignment #1 Cultural Education Plan

In powerpoint presentation, create your own cultural education plan. Include in your plan all of the things you might want to do to increase your understanding of the differences discussed in this chapter. This should be a unique plan, specific to you. One's cultural life lens will be different from person to person. In many ways, while academic in nature and our chapter reading this week is rich with material about cultural and ethical considerations-this is also a personal plan, an important plan for counselors.

Powerpoint presentations offer a creative manner in which to deliver information. I have even had students offer audio clips in their presentations. While important to cover the highlights you are bringing to the assignment, you have some freedom in a presentation that you don't otherwise have in a traditional paper format.

Assignment #2

Ethical Foundation In the time you will review 6 ethical dilemmas beginning on page 140. As the book states: " The best way to think about ethical principles is to imagine how you would apply them in real life situations, especially when the right thing to do is not all that clear cut, that is, when the situation poses an ethical dilemma.

There are series of ethical dilemmas for your consideration, as you read and reflect, think about what you would do if you were the counselor, identify your your solutions, ideas, concerns about the situation. Explore the ethical principle and how that is a guide.

For practice skills:

Select 1 of 6 ethic dilemmas to really focus on and create a written dialogue of an exchange you would have with the client in that scenario and the current ethical dilemma you are facing. For reference, review the Case Study Examples we have seen in the text (reference pages 78-79; 97-98) for format and examples.

In addition to the dialogue practice exercise, include brief summary sharing what you learned about yourself and the ethical foundation necessary for a counselor. Where might you struggle? What areas might be more clear? What would be helpful for you as you learn to tackle ethically ambiguous situations.

This summary should be minimum of 250 words.

Read Chapter 5 Assessment, Goal Setting, and Action Planning

Read "I never thought it would happen to me" In Love's Executioner

Assignment #1 Constructive Goals

Think of 4 problems that a client might bring into counseling. Turn each of these problems into constructive goals and how you can you make each one measurable?

Assignment #2

Setting and Practicing

Refer to page 174 and reread Reflection Exercise 5.2: Goal Setting and Case Example 5.1: Goal Setting and Action Planning.

Follow the instructions given in the box.

As the assignment says, "feel free to embellish the case example with imagined details. Be as creative as you think of this student's whole person and general level of functioning. "

Assignment 1: Video Journal 2

Assignment 2: Counseling Skills

This week's reading in our textbook, really takes some time to explore various skills, the counseling relationship and responsibility, and some benefits and pitfalls of these skills in the therapeutic relationship.

The chapter explores the focus in the session,
self disclosure
transference/countertransference
hunches/challenges
affirming/validating
direct questions
themes
constructive feedback

These nuances are elements in the counseling relationship, knowing when and how to use them are important.

Select 2 of these nuances and create a powerpoint/presentation. Include a summary, in your own words in your own unique style of the nuances you selected. I recommend doing some additional reading/research to support you growing understanding. Our library is a great resource.

In your presentation, include some benefits and pitfalls associated with these nuances. Consider your skill set at this time, which nuance will be "easy" and which nuance will be "challenging" explain.
Share why counselors deepen the therapeutic relationship? What is the goal? Outcome? Reason? Need? etc.

Midterm

Read Chapter 7 Essential Action Skills: Working Towards Goals

Read Three UnOpened Letters in Love's Executioner'

Assignment 1 SpecificStrategies

Imagine yourself as a new client going for counseling. You form a good relationship with your counselor; then you begin to talk about using specific strategies to help you achieve your goals.

Which strategies would you hope your counselor would suggest? Explain.

Assignment 2. Feeling bored as a counselor

Spend some time thinking about the case below, what are your concerns, thoughts, reactions? What do you notice? What direction do you go in professionally? What more might you need to know? What might be obstacles for you as the counselor?

After reading the script below, write a short dialogue between you and the client regarding the scenario below and your approach and take on it.

Read Chapter 8 Advanced Action Skills: Moving Beyond Stability

Read Therapeutic Monogamy in Love's Executioner

Assignment 1 Video Journal

Assignment #2 Advanced Skills

Pick one of the advanced skills discussed in this chapter and begin to read about the theory and research conducted on this skill. Use the suggested readings as a start, but then widen your literature search. Reflect on how much or how little outcome research has been done on this skill. How does this affect your future consideration of using it in your work.

Present this is a powerpoint presentation.
Include a thorough reference list
Integrate APA format as needed

Love's Executioner by Irvin Yalom

Read Chapter 9 Skills for Managing Crisis Situations

Crisis

What kinds of crises do you imagine you will most regularly confront in your own counseling work? How emotionally prepared are you to deal with those? If you imagine yourself frightened by the prospect of these crisis situations, how could you prepare yourself by way of getting more exposure to those situations before being called upon to be the person responsible for responding?

Read Chapter 10 Exceptional Counseling Challenges


Read Chapter 11, Skills for Ending

Assignment #1 Special Populations

Consider what kind of special populations you might be draw to in your counseling work-explain What is the appeal? What do you anticipate you might learn-either in terms of skills or about yourself-from your work with this population. What special skills or training will you need to consider doing this work.

Assignment #2

Ending

There are several considerations when ending with a client, the book touches upon gradually reducing sessions, measures of success (how do we know that it is time to "end') abrupt endings, gifts, and preparation for ending.

For reflection consider the following questions: As a counselor, how do we measure success in terms of goal attainment and client satisfaction? As a counselor how might we address a client who is hesitant to end counseling? What happens in the ideal termination process? What are the hallmarks of a successful counseling experience and how do we know?

Read Chapter 12 The Whole Counselor: Maintain Health and Perspective

Assignment #1Do you still want to be a counselor?

As you move through your academic career and build towards reaching your goal of being a counselor, continue to reflect and ask yourself "Do I still want to be a counselor?"

This can be a tough question-it can prove to be tough if we think "no" or "I'm not sure".
This answer might fluctuate depending upon when you ask, what you are doing, where you are at in life-

So share with us, the current answer to the question "Do I still want to be a counselor?"

Assignment #2

Burn Out

Do some examination of the literature on burn out. What does the literature/research say about burn out and what are recommendations the prevent burnout as a counselor? How do you see this applying to your work in the future as a counselor?
What are factors that lead to burn out?

Final Project

Personal
Academic
Closure