Counseling (EDC)

College of Education

 

EDC 500 Selected Topics in Counseling      Credit, 1–3 hours
Elective courses on topics that are not part of the regular curriculum. Taught by practitioners with expertise in a particular topic in counseling. This course can be repeated three times for up to 3 hours credit with Instructor and Adviser approval.

EDC 502 Theories and Techniques of Counseling      Credit, 3 hours
Survey of counseling theories presently being used: client-centered, behavioral, existential, rational-emotive, and others. Essential qualities of counseling interviews and evaluation of counselor effectiveness. Prerequisite: EDC 515.

EDC 503 Assessment in Counseling      Credit, 3 hours
Review of intelligence, achievement, aptitude, interest, and personality tests. Validity and reliability emphasized along with administration, scoring, interpretation, and report writing.

EDC 515 Prepracticum in Interpersonal Skills      Credit, 3 hours
Development of skills identified with high levels of interpersonal functioning. Experiential learning employed and ample opportunity for students to practice.

EDC 517 Intimacy and Sexuality      Credit, 3 hours
Sexuality and intimacy issues will be explored with an emphasis on assessment and intervention in couples counseling practice. Prerequisites: EDC 502, 515.

EDC 526 Grief and Loss Counseling      Credit, 3 hours
The course will provide an overview of the grieving process and grief and loss issues including complicated grief. Interventions and counseling strategies for individuals, families, and children who have suffered loss will be presented. Bereavement and other types of loss will be addressed.

EDC 527 Addicted Families      Credit, 3 hours
This course will address theory, assessment, and treatment of families dealing with addictions and substance-use issues.

EDC 530 Professional, Ethical, and Legal Issues in Counseling      Credit, 3 hours
An overview of the critical professional issues in counseling with emphasis on current ethical and legal standards. Prerequisite: EDC 515.

EDC 536 Family Life Skills and Consultation      Credit, 3 hours
The course will address family life skill topic areas and how they are used in a multidisciplinary context to promote the well-being of families and individuals comprising the family. Principles of life skills, their application, and integration into various settings. Case management, consultation, and prevention will be examined.

EDC 541 Counseling Practicum      Credit, 3 hours
Counseling Practicum is a supervised clinical experience intended to enable the student to develop basic counseling and group work skills and integrate professional knowledge. Grade of B is required for successful completion of the course. Prerequisites: EDC 502, 515. Prerequisite or corequisite: EDC 550.

EDC 542 Fundamentals of Clinical Supervision      Credit, 3 hours
Designed to meet course requirements stipulated by the Alabama Board of Examiners in Counseling and the Alabama Board of Examiners in Marriage and Family Therapy for individuals wishing to become clinical supervisors or counselor trainees.

EDC 546 Clinical Work with Suicidal Clients and Families      Credit, 3 hours
The course will address epidemiology of suicide, demographic and incidence information about at-risk groups, risk factors, protective factors, warning signs, assessment of emergency risk groups and chronic risk, intervention strategies, nomenclature, prevention and postvention.

EDC 550 Group Procedures in Counseling      Credit, 3 hours
Principles of group processes and their application in counseling situations. Survey of group theories, group techniques, and research relating to group counseling is an integral feature of the course. Prerequisite: EDC 502.

EDC 552 Collaborative Systemic Interventions for Children      Credit, 3 hours
Designed for students preparing themselves for a career in working with children and families through schools or agencies. Students will learn solution-focused counseling techniques for application in the development of multi-systemic interventions for children. Collaboration among schools, agencies, and families will be stressed. Counseling and related activities will be considered in the scope of the developmental process as applied to the current issues that affect children.

EDC 554 Student Development Theory      Credit, 3 hours
An overview of student development theories in higher education. Theories studied will be applied to the work of student development practitioners.

EDC 556 Psychopathology      Credit, 3 hours
Assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental disorders as defined by the DSM (4th edition) classification system. Current understanding of etiology, prevention, and treatment issues related to psychopathology.

EDC 557 Systemic Strategies for Crisis Intervention      Credit, 3 hours
Ways in which normative and non-normative stressor events and their related hardships impact family functioning will be explored. Participants in this course will gain knowledge of the impact of stressor events on families and will utilize the current research to formulate intervention strategies for families dealing with stress and crises.

EDC 570 Career and Lifestyle Development      Credit, 3 hours
World of work, sources of career information, and the concept of vocational development. Theories of career choice and implications of theories for the guidance worker.

EDC 581 Counseling Internship      Credit, 3–6 hours
Intensive practical opportunity for the counseling student in a selected field setting. Daily observation and personal implementation of counseling theory, strategy, and programming. A supervised seminar will complement this on-the-job training program. Grade of B is required for successful completion of course. Prerequisite: EDC 541. This course can be repeated two times for up to 6 hours credit with Instructor and Adviser approval.

EDC 582 Advanced Internship in Marriage and Family Counseling      Credit, 3 hours
Specialized field experience in the area of marriage and family counseling, building upon skills and knowledge attained during completion of EDC 581. The internship involves practice and personal implementation of marriage and family counseling theory, strategy, and programming.

EDC 590 Directed Readings      Credit, 3 hours
Can be taken only with consent of adviser and department chair.

EDC 592 School Counseling      Credit, 3 hours
Foundations for organizing and delivering counseling services for K–12 students. Designing a comprehensive developmental program and understanding ethical guidelines for school counselors.

EDC 594 Student Development in Higher Education      Credit, 3 hours
Philosophical and theoretical foundations of student personnel work in higher education with special emphasis on student development. Exploration of current practices and problems in the organization and administration of student personnel programs.

EDC 596 Clinical Mental Health Counseling      Credit, 3 hours
Scope and methods of counseling in community and agency settings. Rationale for use of various theoretical approaches in these settings. Practical applications include development of methods for assessing community need for counseling services. Prerequisite: EDC 515.

EDC 597 Marriage and Family Counseling      Credit, 3 hours
History, general processes, techniques, research, and main theoretical approaches of the marriage and family field. Prerequisite: EDC 515.

EDC 598 Independent and Informal Study      Credit, 3 hours
Study in detail of a specific counseling-related problem under the direction of a faculty member. The student must have the approval of his/her adviser. All work must be completed and in the hands of the instructor in charge at least two weeks in advance of the close of the semester in which the credit is to be recorded.