HSC 452 Autumn 2008 Sec 101 1

Urban Professional Multicultural Educator

Introduction to the Counseling Profession

Instructor: Dr. Joy S. Whitman or Dr. Erin Mason

Office: SAC 375, SAC 372

Office Phone: 773.325.7636, 773.325.2078

Email:,

Office Hours: By appointment

Required Texts

Neukrug, E. (2007). The world of the counselor: An introduction to the counseling profession

(3rd ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Thomson Brooks Cole.

American Psychological Association. (2001). Publication manual of the American Psychological

Association (5th ed.). Washington, DC: APA.

Required selected readings (at end of syllabus)

Course Instruction

This course will include interactive learning, small group work, writing assignments, class lecture and discussion, and use of Blackboard technology.

Course Description

This introductory counseling course is designed to provide students with an orientation to the field of counseling. It will familiarize students with the assumptions, theories, strategies, applications, and ethical and legal considerations related to development in counseling. Students will be introduced to the core requirements and multicultural competencies necessary to becoming a counselor, the various employment opportunities and settings in the counseling profession, and the roles and functions of counselors in these settings. Central to this course will be an on-going self-evaluation of the students’ attitudes, values, interpersonal skills, and motives for choosing counseling as a potential profession. Threaded throughout the course will be the concept of counselor as social change agent and advocate for clients, the community, and the counseling profession.

Course ObjectivesAfter completing this course, students should:

  1. Understand the historical, political, social, and philosophical factors that have influenced the development of counseling as a profession and how contemporary social issues (e.g., technological growth, diversification of the population) and present concerns of the profession (e.g., credentialing, accreditation, preparation standards) influence the practice of counseling in various settings.
  2. Develop an awareness of their personal characteristics and beliefs that influence their place in the counseling field and their potential role as a counselor.
  3. Identify roles, functions, preparation standards, credentialing, licensure, and professional identity of counselors.
  4. Have a working knowledge of the ACA code of ethics and standards of practice, of ethical decision-making processes, and of basic legal guidelines in the field.
  5. Have knowledge of diversity issues, including worldview, race/ethnicity, gender, social class, spirituality, sexual orientation, age, physical and mental status, and equity issues in counseling.
  6. Be able to identify counselor characteristics that influence helping processes and be able to identify the basic competencies and skills necessary to work with diverse populations of clients.
  7. Be familiar with the settings where counselors work and the types of work settings where counseling professionals practice.
  8. Have a basic understanding of counseling theories and how individuals grow and change in a systemic context.
  9. Develop advocacy strategies directed toward (a) promoting the profession of counseling, (b) calling attention to institutional barriers that may impede access, equity, and success for clients, and (c) challenging social barriers that impede access, equity, and success for clients.

An Invitation

This course is guided by the assumptions of dignity and respect for all persons in the classroom, which was designed in the hopes of creating a safe and non-threatening environment. Students should feel comfortable speaking with me privately about any concerns related to learning styles and abilities or any other issues that might have an impact on your success in this course. If you know you have or suspect you have a disability for which you may need accommodations, please contact me as soon as possible. In addition, the Plus Program (773.325.1677) and the Office for Students with Disabilities (773.325.7296) are resources you may wish to consult.

Course Requirements

1. Class Attendance and Participation: All students are expected to complete the assigned readings prior to class discussion. Attendance at all class sessions is required. Participation in classroom activities, exercises, and discussions is expected, including participation on the discussion board.

2. Discussion Board:This course will introduce you to the variety of roles, responsibilities, and

careers in counseling. As such, you will have much to explore and discuss that will need attention

beyond the time we have in class. Therefore, students are expected to engage in the discussion forum on-line throughout the week. Each student will choose a chapter or topic and be the person or persons for that week to initiate the discussion. When it is your week to post a thread, you will post the thread by Wednesday, 5 p.m. of the week prior to the readings for which you are responsible. Because there are more students in the class than there are weeks of the class, more than one student will be responsible for the same week’s topics. However, each student is to initiate a unique conversation/thread that is different from his/her colleagues. Students can then respond to any thread that is posted for that week. Questions and ideas that students have while reading the material are the kinds of initial postings to make. These are to be thoughtful postings that demonstrate a depth of understanding of the readings. When you are responding to a posting or thread, you must respond by Sunday, 11:00 p.m. of the week for which we are discussing that topic. There will be no retrospective responses; discussion forums will be discontinued the night of class. This means that you must post a response during the week that the forum is active.

3. Personal Homepage: You are to complete a personal homepage on the class Blackboard site. To do so, attach a recent picture of yourself and describe how you decided to pursue a degree in counseling and your motivation to do so. Directions for creating a homepage are located at

4. Personal Beliefs Statement: This 2-3 page statement should outline your motivations for choosing the counseling field. Answer the following questions as you write.

  1. What cultural identities, values, and experiences led you to consider a career in counseling?
  1. Why do you view counseling as an important field today?
  1. What are your thoughts about how people change?
  1. What counseling settings and or populations think you are interested in serving? Why?
  1. What skills do you believe you already possess that will help you in this field? What skills do you hope to gain from this program?

5. Advocacy Projects: As counselors and agents of social change, we impact the community and the profession in a variety of ways. Our voices and knowledge create change for our profession and for our clients. Two avenues to effect such change include contacting legislative bodies that create laws that effect our profession and clients and/or researching human services for our clients and ourselves. Both opportunities involve education and advocacy. You must engage in both projects below, but you can choose whether to fulfill Project 1 first or Project 2 first. Due dates for these projects are listed in the Tentative Course Schedule*.

  1. Advocacy Project 1:Research Human Services Agency: You will select a mental health agency that provides services to the community (this is important for all students regardless of concentration). You will contact the agency and schedule a meeting with someone on staff who can inform you of the types of services provided by their agency. You must visit the agency in person to conduct the interview. You will prepare a handout and will post this handout on Blackboard for all students to access. In addition, you will submit your handout on Blackboard for this course. A guideline for questions and handout are provided in the syllabus (page 10).
  1. Advocacy Project 2:Counselor Advocacy through Legislative Influence: You will write a letter or email related to legislative action. You will need to explore the ACA and state counseling association websites to become aware of the need for various legislative actions. Examples include legislative actions that provide reimbursement for counselors’ services, that promote counselors’ rights to practice within the limits of their training (e.g., counselors’ rights to use assessment instruments), that advocate for services for students in schools, etc. To create a thoughtful and well-informed letter/email, you will need to engage in your own research on the subject and include that information in your letter/email with correct referencing of resources (you must cite at least two professional references of research in the body of your letter and include a references page). You may not use a standard letter that an organization has prepared (this is plagiarism and will result in failure of the assignment and possibly the course). This letter/email must be in your own words though you can use template letters to inform yours. Examples will be posted on Blackboard. Finally, a copy of the letter or email is to be provided to the instructor with some evidence that your letter or email was sent. If an email is sent, you can take a screen shot of the email confirmation and attach that to the letter you submit to me. Instructions to take a screen shot are at the end of the syllabus.

*A two to four (2-4) page Reaction Paper is to be written when submitting your last Advocacy Project. It should accompany the assignment handed in to your instructor (please see guideline for reaction paper in syllabus on page 11 and add this Reaction Paper to your Advocacy Project at the end of your document).

6. Interview Counseling Professionals. Students will interview in person (face-to-face) two mental health professionals about the role of professionals and changes and important issues within the field. (See attached Interview Schedule). The professionals must have received their training and education as counselors in a program similar to the Human Services and Counseling program. That means they must have a degree in counseling, or if they are in student affairs, a degree similar to that of counseling or in student affairs. Individuals who received training and education in social work, psychology(anyone who is trained in a counseling psychology program, for example, is not appropriate for this interview), marriage and family therapy, and psychiatry are NOT viable professionals for interviewing even if they are licensed as a LPC or LCPC. If you have any doubt about the training of the individuals you plan to interview, please ask them about their training PRIOR to your interview or contact me to verify that they are appropriate for this assignment. Also, you may not interview a family member or close friend for this assignment. Any deviation from using the appropriate professional will result in a loss of 10 points for the assignment.

If you would like to earn extra credit for this assignment, you have the option to interview a third mental health professional. The third professional should be from another helping field such as psychology, social work, psychiatry, marriage and family therapy, and have a degree in the appropriate field. You may interview this person only as additional to the two required above.

You are to write a reaction paper to the interviews, indicating issues that raised salience for you about the counseling profession, training, the role of the counselor, and current issues within the field. The paper should reflect your awareness of the profession and role as a counselor as opposed to a summary of the interview. I cannot stress enough how important it is not to offer a summary of the interview but your REACTION to it. I am looking for your “inner dialogue” of the interviews. You may discuss the interviews but mostly in context of your reaction to the responses. A running account of what was said is not important though it is important to include the items in the Interview Schedule available in this syllabus. This paper should be 8-12 pages in length. If you are interviewing a third mental health professional, your paper should be 10-14 pages in length.

You must obtain informed consent of the professionals you are interviewing and submit the signed forms to the professor with your assignment. Any papers submitted without the consent forms will receive a failing grade. A contract is included in the syllabus for your use.

In addition, please request permission for release of their contact information so that students in class may contact them for future networking and informational interviewing if desired. If the interviewees provide permission, please post their information on the Discussion Board under the Professional Interview forum.

Formatting and Submission of Assignments

Assignments are your professional responsibility; therefore, they should reflect your best work. Spell checking, grammar checking and formatting are expected. Unless otherwise noted, all assignments should include a cover page and should be typed in 12 point font with 1 inch margins following APA Style. All assignments are to be submitted through the use of the Digital Drop box on Blackboard. Files should be titled with your last name-course-assignment; example MASON-HSC452-Personal Beliefs Statement. No assignments will be accepted through email or by hard copy unless specified by the professor.

Writing assignments will be considered late, and will result in the loss of 2 points, if not submitted in the digital drop box or posted on Blackboard on the date due by 5:30pm. If you think you will be late to class on that day, submit your writing assignment early. You will continue to lose 2 points for each day beyond the due date (must be in by 5:30pm each day). Having said this, I realize that we all lead complicated lives that sometimes involve emergencies. If one should arise for you during the quarter that would interfere with your ability to turn in an assignment when due, please contact me as soon as possible so that arrangements can be made.

Professional Behavior

Email Addresses:

Please be sure that your email address on Campus Connection ( is correct and up to date. Communication through email is the primary way faculty will communicate with you. Failure to do so can result in missed information for which you will be held responsible.

HSCNews:

You must sign up for HSCNews. This is a listserv on which information about the Human Services and Counseling Program communicates changes in the program, job opportunities, internship opportunities, and other information important for our students. To sign up, please send an email to with your email address and name and subscribe in the subject line.

Cell Phones:

Please make sure all cell phones are turned off during class. If there is some reason why you must keep yours on, please discuss it with me individually.

Late Policy:

The writing assignments will be considered late, and will result in the lowering of 2 points, if not submitted on Blackboard and/or posted on the Discussion Board on the date due by 5:30. If you think you will be late to class on that day, submit your writing assignment early. You will continue to lose 2 points for each day beyond the due date (must be in by 5:30 each day). Having said this, I realize that we all lead complicated lives that sometimes involve emergencies. If one should arise for you during the quarter that would interfere with your ability to turn in an assignment when due, please contact me beforehand so that arrangements can be made.

Academic Integrity:

Academic integrity entails absolute honesty in one’s intellectual efforts. The DePaul Student Handbook () details the facets and ramifications of academic integrity violations, but you should be especially aware of the policies on cheating and plagiarism. Cheating is any action that violates University norms or an instructor’s guidelines for the preparation and submission of assignments. Such actions may include using or providing unauthorized assistance or materials on course assignments, or possessing unauthorized materials during an examination. Plagiarism involves the representation of another’s work as your own, for example: (a) submitting as one’s own any material that is copied from published or unpublished sources such as the Internet, print, computer files, audio disks, video programs or musical scores without proper acknowledgement that it is someone else’s; (b) paraphrasing another’s views, opinions or insights without proper acknowledgement or copying of any source in whole or in part with only minor changes in wording or syntax even with acknowledgement; (c) submitting as one’s own work a report, examination, paper, computer file, lab report or other assignment which has been prepared by someone else. If you are unsure about what constitutes unauthorized help on an exam or assignment, or what information requires citation and/or attribution, please ask your instructor. Violations may result in the failure of the assignment, failure of the course, and/or additional disciplinary actions.

Assignment / Possible Points
Discussion Board / 10
Personal Homepage / 5
Personal Beliefs Statement / 10
Advocacy Project 1 / 15
Advocacy Project 2 / 20
Interviews with Mental Health Professionals / 35
Attendance and Participation / 20
Total / 115

Requirement