Instructor: Dale Brotherton
205 Killian, WCU
227-3284
Course Description
Catalog Description:
Application of skills in settings that approximate employment; audiotapes
and tape scripts required. PREQ: 605, 615. PREQ or COREQ 625, 630, 640,
650; permission of advisor. S/U grading. 150 contact hours.
Statement of Purpose
The fundamental role of Western Carolina University is to develop a community of scholarship in which students, faculty members, administrators, and staff members learn to apply the products of learning. The School of Education and Psychology fulfills this mission by providing students the opportunity to grow within their personal roles as educational decision makers. The guiding principle for all instruction in the School is the belief that the best educational decisions are made after adequate reflection and with the interests and welfare of the persons affected by the decisions in mind.
Development of the Counselor as an Inviting, Reflective, Decision-Maker
Counselors-in-training must be proactive in meeting the affective and psychological needs of the clients. This is best accomplished by professional practices that assist clients to perceive themselves to be valuable, responsible, and capable. In implementing their roles, counselors-in-training must be knowledgeable about and take into account the many forces operating that influence and impact clients' lives and trainees' day-to-day professional behavior. Practicum allows counselors-in-training to demonstrate their invitational skills through establishing helping relationships and utilizing problem-solving strategies that lead to effective decision-making in their work settings. To this end, all practicum sections follow CACREP requirements.
Multicultural Focus
Practicum experiences are performed on-site and counselors-in-training have opportunities t work with clients representing diverse population groups. Trainees apply concepts developed in the multicultural foci of courses and experiences throughout the curriculum in adapting their counseling styles and strategies to meet the needs of diverse individuals and are evaluated on the effectiveness of their efforts.
Topical Outline of Course Content
Practicum content is dependent upon the nature of clients' concerns and issues related to the practice of counseling in the work setting.
Competencies
The goals of the counseling practicum are to learn how to initiate counseling contacts, how to encourage counselees to disclose their concerns and establish goals, and how to assess goal attainment and effect termination. To achieve these goals the students are expected to:
2. demonstrate the skills to discern when individual, group or referral procedures are most helpful to the client/consultee.
3. demonstrate the ability to utilize feedback from supervised counseling and consultation to facilitate growth in professional competence.
4. demonstrate the ability to function effectively with individuals and groups from environments in which employment is anticipated.
5. demonstrate the ability to give and receive feedback during group supervision to facilitate professional and personal growth of oneself and of others in the group.
The types of problems brought to the counselors in these settings can be described usually as within the normal range of situational and developmental problems. Students are asked to inform their supervisors of current developments in all cases. Depending on agency or school procedures, parental consent for taping of counseling sessions with minors may or may not be required.
Material/Resources
Required Text:
Baird, Brian N. (1998). The internship, practicum and field placement
handbook: A guide for
the helping professions. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Purchased Items: Audiotapes, audio recorder, and videotapes.
Provided Items: Handouts and evaluation forms.
Course Requirements
1. Documentation of professional liability insurance
is required.
2. Class attendance. The expectation is held that students will attend each weekly individual and each bi-weekly group supervision session. As counselors, students will meet professional expectations of the setting and keep appointments with clients at the scheduled time and place for counseling interviews.
3. Documentation. Students will submit to the instructor weekly logs of all practicum hours (Attachment A). Short written case notes of all counseling sessions (individual and group) will be submitted to the university supervisor each week. One case summary will be submitted on December 1. (See Attachment B for formats for the case notes and case summary).
4. Taping. All counseling sessions will be audio-recorded. If possible, video-tapes are encouraged. Students will need to purchase good quality 60 or 90 minute audio tapes to record sessions. Recorders with external microphones are recommended. Counseling tapes of a minimum of ten (10) satisfactory counseling sessions are due to the supervisor over the semester. Tapes of individual and group counseling or group work sessions may be submitted with the majority of the 10 sessions being individual counseling.
5. Counseling Sessions. Students will complete a minimum of forty (40) hours of direct client contact 10 of which must be in group work.
6. Tape scripts. Three verbatim tape scripts of 15 minutes of individual counseling sessions are to be submitted to the supervisor. The first tape script will be due the week of September 21. Subsequent tapescripts will be due the weeks of October 19 and November 9. The supervisee prior to submitting the tape script to the supervisor will critique tape scripts. (Attach C).
7. Group supervision. Students will meet for a 3 hour group supervision session every other week (an average of 1 1/2 hours each week for the 16 week semester). The expectation is held that students will be appropriately prepared for the group supervision. Students will solicit and receive feedback from the group regarding the taped session, as well as regarding any concern they have about working with clients. The expectation is held that all students will provide feedback to group members to facilitate each student's growth and development. Confidentiality and ethical principles will be discussed and observed as client and counselor-in-training concerns are discussed. Group supervision dates will be Tuesdays, August 25, September 8, September 22, October 6, October 20, November 3, November 17, December 1, December 15.
8. Individual supervision. Each student will meet weekly for an hour of individual supervision with the university supervisor. The student will have listened and critiqued tapes prior to meeting with the supervisor. Students will bring to supervision a brief portion of a selected tape to review during supervision, and any questions, concerns, and feelings they have regarding the practicum experience. Tape, logs, and case notes will be submitted each week to the supervisor. Students are to bring their recorders and tapes to individual and group supervision.
9. Readings. Students will complete the assigned reading in the texts and any additional readings required by the supervisor.
10. Self-Evaluation. A significant component of practicum
is the trainee's ability to critique and assess one's skills. In addition
to the self-evaluation form, the student will submit a typed self-evaluation
paper (minimum of eight pages, maximum of ten) due the week of December
1.
Concentrate on the following three areas in the self-evaluation.
Present Skills (I am able to)
Describe skills. Describe behaviorally and cite evidence that these skills were effective in the counseling process.
Areas for Improvement (I could do better)
The class attendance policy of the Western Carolina Graduate School is stated in the Graduate Catalog as follows: "Graduate students are expected to attend all class meetings. Specific attendance regulations are announced by the instructor."
The faculty members in counselor education fully endorse the Graduate School attendance policy. Regular attendance is necessary and required for all graduate courses in counseling. Failure to attend COUN 686 regularly may result in a recommendation by the instructor for withdrawal from the course or as a grade of Incomplete. Either recommendation will be determined on an individual basis between the instructor and the student.
Ethical Statement
It is the counselor-in-training's ethical obligation to safeguard the
welfare of his/her clients. It is the purpose of supervision to provide
a learning opportunity for the student while at the same time recognizing
the limitations of the student. The dilemma of how to provide freedom for
the student to experiment with his/her/ own behavior while protecting the
client is resolved in supervision by asking the student to interpret his/her
ethical obligation in the following ways:
1. To raise a question about anything she/he is unsure about.
2. To regularly inform university and site supervisors of the current status of all cases and of the procedures he/she is using.
3. To express feelings about anything pertinent to her/his own or the client's welfare.
4. To notify university and site supervisors immediately of any situation about which he/she has come question of his/her competency to handle.
Grading Criteria
S- the grade of S represents the expected level of performance and reflects professional behavior on the part of the counselor-in-training as documented by the practicum contract. A grade of S constitutes endorsement by the Counseling faculty for the student to advance to internship and reflects professional behavior on the part of the student that is believed to have a uniformly beneficial effect on clients.
U- this grade represents ineffectiveness or even harmful effects on clients and reflects unwillingness on the part of the Counseling faculty to endorse the individual for enrollment in internship placement.
Dates of Individual Supervision
Individual supervision will be scheduled weekly. Individual times for supervision will be scheduled with each supervisee.
On-site Visits
The campus supervisor will arrange an on-site visit at the beginning
and end of the semester to meet with the student and the on-site supervisor.
Attachment A
Weekly Log: 686
Submit each week to supervisor
Weekly Log: Counseling Practicum 686
Name________________________________________________________________
Week_________________________________________to_____________________
Counseling sessions with (provide initials of client, date of session,
and #):
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Group work sessions (provide name of group, date of session, and session
#):
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Other practicum experiences: (describe briefly; include professional
development):
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
Total number of hours on-site this week:_________________
Total hours on-site to date: _________________Includes ________ hours of group work
Includes ________ hours of other direct client contact hours
Includes ________ hours of individual supervision
Includes ________ hours of group supervision
Total number of practicum hours to date: _______________
COUN 686
Attachment B: COUN 686 Practicum
SUBMIT TO SUPERVISOR
OUTLINE FOR
WRITING NOTES OF INDIVIDUAL COUNSELING SESSIONS
(Handwritten on each week for all clients seen the previous week)
(Put on a 5 X 8 index card - 1 card each client)
Initials of client
Name of counselor
Date and time of session
Session number
Type and source of referral/presenting problem (need this on initial
session; need not repeat on
subsequent sessions)
Background information (identify source; need not repeat unless new
information has come to
light)
Session content
Significant observations (keep this section relatively short, discriminating
between what
is and what is not important)
Plans for subsequent sessions (probably will need no more than a simple
statement)
***Self-evaluation of session (Keep this short, but this is the most
important section for supervision; therefore, be conscientious and consider
your personal feelings toward the client, impact of client on you/your
impact on client, quality of rapport, how effective were you in helping
client/ how might you be more effective in next session?
OUTLINE FOR CASE SUMMARY
(Submit with self-evaluation paper)
(Type, approximately 1 page in length)
Initials of Client
Name of Counselor
Total number of sessions--from (date of initial session) to (date of
termination)
Case summary. Succinctly outline the themes and dynamics that dominated the sessions.Personal evaluation. Elaborate briefly on what you learned from working with this client.
Support statements with client statements when appropriate. Evaluate the client's
movement during the sessions. Clearly state the disposition of the case (e.g., referral, counselor-client mutual decision to end relationship, end of semester, etc.)
Attachment C
COUN 686: Practicum
GUIDELINES FOR TAPESCRIPT SELECTION
AND MAINTENANCE OF RECORDS FOR CLIENTS SESSIONS
1. Tape scripts should be 15 consecutive minutes of verbatim counselor-client interaction. Try to choose a section that includes a minimum of 8 counselor responses. Choose a section on which you feel you want specific feedback.
2. Follow the criteria for evaluation of counselor response that includes:
Use the split page format as shown on the sample tape script critique.
4. Three tape scripts will be submitted along with the corresponding tape. A schedule for submitting tape scripts and the accompanying tapes is on the syllabus.
5. Enclose tape, tape script, case notes, log,
etc. in a manila envelope each week when giving material to supervisor.
COUN 686
SAMPLE TAPESCRIPT CRITIQUE
VERBATIM DIALOGUE EVALUATION CRITERIA
1. What was your intent?
2. What happened?
3. Alternative response.
CL: I've been having a little trouble with my new job. I'm
not getting along well with the people there.
CO: You're feeling some concern about fitting in with
people at work.
1. To show that I care.
2. Good reflection of feeling,
client on issue of concern.
3. You are upset that you're not
getting along with people.
CL: Yes, it does concern me. I was hoping to make some
friends, but the two girls in my office don't get along
and I'm caught in the middle.
CO: Are there people at work you get along with?
1. To gather info about getting
along in setting, looking for
positives.
2. Could have been stated
better, led client off concern.
3. You feel trapped.
CL: Yes, there are some other people at work that I get
along very well with.
CO: You feel good about these relationships.
1. To reflect positively about
client's ability to have
relationship with co-workers.
2. Client acknowledge
relationships.
Restated problem.
3. You're proud of your ability
to make friends.
CL: Yes, I do feel good about that. The problem is that the
two girls in my office don't like each other and they want
me to take sides.
COUN 686: Practicum: Summary Sheet with Assignment Due Dates
3.Tapes: -minimum of 10 satisfactory counseling sessions over semester must be submitted during individual supervision sessions with the university supervisor.
5. Practicum Prospectus and Placement Information Sheet Due At time of
individual supervision for week of:
September 9
6. Weekly documentation due: -submit weekly log, case notes, counseling
tape to university supervisor
when meeting for individual supervision.
7. Self-evaluation Due:-At time of individual supervision for week of:
December
8 (submit self
evaluation form, 2 copies of self-evaluation paper, and 1 case summary)
8. Other Evaluations - At time of individual supervision for week of: December
8 (submit site
evaluation and complete evaluation of university supervisor)
9. Dates of Group Supervision: August 25, September 8, September 22,
October 6, October 20,
November 3, November 17, December 1, and December 15.