Contact
Elizabeth Wofford
Clinical Counseling Program Director, Assistant Professor of Counseling
Health Science Building
P843-863-7325
Eewofford@csuniv.edu
Clinical Counseling Program – Mission, Goals, and Outcomes
Mission Statement
The mission of the Charleston Southern University Master of Science in Clinical Counseling Program is to educate compassionate and highly motivated individuals in a Christian environment who excel in providing client-centered care, practice as an agent of change, serve as leaders in their communities, and advance the mental health profession. The Master of Science in Clinical Counseling will prepare clinicians who are clinically competent and biblically sound.
Program Goals and Key Performance Indicators
- #1 The MSCC program will prepare counselors who understand and develop a professional identity as highly ethical clinical counselors.
KPI 1.1 – Professional Identity & Engagement. Students will demonstrate an understanding of the core elements of the counseling profession, the role of professional engagement for development, and the role of growth in professional roles and functions.
KPI 1.2 – Knowledge of Ethical Standards. Students will demonstrate knowledge of ethical codes of the major professional organizations and legal standards related to the profession of counseling.
KPI 1.3 – Ethical Decision Making and Practice. Students will apply the process of ethical decision making to counseling situations and cases, demonstrating consistent ethical practice and professionalism with clients and other professionals.
- #2 The MSCC program will prepare Scholar-Practitioners who demonstrate behaviors of academic excellence, understand research-based counseling literature and use of clinical assessments from various core counseling areas, and skillfully apply this knowledge to client care.
KPI 4.1 – Career Counseling. Students will demonstrate understanding of career development theories and decision-making models, career-related information resources, and knowledge of interrelationships among work, family, life roles, and multicultural issues to career counseling.
KPI 6 – Knowledge & Application of Assessment in Counseling. Students will demonstrate understanding of the philosophical and statistical properties of measurement instruments commonly used by counselors, accurately select assessments based on knowledge of content, reliability, and validity, and apply the process of assessment to client evaluation, client conceptualization, treatment planning, and selection of intervention strategies.
KPI 7 – Knowledge and Analysis of Research. Students will understand basic research design and statistical methodology, applying this knowledge tothe critique and analysis of counseling research to inform counseling practice.
- #3 The MSCC program will prepare counselors who aim to continuously develop excellent counseling and relational skills.
KPI 5.1.1 – Knowledge of Group Theories. Students will demonstrate knowledge related to group development, dynamics, and theories.
KPI 5.1.2 – Knowledge & Application of Counseling Theory. Students will understand various counseling theories & personality perspectives of the helping process, and appropriately apply counseling theory principles and related interventions to a diversity of populations and presenting issues.
KPI 5.2 – Interpersonal Counseling Skills. Students will effectively apply and adapt micro counseling skills within the counseling process with individuals and groups, demonstrating the ability to form effective therapeutic alliances with clients, accurately assess and conceptualize client themes to utilize appropriate counseling process skills and interventions, and adjust counseling for culture and developmental issues across the lifespan.
KPI 5.3 – Personal & Professional Counselor Characteristics. Students will demonstrate a professional demeanor, form mature academic and professional relationships, an understanding of limitations of competence, a proactive and receptive attitude toward supervision with implementation of feedback, the continuous development and display of professional self-awareness skills, and responsibility. Students will demonstrate personal counselor characteristics through the continuous development and display of biopsychosocial and spiritual health, as evidenced by personal self-awareness skills, self-care skills, empathy, self-control, and integrity.
- #4 The MSCC program will prepare counselors who understand and skillfully apply knowledge of development, psychopathology, and treatment planning to client care.
KPI 3.1 – Knowledge of Human Development & Psychopathology. Students will understand biopsychosocial development across ages and populations, including knowledge of personality, learning, differential & overlapping systems across major mental health classifications, theories of psychopathology, and effects of crises and resilience.
KPI 3.2 – Apply Knowledge of Human Development & Psychopathology to Case Conceptualization and Treatment Planning. Students will apply knowledge of biopsychosocial development and psychopathology to identify emotional, behavioral, and cognitive manifestations of major mental illnesses for case conceptualization, counseling intervention, and treatment planning.
- #5 The MSCC program will prepare counselors who are culturally competent and responsive to clients in diverse communities.
KPI 2.1 – Cultural Knowledge and Advocacy. Students will identify social trends, examine theories of multicultural counseling, identify culturally appropriate interventions and behaviors that promote optimal wellness for diverse groups, and explain the role of advocacy in the counseling profession.
KPI 2.2 – Cultural Awareness and Action. Students will understand personal and collective effects of cultural experience, engage in activities to enhance awareness of attitudes, beliefs, and sensitivity toward diverse individuals, and apply cultural awareness to clients and other professionals.
- #6 The MSCC program will prepare counselors who understand Christian faith integration in the counseling process, and how to apply aspects of faith and spirituality effectively and ethically to client care.
KPI 2.3 – KPI 2.3 Spiritual Development & Faith Integration. Students will understand their own process of spiritual development and faith in relation to the counseling process, and the application of faith integration to case conceptualization and counseling intervention skills.