PYF - Counseling/Psychology Foundation - Grad

Provides an overview addressing necessary foundations in the content areas of abnormal psychology, developmental psychology, and theories of personality. Introduction to APA style and format.

Examines counseling process, instruction and practice in communication skills in counseling, history, development and practice of counseling as a profession, and how and where counseling is provided.

Examination of models of research and application of scientific methods to investigate, analyze, and develop solutions relative to current issues in the field of Marriage and Family Counseling.

Examination of models of research and application of scientific methods to investigate, analyze, and develop solutions relative to current issues in the field.

This subject explores classic and contemporary social psychology, including group behavior, intergroup processes, self-concept, self-regulation, morality, authority, goals, prejudice and social exclusion, influence, altruism, and prosocial behavior. This course investigates emerging perspectives, cutting-edge research, and controversies in the field. Across all topics, we will also consider their practical implications in society with real-world examples of how these areas of research impact human behavior.

Clinical Psychology aims to assess and interpret the relationship between nervous system function, cognition, emotion, and behavior; and apply this knowledge to design individualized patient interventions. The psychosocial adjustment of patients living with each disorder and the dynamics among individuals involved in their care are additional themes of emphasis. The course takes an interdisciplinary approach integrating information from several subfields of medicine (clinical and cognitive neuropsychology, rehabilitation psychology and psychiatry) and psychology (psychopathology, developmental, biological, and health psychology). This course aims to equip students with knowledge by reviewing clinical cases and research outcomes.

This course is designed to give students an in-depth examination of the significant forms of psychopathology. Relevant psychological theories, research, and cultural perspectives regarding the phenomenology and causes of psychological disorders are included. As outlined in the DSM-5 and DSM-5-TR, major psychological disorders are examined, and treatment options are reviewed with an emphasis on the client/patient's experience of psychopathology. Differential diagnoses of clinical case studies, including those with comorbidities and ambiguities, are scrutinized, analyzed, and criticized.

Students will engage in critical and creative thinking by pursuing both classic and modern views on personality. Coursework will include the reading of the classic papers (articles, books, chapters, etc.) of the most prominent personality theoreticians and analyze the essential and enduring issues in personality theory and assessment: how people are different from one another, how people think (consciously and unconsciously), what people want (consciously and unconsciously) and what and why people do. Discussions and readings will cover diverse theoretical principles and methodological approaches to personality.

The course will cover the necessary statistical techniques employed in contemporary behavioral science research and program evaluation to analyze research data, understand, and critically review statistical findings in empirical papers; present empirical results to other scholars; and run statistical analyses using SPSS. Through the Advanced Statistics class, students develop an understanding of the philosophy of science and scientific method; descriptive and inferential statistics; univariate and multivariate analysis of variance and co-variance (one-way and factorial); regression techniques; mediation/moderation; power calculation and corrections for multiple comparisons. After taking this course, students will know how to handle primary behavioral science data, explore it, and helpfully present the results. Students will receive a broad introduction to some of the fundamental tools and concepts of statistics for representing, visualizing, modeling, and interpreting data.

This course explores theories and methods applicable to developing research in Applied Psychology. Even if this course investigates some standard qualitative research methods (phenomenology, narrative research content analysis, etc.), an emphasis will be put on the learning and application of experimental methods.

The graduate Capstone Thesis I will guide students through the process of Thesis topic development, literature review processes, and Institutional Review Board application. This course is the first of two designed to assists students through the Masters level Thesis process.

This second graduate Capstone guides students through the implementation of research methods and design with the goal of producing a professional level research/problem-solving project. The outcome of this course will be a complete 90+ page Thesis with presentation and/or defense.

The internship option of the capstone requires a 400-600 hour supervised internship that will conclude in writing a 120-page report and two research papers. The internship report and related research papers will be the object of defense in front of a jury.

Study of ethical, legal and professional concerns in the practice of counseling.

Examines theory and principles of development from conception through adolescence. Topics include an in-depth study of physical, social/emotional, cognitive, language, and aesthetic development. Students examine various theories, including Piaget, Erikson, Vygotsky, Skinner and others. Explores development in the context of gender, family culture, and society, with an emphasis on implications for professional practice.

Course designed to develop counseling skills through practical application in a counseling setting. Students work under the direct supervision of an approved onsite supervisor and faculty supervisor. Classroom component allows student to share learning experiences from placement activities as well as guide the integration and synthesization of learned knowledge into practical application.

Continuation of field placement experience.