Cohort
Model of Learning
The PhD-CES program is built
around the cohort model. This means that each entering
class comprises a cohort and matriculates through
the program as a cohesive unit. The cohort model
fits particularly well with the program's course
progression plan in which specific courses are
taken each term by all students in the cohort.
Moving through the PhD program
as a cohort is particularly important in an e-learning
environment as a way to build group cohesion and
association. PhD students who benefit from being
able to take coursework at their home location
should also be able to experience the camaraderie
and personal growth experiences that membership
in a unified group brings. We have developed the
PhD-CES program with this goal in mind, and structuring
each entering class around the cohort model is
one of the ways that we believe will contribute
to the development of the group experience.
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Counseling
Model
The precepts underlying the education
and training of counseling professionals follow
the developmental model. Counselors are trained
to understand the individual in terms of where
he or she is in the ongoing process of growth,
development and passage through life stages, and
explore with the individual any aspects of development
in social, cognitive, emotional and behavioral
spheres that might have been delayed or interrupted.
The developmental model enables counselors to begin,
without judging, with the individual's current
state. Counselors also approach problem-solving
from an holistic perspective, concerned about every
aspect of the individual's functioning. Behaviors,
feelings, and thoughts are understood in terms
of the individual's world in which they occur.
Both in assessing the individual and in planning
and implementing treatment interventions, counselors
maintain a focus on the whole pattern, and the
wellness of the individual's mind, body and spirit.
Counselors seek to assist the person in identifying
and strengthening personal assets and adaptive
abilities; they strive to facilitate normal and
optimum development. Typically, counseling professionals
provide mental health treatment services in outpatient
settings to less pathological populations who are
experiencing life adjustment difficulties, although
education and training in the PhD-CES program will
prepare practitioners to work in psychiatric hospital
settings, as well.
As referenced in the doctoral
program accreditation standards defined by the
Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related
Educational Programs (CACREP), the PhD-CES program
accepts as a primary obligation extending the knowledge
base of the counseling profession in a climate
of scholarly inquiry, and it prepares students
to generate new knowledge for the counseling profession
through research and dissertations that are appropriate
to the field of counselor education or supervision.
The PhD-CES program has taken into account the
societal changes of the 21 st century and will
prepare graduates to be leaders and advocates for
change. |
