CACREP Objectives

CACREP Objectives

Mission Statement

The Marieb College of Health & Human Services provides students with health and human services professions education grounded in academic excellence, critical thinking, ethical practice, and interdisciplinary collaboration. The College facilitates active learning, emphasizes evidence-based practice, uses multiple delivery systems, develops interdisciplinary relationships, and cooperates with community partners to prepare competent and caring health and human service professionals who recognize, and demonstrate an understanding of the importance of diversity

 

Counseling Department Goal and Program Objectives

The department’s goals and objectives are informed by the philosophy of the College. Our overarching goal is to graduate exemplary professional practitioners, leaders, and scholars who are sensitive to the special circumstances and contexts within which they practice: preK-12 educational settings, community agencies providing clinical mental health services, and specialized settings addressing specific developmental and psychological needs of clients.  The department faculty and graduates promote wellness and accomplishment across the lifespan though their practice and as leaders and advocates for the profession and the populations they serve.

The Counseling Department’s programs are comprised of a carefully sequenced and increasingly integrative curriculum that relies on an early introduction of counseling skills and knowledge applied in a variety of professional settings. This is coupled with continuous field experiences in which the specialized skills, knowledge and dispositions required for CACREP and Florida DOE standards are demonstrated on exit exams and multiple experiential assessments.  

Objectives

To achieve our goals, the programs have the following objectives.

• Deliver a curriculum scope and sequence that addresses Core and Specialty CACREP and Florida DOE standards. By organizing students in a cohort model, learning is scaffolded and integrated early and in sequenced field experiences to graduation. (These objectives are measured by performance on CPCE, Florida’s Teacher Certification Exams, and the number of students who complete the program in the scope and sequence outlined.)
• Graduates from FGCU’s counseling programs will be prepared to partner with other counselors and engage in interprofessional collaboration within the context of a multicultural and global workplace. (These objectives are measured by competencies and skills evaluated in didactic courses and in field experiences.)
• FGCU’s counseling programs prepares graduates to engage in advocacy and to advance the profession. (These objectives are measured by competencies and skills evaluated in didactic courses and in field experiences and the CPCE.)
• FGCU’s counseling programs prepares graduates for legal, ethical and moral decision-making and practice at the highest standards of the profession and specialty. (These objectives are measured by competencies and skills evaluated in didactic courses and in field experiences and the CPCE.)
• Students graduate understanding a life-span developmental and multicultural perspective that helps them maximize the quality of life among clients/students in their respective environments/systems. (These objectives are measured by competencies and skills evaluated in didactic courses and in field experiences and in the CPCE.)
• Graduates are adept at a wide breadth of counseling theories, philosophies, evidence-based practices, and techniques that are synthesized into a personally meaningful, integrated, and efficacious approaches. (These objectives are measured by competencies and skills evaluated in didactic courses and in field experiences and the CPCE.)
• Graduates accept accountability to themselves, their clients/students, and to their
  profession by completing their work with integrity, honesty, perseverance, respect, competence, professionalism, sensitivity to diversity, and compassion. (These objectives are measured by competencies and skills evaluated in didactic courses and in field experiences and CPCE.)
• FGCU Counseling Program graduates meet the CACREP core and specialty standards and demonstrate the skills, knowledge and dispositions required to achieve state license or certification standards for their specialty.

Program Student Outcomes/Key Performance Indicators

FGCU’s Counseling programs are informed by the CACREP Core and Specialty standards.

CACREP Core Standards

• Human Growth and Development: Completion of the program will provide the student an understanding of the major theories of human growth and development; how human behavior and environmental factors affect both normal and abnormal behavior in both the school and community agency setting.
• Social and Cultural Diversity: Completion of the program will provide the student an understanding of issues and trends in a multicultural and diverse society. These considerations are based upon human attitudes and behavior toward such factors as age, race, religious preference, physical disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity and culture, family patterns, gender, socioeconomic status, and intellectual ability.
• Counseling and Helping Relationships: Completion of the program will provide the student an understanding of counseling and consultation processes such as basic interviewing, assessment, and counseling skills. Other helping considerations include knowledge of counselor, consultant, and client characteristics; and behaviors that influence the helping process.
• Group Work and Group Counseling: Completion of the program will provide the student an understanding of group development, dynamics, counseling theories, group counseling methods and skills, and other group work approaches.
• Career Development: Completion of the program will provide the student an understanding of career development and related life factors such as the career decision-making process and interrelationships among work, family and other life roles including multicultural and gender issues as related to career development.
• Assessment and Testing: Completion of the program will provide the student an understanding of individual and group approaches to assessment and evaluation.
• Research and Program Evaluation: Completion of the program will provide the student an understanding of types of research methods, basic statistics, and ethical and legal considerations in research.
• Professional Counseling Orientation and Ethical Practice: Completion of the program will provide the student an understanding of all aspects of professional functioning including history, roles, organizational structures, ethics, standards, and credentialing.

Clinical Mental Health Counseling

1. FOUNDATIONS
   1. history and development, psychological tests and assessments, theories and models of clinical mental health counseling, biopsychosocial and other case conceptualization and treatment planning,
   2. neurobiological and medical foundation and etiology of addiction and co-occurring disorders
2. CONTEXTUAL DIMENSIONS of clinical mental health counseling including
3. roles and settings, service delivery modalities, and diagnostic process and classifications systems (DSM and ICD)
4. etiology, nomenclature, treatment, referral, and prevention of mental and emotional disorders
5. potential for substance use disorders to mimic and/or co-occur with a variety of neurological, medical, and psychological disorders
6. impact of crisis and trauma on individuals
7. impact of biological and neurological mechanisms
8. classifications, indications, and contraindications of commonly prescribed psychopharmacological medications for appropriate medical referral and consultation
9. legislation and government policy
10. cultural factors
11. professional organizations, preparation standards, and credentials
12. legal and ethical considerations, record keeping, third party reimbursement, and other practice and management issues
13. PRACTICE
    1. intake interview, mental status evaluation, biopsychosocial history, mental health history, and psychological assessment for treatment planning and caseload management
    2. techniques and interventions for prevention and treatment of and advocacy for persons with a broad range of mental health issues
    3. strategies for interfacing with the legal system regarding court-referred clients and with integrated behavioral health care professionals

School Counseling

FGCU’s Counseling programs are informed by the CACREP Core and Specialty standards. Additionally, all graduates qualify by meeting the requirements for certification as a School Counselor, Pk-12 in Florida which requires that Educator Competencies, Specialty Standards and Florida Educator Accomplished Practices are also assessed and demonstrated. 

 

School Counseling Specialty Standards

1. FOUNDATIONS
   1. history and development of school counseling
   2. models of school counseling programs, P-12 comprehensive career development, and school-based collaboration and consultation
   3. assessments specific to P-12 education

1. CONTEXTUAL DIMENSIONS

1. school counselor roles as leaders, advocates, in consultation with families and personnel and as systems change agents in P-12 schools
2. school counselor roles in relation to college and career readiness, school leadership and multidisciplinary teams, school emergency management plans, and crises, disasters, and trauma
3. competencies to advocate for school counseling roles
4. characteristics, risk factors, and warning signs of students at risk for mental health and behavioral disorders
5. common medications that affect learning, behavior, and mood in children and adolescents
6. signs and symptoms of substance abuse in children and adolescents as well as the signs and symptoms of living in a home where substance use occurs
7. qualities and styles of effective leadership in schools
8. community resources and referral sources
9. professional organizations, preparation standards, and credentials relevant to the practice of school counseling
10. legislation and government policy and legal and ethical considerations specific to school counseling

1. PRACTICE

1. development of school counseling program mission statements and objectives
2. design and evaluation of school counseling programs including core curriculum design, lesson plan development, classroom management strategies, and differentiated instructional strategies
3. interventions to promote academic development, college and career readiness
4. use of developmentally appropriate career counseling interventions and assessments
5. techniques of personal/social counseling in school settings
6. strategies to facilitate school and postsecondary transitions
7. skills to critically examine the connections between social, familial, emotional, and behavior problems and academic achievement
8. approaches to increase promotion and graduation rates
9. strategies to promote equity in student achievement and college access
10. techniques to foster collaboration and teamwork within schools
11. strategies for implementing and coordinating peer intervention programs
12. use of accountability data to inform decision making and to advocate for programs and students

Florida Educator Competencies in Guidance and Counseling PK-12

1. Knowledge of counseling.
2. Knowledge of programs and interventions for addressing current issues in schools.
3. Knowledge of assessment in promoting student success.
4. Knowledge of career development and postsecondary opportunities.
5. Knowledge of consultation, collaboration and coordination.
6. Knowledge of professional, ethical, and legal considerations.
7. Knowledge of individual student planning.
8. Knowledge of the development and evaluation of exemplary comprehensive school counseling programs.
9. Knowledge of technology and digital citizenship.
10. Knowledge of cultural competence for school counselors.

Florida Educator Accomplished Practices (FEAP) that include three essential principles:

1. The effective educator creates a culture of high expectations for all students by promoting the importance of education and each student’s capacity for academic achievement.
2. The effective educator demonstrates deep and comprehensive knowledge of the subject taught.
3. The effective educator exemplifies the standards of the profession.

Principles

These three principles are applied in six key areas, as adapted to the role of the school counselor

1. Instructional Design and Lesson Planning. Applying concepts from human development and learning theories,
2. The Learning Environment. To maintain a student-centered learning environment that is safe, organized, equitable, flexible, inclusive, and collaborative, the effective educator consistently:
3. Instructional Delivery and Facilitation. The effective educator consistently utilizes a deep and comprehensive knowledge of the subject taught to:
4. Assessment.
5. Continuous Professional Improvement.
6. Professional Responsibility and Ethical Conduct. Understanding that educators are held to a high moral standard in a community, the effective educator adheres to the Code of Ethics and the Principles of Professional Conduct of the Education Profession of Florida, pursuant to Rules 6A-10.080 and 6A-10.081, F.A.C., and fulfills the expected obligations to students, the public and the education profession.