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 settings, as well.
The PhD-CES program has been developed to challenge you with rigorous coursework and meaningful experiential activities, in a learning environment that recognizes and values the Judeo-Christian perspective. We anticipate that graduates of our program will have the potential to assume leadership positions in the counseling field and be equipped to model the highest ideals and ethics of our profession. Program objectives have been set out not only to inform you, the potential PhD-CES student, of the goals of our program, but also to measure the progress and success we as an institution of higher learning are achieving in serving you as a student, and especially, in serving God's purpose for this university.
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