COUC 791 Crisis and Trauma

This doctoral level elective course is designed to acquaint students with a broad view of the role of the practitioner in counseling for crisis, trauma, and grief. This course is both experientially and cognitively developmental in nature and will require students to assess their own experiences with trauma and grief, as well as learn crisis and trauma theories and best practices. Attention will also be given to crisis leadership and pedagogy of crisis and trauma information.

As leaders in the field of counseling, counselor educators are often called up on in crisis situations to provide direct care, or supervision and support of front-line workers.  As national and international crises have become more frequent, knowledge and skills in the area of crisis and trauma work have become crucial information, partly evidenced by the need to address the following 2016 CACREP Standards:

Standard II.F.3.G- “effects of crisis, disasters, and trauma on diverse individuals across the lifespan”

Standard II.F.5.M- “crisis intervention, trauma-informed, and community-based strategies, such as Psychological First Aid”

Counselor Education and Supervision Standard B.5.F- “leadership roles and strategies for responding to crises and disasters”

Method of Instruction: This course is delivered using a digital synchronous intensive format. Students attend 36-40 hours of video-based instruction. In addition to the one week of digital synchronous class time, students are expected to complete additional work online both pre and post intensive over the duration of this semester-long course.

Textbook readings and presentations

No details available.

Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Advising Acknowledgement Quiz

The Advising Guide provides essential information to the successful completion of the program. The link below will take the student to the page that includes his/her  program handbook and licensure information at the bottom of the page. The student will then need to agree to the Advising Guide Acknowledgement.

Discussions (14)

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the purpose of this assignment is to give the student an opportunity to interact with fellow doctoral students in a collaborative manner. The student must read the assigned textbook readings and respond in-depth to selected prompts in a group discussion. The student is expected to demonstrate the ability to integrate the information from the chapters; (b) interact with at least two group members posts; and (c) demonstrate an assimilation of the new information. Each thread must be 200-250 words with 2 replies of at least 100 words each. (Meets CLO A)

Crisis Worker Interview Assignment

The student will interview a crisis worker. This crisis worker must be a professional in a crisis related field, i.e. policeman, ER worker, American Red Cross crisis counselor, Salvation Army crisis counselor, EMT, hospital chaplain, etc. This interview must have a set of questions that the student considers to be instructional to his/her future needs. The questions and answers will be turned in to the instructor as part of this assignment. A written summary (not a script of the interview) of the answers, the student’s reflections, as well as an assessment of the interview’s value are to be included in the written report. The report must include the contact information of the crisis worker. Minimum of 5 full pages of text, double spaced. The student will present the results of this interview as a classroom presentation. A PowerPoint presentation on the interview is acceptable if the student should choose to utilize any photographic materials made available to him/her. (Meets CLO C)

Teaching Demonstration Assignment

Each student will teach a 30 minute lesson in class during the intensive on some topic that he/she selects from our two textbooks. The student must choose the topic by the end of Week 6 and get approval on the topic from the instructor. Teaching demonstrations will occur during class. Lecture, group activities, discussion, and other teaching strategies may be utilized. The student must provide a list of references and/or resources on his/her topic to the class. Evaluation will be based on the (a) organization and delivery of presentation, (b) materials presented before and during the presentation, (c) ability to involve class in discussion/activities.   (Meets CLO D)

APA Research Paper Assignment

The student will choose a therapeutic intervention mentioned in one of the textbooks, and write a 10 page minimum (not including title page, Abstract, or reference pages) research paper. Include details on the methodology of the intervention, the development of it, efficacy, target population for intervention, and related information. The student must include at least 8 professional references. 

Quizzes: Journal Submissions (2)

Each student will submit a weekly journal entry. No credit will be awarded for late submissions. These should be no less than 1 page and no more than 2 pages in length (double spaced, Not in APA style). The topic of each entry is the student. This is a self-reflective journal. It is not an academic paper. The journals will be written each week, except for the intensive week, thus a total of 15 journals/weeks. The student will compile all of the Journal entries for the Pre-Intensive module and submit them to the Quiz: Journal Pre-Intensive Submission. Then, the student will compile all of the Journal entries for the Post-Intensive module and submit them to the Quiz: Journal Post-Intensive Submission. (Meets CLO B.)

The student will describe his/her class participation throughout the intensive module. Quiz covers the Class Participation during the Module 2: Intensive, contains 1 essay question, is limited to 20 minutes, and allows 1 attempt.

Quiz: American Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Training

The student will complete a brief American Red Cross Disaster Mental Health training that will lead to a certificate. The student will need to upload a screenshot of the certificate to the Quiz: American Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Training. Quiz covers the student’s American Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Training from Module 3 – Post-Intensive, contains 1 file-upload question, has no time limit, and allows unlimited attempts.

Quiz: Dispositions Reflection

The student will rate himself/herself on the nine dispositions required for this program by our accrediting bodies using the scale provided. Quiz covers the Learn material from Module 1: Pre-Intensive, contains 10 multiple-choice and essay questions, is limited to 60 minutes, and allows 1 attempt.