Elective Courses

Every semester, the Counseling Psychology department offers an array of electives on current topics in the field. These courses are listed on WebAdvisor as CPSY 590, and course descriptions are in the course details under the Comments section.

The following are a few of our recent and most popular offerings. For a complete list, please search WebAdvisor by semester.

CPSY 590 Adolescence

Instructor: Suzanne Younge
This seminar emphasizes an in-depth understanding of adolescent development, including a focus on multicultural and family factors. Students will use new information to examine their own data-bases and perhaps biases which they have gained while working with teenagers. This new information will be helpful to refine and broaden their approaches to counseling teens. There will be a strong experiential base to this course. Prior experience with adolescents is desirable but not required of the students.

This exploration will include among other areas the following topics: research on neurobiology and brain function, resiliency, youth violence, and alcohol and drug use. Prevention and treatment approaches such as mental health models in the schools, motivational interviewing and the trans-theoretical model of change will be investigated. Tips for addressing parental concerns and helping parents of teenagers bridge the gap between generations will be provided. Counselors will develop a systemic approach to thinking about, planning for and treating adolescents both individually and in a cultural, familial and community context.

CPSY 590 The Image in Mind: Theory and Approaches Regarding the Use of the Expressive Arts in Therapy

Instructor: Peter Mortola
This course is designed for mental health practitioners interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the theory and practice regarding the use of the image in the therapeutic setting with children, adolescents, and adults. Research on the role of the imagined and expressed image in the meaning making process within therapeutic contexts will be explored. Introduction to and instruction in practical approaches and methods employing expressive arts therapies – including drawing, clay work, sand tray work, metaphor and narrative – will be a central focus of the course. Participants will attend to experience, reflection, integration and application in order to:

* Understand theories and research underlying the use of the expressive arts in therapy
* Identify cultural and personal strengths in and resistances to the use of image in the therapeutic context
* Gain a repertoire of image-based approaches for professional practice appropriate for work with children, adolescents and adults

CPSY 590 Foundations of Ecopsychology

Instructor: Thomas Doherty
Ecopsychology is a contemporary movement within psychology that recognizes a connection between mental health and the natural environment and explores psychological solutions to environmental problems. This course provides an introduction to ecopsychology theory and practice and surveys research in environmental and conservation psychology that examines the restorative effects of natural settings and ways that individuals develop environmental identities. Students will be guided toward self-reflection regarding their own environmental identity, their motivations for integrating ecological approaches into counseling, and ways to integrate ecopsychology into their existing theory and practice base. A key outcome will be learning to evaluate the diverse holistic and empirical perspectives that coexist under the ecopsychology paradigm. This course provides a foundation for further study in areas such as eco-therapy, wilderness therapy, and environmental advocacy and behavior change.

CPSY 590 Eco-Therapy

Instructors: Thomas Doherty and Patricia Hasbach
This course will provide resources and techniques for mental health providers to utilize nature activities and metaphors in their therapeutic work, address environmental concerns they may encounter during the course of counseling, and harness individuals’ sustainability values to foster therapeutic goals. We will review research and practices in ecopsychology, conservation psychology, and environmental psychology and explore topics such as environmental identity, grief and despair about environmental issues, restorative natural settings, green spaces and children, and the adoption of sustainable living practices.

CPSY 590 Wilderness Therapy Intensive

Instructor: Thomas Doherty
Wilderness therapy in the 21st century can be seen as a specialized form of residential mental health treatment and can also be understood in the context of western and indigenous cultural traditions. This course will explore the application of mental health and substance abuse treatment in outdoor settings with adolescents (i.e., Outdoor Behavioral Health Care) and discuss therapeutic uses of wilderness experiences for recreation, personal growth and reflection, and athletic challenge. We will examine research on the benefits of green spaces and outdoor experiences on stress reduction, restoration of attention, enhanced self concept and sense of mastery, cognitive development, treatment of emotional and substance abuse disorders, and promotion of personal meaning. The course will have classroom and field experiences, including an overnight camping component. The course is open to counseling and education students and qualified students in other Lewis and Clark programs. The course is also open to continuing studies students and may be helpful for individuals interested in exploring the health benefits of nature and those employed in outdoor-related fields.

Course fee: $180.00

CPSY 590 Community Development and Social Change

Instructor: Tod Sloan
Reviews community-level strategies for addressing social injustice through system change, advocacy, and social movement building.  Draws on community psychology, political economy, sociology of social movements, and ideology theory to deepen understanding of power and social transformation.  Topics include leadership and citizenship, racism and poverty, community resilience, and mental health reform. Community organizing and consulting skills are also addressed: community mobilization, dialogue and mediation practices, organizational development, and planning for the nonprofit sector.  Given the times, it is likely that attention will be centered on community issues related to ecopsychology and ecological sustainability.  Class discussions will be supplemented by 15 hours of student visits to community meetings of grassroots or nonprofit organizations.

CPSY 590 Theory and Practice of Dialogue

Instructor: Tod Sloan
Dialogue can foster everything from personal growth to deep democracy. This seminar reviews prevalent dialogue practices and the theories that help us understand them. Includes first-hand experience with a wide spectrum of dialogue practices, ranging from conversation to community organizing to public policy deliberation.

CPSY 590 Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Instructor: Cathy Moonshine
This seminar provides an emphasis on developing a detailed understanding and a foundation of the skills of Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) when working with mental health, addiction and dual diagnosis clients. It is designed to empower clients to establish mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. DBT assists clinicians in treating challenging clients with suicidal issues, self harm potential and dramatic interpersonal styles. Clients struggling with out of control emotions, low impulse control and little frustration tolerance will find relief in DBT skills. The skills and philosophical perspective of DBT focuses on these issues which results in clients reporting improvement in their lives. According to this modality, clients are doing the best they can and they need to do better while clients may not have caused all their problems and yet they are responsible for finding their solutions. In this seminar we will learn and practice skills that empower clients to do just that. DBT is a therapeutic approach that is compatible with many therapeutic modalities such as CBT, Client Centered and Strength based approaches. This course will explore the theoretical basis for this approach, specific DBT interventions and how to work effectively with challenging clients. There will be a strong experiential component that will directly apply to clinical work. This seminar will also explore our ethical obligation for self care and working through counter-transference issues. Familiarity with these techniques will enhance your clinical skills and professional development.

CPSY 590 Motivating Behavioral Change

Instructor: Cathy Moonshine
This class provides a focus on behavioral change with mental health clients. We will explore how Stages of Change (SOC) and Motivational Interviewing (MI) can be used when working with mental health issues. SOC & MI are empirically validated approaches for working with a variety of symptoms and presenting presentations clients. It is designed to assist clients who are ambivalent and/or resistive to change. SOC & MI are approaches that are compatible with most therapeutic modalities such as CBT, Client Centered and Strength based approaches. This course will explore the theoretical basis for these approaches, practice of specific SOC & MI interventions and how to work with difficult and/or highly resistant clients with variety of difficulties. This approach is designed to help individuals work through his/her resistance and ambivalence to change. This course will have a strong experiential component that will directly apply to clinical work. Working knowledge of SOC & MI will increase your marketability as an intern and new counselor as well as improve your clinical skills.