Goals and Objectives

Professional Counseling Program Goal 1:

Prepare clinical mental health counselors to meet the needs of an increasingly diverse and changing society.

Objective 1. The Professional Counseling Program seeks to develop professional counselors firmly grounded in the practice of multicultural counseling competencies with an understanding of the impact of heritage, attitudes, beliefs, understandings, and acculturative experiences on an individuals’ views of others. (CACREP Common Core Area 2)

Objective 2. The Professional Counseling Program seeks to develop professional counselors with a broad knowledge of the internal and external factors that affect clients’ human development, functioning, and behavior, and an ability to utilize this knowledge to competently serve clients. (CACREP Common Core Area 3)

Professional Counseling Program Goal 2:

Prepare qualified professional counselors who are proficient in written and verbal communications.

Professional Counseling Program Goal 3:

Prepare professional counselors to practice effectively in collaborative and interdisciplinary environments.

Objective 3. The Professional Counseling Program seeks to develop and train counselors who develop a base to grow a personal model of counseling based in sound theory and practice, and with the ability to assess and addresses crisis, especially suicide (CACREP Common Core Area 5)

Objective 4. The Professional Counseling Program seeks to develop and train counselors in how to develop and provide group counseling based on effective therapeutic factors and characteristics. (CACREP Common Core Area 6)

Objective 5. The Professional Counseling Program seeks to develop counselors who understand concepts essential to understanding and administering assessments. (CACREP Common Core Area 7)

Objective 6. The Professional Counseling Program seeks to develop and train counselors who understand statistics and research methods used in counseling research, and how to use that data to more effectively serve clients. (CACREP Common Core Area 8)

Professional Counseling Program Goal 4:

Promote the development of counselor professional identity and an understanding of professional ethical standards and the appropriate legal statues.

Objective 7. The Professional Counseling Program seeks to develop and train counselors who understand the ethics of our professional counseling organizations and credentialing bodies, and they understand how to self-evaluate their own performance in relation to these ethical standards. (CACREP Common Core Area 1)

Professional Counseling Program Goal 5:

Provide Professional Counseling Program students with the academic and practical experiences that satisfy the program accreditation standards set forth by the Counsel for the Accreditation of Counseling and Related Education Programs (CACREP) and satisfy the licensure requirements for the State of Texas.

Objective 8. The Professional Counseling Program seeks to develop and train counseling students who have a holistic understanding of career development and the multifaceted factors that affect the development of self and career. (CACREP Common Core Area 4)