Certificate in Advanced Prof. Counseling at Biblical Seminary

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CAPC Course Descriptions and Objectives

Fall Courses Offered Online

Please note that application for this certificate is open each semester. All Courses are held on Monday nights.

Psychological Assessment
Description:	This course gives you theoretical and practical training in clinical assessment as a mental health professional. You will be introduced to the science and art of assessing and reporting client functioning (interviewing, testing, interpretation, and writing). The course will pay attention to proper ethical and cultural aspects of assessment. (2 credits / hours)
Objectives:	Be able to administer, score, interpret and report the results of an assessment protocol. Be able to discuss and critique the scientific basis for reliable, valid, and ethical clinical assessment.

Research and Program Evaluation
Description:	The focus of this course is on the philosophic foundations, overall value and generally accepted practices of both research design and methodology in the behavioral sciences, specifically as it applies to program evaluation. (2 credits / hours)
Objectives:	Explain the value laden nature of research production. Identify the methods and techniques of research production. Identify the major parts of all empirically designed psychology research. Critique research products from a philosophical, theological and research perspectives. Design a beginning research project.

Winter Courses Offered Online

Career and Lifestyle Development
Description:	The principles of counseling for career and lifestyle development apply both in secular and in ministry environments. This advanced level course supports the Pennsylvania state requirement that those interested in pursuing licensure must have studies that provide an understanding of career development and related life factors. The course will address theories and their application in formal and informal settings. Students will receive instruction in class, through assignments including a choice of site visitations for a project, and through case studies. The missionally focused capstone of the course will take place in week 5 with the student counselor’s participation in an onsite clinic open to the public. (2 credits / hours)
Objectives:	Explain career assessment theories and use. Describe stages of adult career development. Guide others through the career development process Understand the internal and external barriers to progressing in a desired career path Have an awareness of the challenges and resources for more difficult career situations

Winter Courses Offered On Campus

Human Development
Description:	This course explores how humans grow, learn, and mature across the life-span. It surveys common developmental periods of life while considering how the issues within each developmental stage relate to counseling practice and ministry. Special attention will be given to identifying developmentally specific challenges and how to address them from a Christian perspective. Each student will engage in a personal exploration project. (3 credits / hours)
Objectives:	Identify typical developmental milestones across the lifespan. Articulate a coherent biblical framework for the nature of persons, problems, and means of personal growth and change — both theoretically and personally. Describe how one’s culture impacts models of change. Understand one’s own personal development, especially as it relates to historical and cultural influences. Develop greater awareness of desired development as a person and as a counselor.

Group Counseling
Description:	This course is a comprehensive study of the major theories and techniques used in group psychotherapy and in other small group settings. Special focus will be on the dynamics of group process including the formation, stages and challenges of groups. (2 credits / hours)
Objectives:	To understand and articulate the differences between individual counseling and group counseling. To understand the dynamics of group process and how to use this process productively. To identify the stages of every group and the techniques required to successfully negotiate each stage. To experience the dynamics of group process from personal experience as a member of a group. To serve as a small group resource in the local church

Spring Courses Offered Online

Social & Cultural Foundations of Counseling
Description:	This course builds on a prior coursework in professional ethics and cross-cultural diversity by exploring the historical and philosophical foundations of professional counseling. Students will study underlying assumptions, epistemologies, philosophies of science, theories, and approaches involved in the field of psychology and counseling. The first semester will explore historical and epistemological foundations of the field while the second semester will explore and critique the modern world of Christian counseling. (2 credits / hours)
Objectives:	Articulate a comprehensive critique of scientist, Biblicist, and other postmodern ways of knowing. Summarize the major theoretical and scientific influences on contemporary counseling practice. Identify and summarize the current conflicts in secular and Christian counseling Evaluate new counseling models with humility and conviction

Professional Orientation
Description:	This course is designed to orient students into the Counseling profession. Students will begin to develop their professional identity and skills through reading assignments and by viewing a counseling session and completing a full write up of the clinical record. This course will also introduce students to Ethics, HIPAA, Counseling Associations and Licensure requirements. (2 credits / hours)
Objectives:	Have a better understanding of the counseling profession. Have a thorough understanding of the ethical & licensure side of the profession. Write in clinical formats and complete a Clinical Record. Assess and conceptualize a client. Obtain a fieldwork placement (if necessary).

Continuing Education for Licensed Professional Counselors

Biblical Seminary offers pre-approved continuing education contact hours for professional counselors (based on PA Code 49.36 (a) (3)). Professional counselors are required to complete 30 contact hours of continuing education every 2 years, including at least 3 hours focused on the area of ethics.

Holders of the LPC are eligible to audit courses and receive a certificate verifying the contact hours and course titles completed.[1]

LPCs seeking CEs must register and pay in advance, provide Biblical Seminary with a current license number, attend all sessions (signing in and out) and complete a course survey to be eligible to receive their certificate.

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[1] Auditors do not need to complete out of class assignmentsand will not receive a grade for the course. Audited courses would not be eligible for transfer into any program at Biblical Seminary as auditors are not matriculated students.