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HDC Home
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AREAS OF STUDY IN HDC PROGRAMStudents admitted to the HDC Program prepare for a Master of Arts degree in Human Development Counseling and must complete a minimum of 50 semester hours of graduate credit. Three areas of study are available within the Program: Community Counseling, School Counseling, and Marriage and Family Therapy. Both the Community Counseling and School Counseling areas are accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP) with a structured 50-credit hour curriculum. Students who want to prepare for licensure and certification as a Marriage and Family Therapist may elect to take an additional 16 credit hours (see Pages 8 and 19-20).
COMMUNITY COUNSELING: This area of study prepares students to provide counseling and consulting services in a wide range of environments such as mental health, correctional, social welfare, rehabilitative and human relations agencies and institutions. Required specialization course (4 semester hours) Students in the Community Counseling area of study wll take HDC 530 Community Counseling. Additional specialized knowledge may be obtained through projects designed to meet other course requirements. Supervised clinical experience (12 semester hours) HDC 587 Professional Experience: Practicum MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPY: This area of study prepares students to provide counseling and consulting services for clients of all ages who are perceived as members of systems. Required specialization course HDC 534 Introduction to Family Therapy Students seeking certification by the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) and licensure as marriage and family therapists must take approximately 20 credit hours beyond the 52 required within the HDC master's program (two additional family therapy courses, two additional family studies courses, HDC 545 Sexual Dysfunction, Substance Abuse, and Family Violence and HDC 546 Psychopathology and the DSM IV-TR. Consultation with the MFT area coordinator is required to ensure curricular and clinical experience requirements are met. Supervised clinical experience (12 semester hours) SCHOOL COUNSELING: This area of study prepares students to provide counseling and consulting services within elementary and secondary public and private educational settings. Students preparing for school certification must have a valid, permanent teaching certificate, and two years documented teaching experience. Required (34 semester hours) Required specialization course HDC 531 Developmental School Counseling Supervised clinical experience in an educational setting as defined above (12 semester hours) HDC 587 Professional Experience: Practicum Students in school counseling who successfully complete program requirements will be eligible to apply for the Illinois Type 73 School Service Personnel Certificate required for K-12 guidance counselors. School counselors must pass the standard Illinois examination for teachers in addition to the guidance examination. It is recommended that the guidance examination be taken during the last semester of coursework. Students seeking school guidance certification should obtain a complete packet of information from the HDC office. SUPERVISED CLINICAL EXPERIENCE The HDC Program offers three separate levels of supervised counseling experience. In HDC 502 Listening Skills and HDC 508 Influencing Skills students demonstrate their competency with basic skills using classmates and other HDC students as clients. After successfully completing the pre-practicum courses students are eligible to enroll in HDC 587 Professional Experience: Practicum. Practicum is offered in agencies and schools in the community and emphasizes the development of individual and group counseling skills with real clients. The program concludes with HDC 590 Professional Experience: Internship which offers an in-depth supervised field experience in schools or agencies. Internship enables students to refine and enhance the knowledge and skills developed during practicum and to engage in all of the counselor's professional activities. NOTE: There is no guarantee that each student requesting practicum or internship placement can be accommodated in a particular semester given the limited number of sites.# Individual agencies may have policies limiting placement or requiring additional training before working with clients. Upon the recommendation of the faculty, students may be required to take additional coursework before placement approval. A student who has received permission to enroll in a clinical experience and who withdraws after July 15 (Fall) and December 15 (Spring) will receive no priority in applying for the next semester's clinical experience. The student who wishes to withdraw notifies the HDC Program Chair by letter stating a reason for such action. # A student who has signed up for an initial clinical experience cannot have his/her name placed on an application list for the subsequent enrollment period at the same time. Clinical Experience Goals In order to successfully complete practicum and internship, graduates will: Examine their personal dynamics and behavior as these relate to the helping relationship Practicum Application: In consultation with their adviser, students must complete their plans of study by the completion of their first semester. Students are eligible for practicum after completing HDC 501, HDC 502, HDC 503, HDC 504, HDC 507, HDC 508 (plus HDC 531 for students in school counseling or HDC 534 in marriage and family studies). Admission to practicum is by application. Application materials are available in the HDC office. Applications for fall practicum should be submitted by February 15 and by October 15 for spring semester. Practicum applicants and placements must be approved by the HDC Program Committee. The supervised practicum requires a minimum of 100 clock hours with a minimum of 40 hours of direct service work with clientele appropriate to the program area of study. The direct service work must include a minimum of 15 hours of group facilitation or co-facilitation and no more than 120 hours. (Revised March 7, 1997) NOTE: Liability Insurance. Professional liability insurance is required for participation in practicum and internship. Liability insurance is available to ACA student members at special student rates (for $1,000,000,000 each accident/$3,000,000 annual aggregate. The present rate is $23.00 per year.) Students are expected to have applied for liability insurance prior to the start of practicum. The supervised internship requires a minimum of 600 clock hours including a minimum of 240 hours of direct service work with clientele appropriate to the program area of study. The direct service work must include a minimum of 25 hours of group facilitation or co-facilitation and no more than 120 hours. (Revised March 7, 1997) Internship should be completed within three semesters.
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