Course Syllabus

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Instructor & Contact Information

The People tab in Canvas provides information on the course instructor and you can send a message to your instructor following these instructions. Faculty are expected to: 1) grade and return assignments, with feedback, within 7 days from the date of submission; 2) reply to your Canvas messages within 72 hours; 3) reply several times each week in total in the discussion forums (not to each individual student); and 4) demonstrate the core values of City Vision University.

Course Description

This course examines the role and theory of lay counseling as it applies to urban ministry settings. The coursework guides the learner into increased awareness, knowledge, and skill in interacting with multicultural and diverse populations. Counselor attributes, cultural sensitivity, and the concept of contextualized counseling will be explored. This course also focuses on client assessment, and approaches to addressing problems common to distressed urban dwellers seeking counseling.

Course Outcomes

After completing this course, you will be able to:

  1. Understand and apply the history, philosophical and theological basis of movements of Christians serving the poor, the oppressed and urban communities.
  2. Examine and utilize spiritual care skills such as preaching, counseling, evangelism and discipleship in the urban context.
  3. Discover specific strategies to approach counseling from a Christian perspective.
  4. Understand and apply principles from the various programs that are offered to people in the urban context including addiction recovery, community development, services to the homeless, women, youth work and family ministries.

Degree Program Outcomes

Degree outcomes are the overall skills and knowledge we expect you will have after successfully completing a degree program at City Vision University. This course supports the following program outcomes, marked with an asterisk (*).  After completing the degree, you will be able to do the following in each of the listed domains:

  1. Christian Integration. Integrate Christian principles and counseling theories in an ethical manner in both Christian and secular counseling environments.*
  2. Certification Exam Prep. Identify the key concepts needed to take a licensure exam either to apply to be a peer support specialist or certified addiction counselor.
  3. Case Management. Develop case management plans to help clients identify areas where they need help and connecting them with personal and community resources that will help them.
  4. Chemical Dependency. Describe foundational concepts of chemical dependency including a range of psychoactive drugs and how they work.
  5. Psychology. Describe the foundational concepts of psychology and apply that in both Christian and secular counseling environments.
  6. Clinical Counseling Skills. Utilize foundational skills for clinical addiction counseling.
  7. Multicultural Counseling. Utilize effective methods to counsel diverse clients in both Christian and secular counseling environments.*
  8. Specialized Skills. Apply knowledge and skills in specialized domains related to Addiction Counseling.

Required Texts

Students are required to purchase these texts before the first day of classes. 

Guidelines for Written Work

All written work must follow our Writing Format and Forum Requirements. You must read these to understand how to cite sources appropriately.

Critical Policies to Read for This Course

Note: These policies are critical for all students to read. In case of change, we have linked to the versions on our website to make sure you have the latest version.

Additional Policies:

This syllabus is subject to change without notice up until the first day of the semester. Last updated: April 8, 2022

Course Summary:

Date Details Due