Courses

This course provides students with an introduction to group theory and acquisition of group leadership skills. Also included will be group development, ethical considerations, and the use of groups in church, parachurch and community mental health settings. The course will be taught from a relational/systems perspective. Using key theories of group counseling and family systems models, the class will explore attachment issues, recapitulation of family of origin in the group, boundary setting, and other individual/relational dynamics that occur in group work. The course includes an in-class group experience for facilitation skill building and person of the therapist development.

This course examines the major legal and ethical issues involved in the practice of therapy. Special attention is given to the American Association of Marriage and Family ethical standards, the laws of British Columbia regarding the practice of therapy, uniquely to Christian perspectives and responsibilities. Issues that are related to diversity and power and privilege as they relate to the areas of indigenous culture and history, age, gender, sexual orientation, health/ability, culture, SES, spirituality, and ethnicity will also be addressed.

As an advanced course in Marital and Family Therapy, this course will focus on the systemic issues and treatment of couples and families addressing essential topics like divorce, remarriage, stepfamily and blended family issues, severe illness and death, sexuality and intimacy, as well as violence and sexual abuse. Issues that are related to diversity and power and privilege as they relate to the areas of age, gender, sexual identity, health/ability, culture, SES, spirituality, and ethnicity will also be addressed.

This course provides students with clinical understanding regarding substance use, addictions and domestic violence offering a trauma-informed assessment and treatment. Students will learn to appreciate the complexity of substance use disorders, diversity of care, and providing informed referrals to evidence-based support services. They will learn to conceptualize and treat families in crisis in a systemic way, promoting recovery, safety, wellness, and harm reduction to improve care and support for those with substance use and addiction. The course will also emphasize understanding trauma and domestic violence and focus on conceptualization, assessment, treatment planning and appropriate referrals.

The course will familiarize the student with Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples (EFT), an empirically validated approach to working with couples who are experiencing marital distress developed by Drs. Susan Johnson and Leslie Greenberg. EFT offers a comprehensive theory of adult love and attachment, as well as a process of healing distressed relationships. Through a series of nine steps, this experiential–systemic therapy focuses on helping partners restructure the emotional responses that maintain their negative interaction patterns. This course fulfills the externship requirements toward Certification as an EFT Therapist.

In this course, we will explore the purposeful dynamics of emotion and the inherent properties of play — and most importantly, the magical interplay when they come together. We will play with the practical application across the lifespan. What does it look like to bring true play and playfulness into our practice, both in and out of the therapy room? What does it look like to matchmake play and emotion for those you care for and for yourself? With this insight of true play, we can see how play is nature’s design to take care of us, no matter what one’s role.

This seminar style course covers theoretical and practical approaches for helping professionals to integrate Christianity and Psychology. Emphases include biological, psychological, sociological, and spiritual aspects of personhood, including applications for clinical practice. This course also provides opportunities for professional development through personal reflection that leads to the development of an integrated therapeutic perspective.

This course offers an in-depth exploration of the study of grief, loss, and end-of-life care in the context of family systems, with a focus on the interconnection of familial, individual and relational dynamics. Emphasizing the role of culture, community, and family narratives, students will critically examine how diverse cultural, spiritual and faith rituals, beliefs, and practices shape responses to loss and mourning within family systems. This course covers models of grief and bereavement from a systemic lens, including complexities of anticipatory grief, ambiguous loss, and intergenerational loss. Special attention will be given to collaborative approaches in palliative care and working with interdisciplinary health teams to ensure ethical and appropriate care in these settings. Lastly, students will learn their roles as psychotherapists in supporting end-of-life conversations and learn how to integrate self of the therapist awareness to best address compassion fatigue and vicarious grief.

This course offers an innovative approach to exploring current theoretical trends and therapeutic strategies when working with children, adolescents, and their families. The course will be taught from a systemic perspective while taking into account the special needs of the individual child. One of the major components of the course will involve Dr. Gordon Neufeld’s Intensive course: Making Sense of Kids. The course will explore the dynamics of “stuckness” in childhood and adolescence through Dr. Neufeld’s comprehensive attachment-based developmental model. This course will cover a three-pronged approach to effecting deep and lasting change, with a deeper look at the interplay of attachment, maturation, and vulnerability.