The Substance Abuse and Clinical Counseling Program at East Carolina University serves students from all over North Carolina, including rural Eastern North Carolina, the country, and the world. The mission of the Substance Abuse and Clinical Counseling program is to prepare qualified addiction and clinical counseling professionals with competence in the foundational components; counseling, prevention, and interventions; assessment and diagnosis; diversity and advocacy; and research and evaluation germane to this specialty area. This mission is accomplished by faculty working together in partnership with university colleagues, current and former students, and community agencies in the pursuit of excellence in addiction counselor education, supervision, practice, and research.  

The program goals of the Substance Abuse and Clinical Counseling program are to:

• develop and maintain curricula and instruction based on current knowledge concerning the addiction and clinical counseling needs of a multicultural society;
• develop and maintain research that is designed to improve addiction and clinical counseling services with evidence-based strategies that advance the addiction and clinical counseling profession;
• maintain outreach, advocacy, leadership, and service to our community and to the addiction and clinical counseling profession; and
• achieve Program excellence as defined by obtaining CACREP accreditation.

General Program Objectives

(For asterisked items (*) student competence is demonstrated by the inclusion of student work samples and student reflections in portfolios.) 

samples and student reflections in portfolios The objectives of the Substance Abuse and Clinical Counseling Program were developed to support the mission of the program and are based on current knowledge and projected needs concerning counseling practice in a multicultural and pluralistic society. Developed in collaboration with current and former students, various accrediting and licensing boards, and personnel in cooperating agencies, the faculty identifies the following General Program objectives:

• Professional Orientation

Upon completing the program each student shall have knowledge and understanding of:

• • the history and philosophy of the counseling profession;
  • the roles, responsibilities, and functions of professional counselors and their relationships with other human service providers, including strategies for interagency/interorganization collaboration and communications;
  • counseling supervision models, practices, and process;
  • professional organizations, including membership benefits, activities, services and current issues;
  • professional credentialing, including certification, licensure, and accreditation practices, standards, and their effects on public ;
  • the role of professional counselors as advocates of the profession and for clients, including addressing institutional and social barriers that impede access, equality and success for clients; and
  • the ethical standards of the American Counseling Association and the ability to solve ethical problems which arise in the practice of counseling
    
    
• Social and Cultural Foundations

Upon completing the program each student shall have knowledge and understanding of:

• • multicultural and pluralistic trends including characteristics and concerns within and among diverse groups nationally and internationally;
  • oneself, in relational to culturally diverse clients;
  • the theories of multicultural counseling, identity development, and social justice;
  • individual, couple, family, group, and community strategies for working with and advocating for diverse populations, including multicultural competencies;
  • the counselor's role in developing cultural self-awareness, promoting cultural social justice, advocacy and conflict resolution, and other culturally supported behaviors that promote optimal wellness and growth of the human spirit, mind, or body; and
  • the counselor's role in eliminating biases, prejudices, and processes of intentional and unintentional oppression and discrimination.
    
    
• Human Growth and Development

Upon completing the program each student shall have knowledge and understanding of:

• • the theories of individual and family development and transitions across the life span;
  • the theories of learning and personality development, including current understandings about neurobiological behavior;
  • the effects of crises, disasters, and other trauma-causing events on persons of all ages;
  • the theories and models of individual, cultural, couple, family, and community resilience;
  • a general framework for understanding exceptional abilities and strategies for differentiated interventions;
  • human behavior, including an understanding of developmental crises, disability, psychopathology, and situational and environmental factors that affect both normal and abnormal behavior;
  • the theories and etiology of addictions and addictive behaviors including strategies for prevention, intervention, and treatment; and
  • the theories for facilitating optimal development and wellness over the life span.
    
    
• Career Development

Upon completing the program each student shall have knowledge and understanding of:

• Helping Relationships

Upon completing the program each student shall have knowledge and understanding of:

• • wellness and prevention as desired counseling goals;
  • counselor characteristics and behaviors that influence helping processes;
  • essential interviewing and counseling skills
  • counseling theories that provide models to conceptualize client presentation and assist in selecting appropriate counseling interventions. The models provided are consistent with current research and practice to assist in the development of a personal model of counseling;
  • a systems perspective that provides an understanding of family and other systems theories and major models of family related interventions;
  • a general framework for understanding and practicing consultation; and
  • crisis intervention and suicide prevention models, including the use of psychological first aid strategies.
    
    
• Group Work

Upon completing the program each student shall have knowledge, understanding, and experience (where appropriate) of:

• • the principles of group counseling dynamics, including group process components, developmental stages theories, group members' roles and behaviors, and therapeutic factors of group work;
  • various group counseling leadership or facilitation styles and approaches;
  • theories of group counseling, including commonalities, distinguishing characteristics, and pertinent research and literature;
  • group counseling methods, including group counselor orientations and behaviors, appropriate selection criteria and methods, and methods of evaluation of effectiveness; and
  • direct experience participating as group members in a small group activity for at least 10 clock hours, over the course of one semester.
    
    
• Assessment

Upon completing the program each student shall have knowledge and understanding of:

• • the historical perspectives concerning the nature and meaning of assessment;
  • the basic concepts of standardized and nonstandized testing and other assessment techniques, including norm-referenced and criterion-referenced assessment, environmental assessment, performance assessment, individual and group test and inventory methods, psychological testing, and behavioral observations;
  • statistical concepts, including scales of measurement, measures of central tendency, indices of variability, shapes and types of distributions, and correlations;
  • reliability (theory of measurement error, models of reliability, and uses of reliability information);
  • social and cultural factors related to the assessment and evaluation of individuals, groups, and specific populations; and
  • ethical strategies for selecting, administering, and interpreting assessment and evaluation instruments and techniques in counseling.
    
    
• Research and Evaluation

Upon completing the program each student shall have knowledge and understanding of:

• • the importance of research in advancing the counseling profession;
  • research methods such as qualitative, quantitative, single-case designs, action research, and outcome-based research;
  • statistical methods used in conducting research and program evaluation
  • principles, models, and applications of needs assessment, program evaluation and the use of findings to effect program modifications;
  • the use of research to inform evidenced-based practice; and
  • ethical and culturally relevant strategies for interpreting and reporting the results of research and program evaluation studies.
    
    
• Addiction Specific Objectives

The Substance Abuse and Clinical Counseling master's degree program provides experiences which teach students to provide leadership in the field, and to: