NCJ Number
75105
Date Published
1977
Length
13 pages
Annotation
This paper outlines a model for counselor education curriculum for counseling in the corrections setting.
Abstract
Counselor education programs most often prepare their graduates to work in either a school setting (elementary through higher education) or a community agency. There is little indication that counselor education programs have seriously undertaken the task of training counselors to enter the corrections field. If corrections is to become the new arena for counselors, it is the responsibility of counselor educators to provide their students with the option to gain the additional knowledge, skills, and experiences requisite in the world of corrections. The model for corrections counseling curriculum has as its core traditional counseling courses such as counseling theories, standardized testing, communications skills seminars, and practicum. It adds to these a proposed series of options such as the criminal justice system, abnormal psychology, personality theories, psychopathology, projective techniques for personality theories, psychopathology, projective techniques for personality assessment, and field placement, which should provide optimal skills for a counselor to function in a correctional setting. The rationale for these options is discussed at length and as it applies to the role of the correctional counselor. This role is threefold: in addition to the traditional role of therapist, the counselor must also act as an institutional change agent agent and resource developer-manager. Interactions with corrections clients are described. Thirteen references and several notes are included. (Author/ERIC abstract modified)