CMHC Program Objectives

Eastern Oregon University’s Clinical Mental Health Counseling program outcomes are continuously reviewed and updated to reflect the knowledge, awareness, skills, experiences, and values necessary for Clinical Mental Health Counselors to excel.

PO1: PROFESSIONAL COUNSELING ORIENTATION AND ETHICAL PRACTICE        

To train counseling students to develop a strong counselor identity, understand the importance of self-care and continuous professional growth, and demonstrate and utilize ethical and legal standards across counselor roles and responsibilities. (CACREP 2024, 3.A)

PO2: SOCIAL AND CULTURAL IDENTITIES AND EXPERIENCES                                      

To train counseling students that can demonstrate and utilize social and cultural contexts within the treatment of individuals, couples, and families, and to empower choice through the use of cultural guidelines and with an understanding of cultural impact on personal experiences, systemic influences, and perception of mental health. (CACREP 2024, 3.B)

PO3: HUMAN GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT                                    

To train counseling students that can demonstrate and utilize aspects of human development and resilience across the lifespan and within the counseling process with individual clients, families, couples, and with a broad array of presenting concerns, including addiction, sexuality, and mental and physical health. (CACREP 2024, 3.C)

PO4: CAREER DEVELOPMENT               

To train counseling students that can demonstrate and utilize career development theory while navigating the interrelationships between work and mental well-being and based on individual client needs including ability level, developmentally appropriate interventions, and impact of work on life experience. (CACREP 2024, 3.D)

PO5: COUNSELING AND HELPING RELATIONSHIPS                                

To train counseling students that can demonstrate and utilize the characteristics, behaviors, theories, counseling skills, and technology to produce developmentally relevant and culturally sustaining counseling treatment or intervention plans through helping relationships. (CACREP 2024, 3.E)

Stack of old books

PO6: GROUP COUNSELING AND GROUP WORK                                                               

To train counseling students that can demonstrate and utilize the dynamics, strategies, and conditions associated with effective group work with culturally sustaining and developmentally responsive strategies for designing and facilitating groups. (CACREP 2024, 3.F)

PO7: ASSESSMENT AND DIAGNOSTIC PROCEDURES                                        

To train counseling students that can demonstrate and utilize assessment data to diagnose and treat mental and emotional disorders, including history and potential biases of instruments and culturally sustaining and developmentally appropriate assessment selection, administration, and scoring. (CACREP 2024, 3.G)

Monty in Loso Hall with advising, tutoring, writing center and other student services

PO8: RESEARCH AND PROGRAM EVALUATION                                         

To train counseling students that can demonstrate and utilize evidence-based research, needs assessment, and program evaluation to inform culturally sustaining and developmentally appropriate counseling practice. (CACREP 2024, 3.H)

PO9: CLINICAL MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELING                                                  

To train counselors specialized in clinical mental health that can demonstrate their professional identity and roles across a variety of modalities through intake practices, diagnostic criteria, treatment modalities, treatment planning, and client advocacy to assess and develop interventions and track outcomes through culturally sustaining and developmentally appropriate modalities, as well as understand how to navigate regulatory processes and systems of care outside of the immediate counseling relationship. (CACREP 2024, 5.C)

PO10: PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE                                                                            

To train counselors that can demonstrate, utilize, and integrate knowledge and skills through culturally sustaining and developmentally relevant strategies for best practice and through professional dispositions in supervised practicum and internship experiences. (CACREP 2024, 2.C, 3.A, 3.B, 3.E)