Family & Community Counselling Program

Course Descriptions:

COM 105   Communications for the Human Services   
Credits: 3
This is a college level composition course that has been designed to meet the writing needs of counselling students.  Both the process and the product of writing are emphasized.  Students will learn about sentence and paragraph structure, essay writing, and grammar and punctuation for effective writing. Learning activities will help develop observation skills and objective analysis.  Students will refine their technical writing skills with emphasis on exercises and essays.

COM 205 Academic Writing and Research
Credits:  3
This course will take the student through the steps involved in writing a research paper.  Students will discover how to do a literature review and annotated bibliography by researching academic writing and journal articles.  The student will also write a proposal about a research project and conduct literary research for a final research essay.  Particular attention will be paid to the student using and enhancing skills they have learned in COM 105.
Prerequisite:  COM 105

FAMILY & COMMUNITY COUNSELLING COURSES

FCC 105 Basic Counselling Skills   
Credits: 3
This course provides students with the knowledge and skills fundamental to basic counselling.  Students are encouraged to begin to develop their own model of practice through discussion and critically analyzing the helping model of Gerard Egan and other models of helping.  A primary focus is on students learning and practicing basic communication skills: attending, listening, paraphrasing, summarizing, empathy, and probing.

FCC 110  Human Development I       
Credits: 3   
This course is an in depth study of child development from pre-birth through to age 12 years.  Aboriginal child development is studied in depth.  Historical perspectives, theories and methods give students an understanding about early childhood studies, ethical issues and approaches to child study.  Influences upon the developing child are studied and students are able to establish guidelines for the role of the counsellor.

FCC 115 Interpersonal Communication   
Credits: 3
This course is about a basic life skill.  The course focuses on what to do about communicating rather than what to think about it.  The philosophy is that the only way to learn a skill is experientially.  You have to do it.  Students have to perform the exercises, follow the suggestions both in the textbook and the exercise activities and make these skills their own through practice.

FCC 120 Human Development II
Credits: 3   
The focus for this course is on adolescence and the adult years.  Understanding human development is basic to therapeutic practice and is essential for all work with clients.  Topics include puberty, independence, coupling, aging and death and dying.   Prerequisite: FCC 110

FCC 135 Capacity Building and Program Planning (Formerly Community Development)   
Credits: 3   
This course will focus on the role of the worker engaged in making change at the community level.  The student will learn the theory and practice of building sustainable communities.  Beginning with an understanding of community and social change, students will develop a theoretical and practical perspective on immersing the community into the process of collective problem-solving.  Students will discover what community development is, why it is needed and how it can be carried out effectively.  Students will gain understanding of the connection between human relationships, personal, political, economic, social and cultural ways of working together to promote influence and community action.   Prerequisite:  FCC 115

FCC 150    FCC Practicum I   
Credits: 6   
The 12 week block (420 – 450 hour) practicum placement offers students a supervised opportunity to begin using skills that they have acquired in the areas of individual counselling.  These include listening, assessing, planning, evaluating and recording skills.  Student can build further upon their skills in community planning and development.  Students are expected to assume greater responsibility in their duties while working under regular supervision.

FCC 210 Social Work Practice
Credits: 3
This course provides a critical analysis of social work techniques and client needs.  Students will examine the role of the professional in the service delivery system and methods for supporting individuals, families and communities in transition.

FCC 220 Introduction to Social Welfare
Credits: 3
This course will focus on the social welfare state in Canada by examining the programs, theories and approaches within it.  Students will learn about Canadian social policy development and the policies and laws that affect Aboriginal children and families.  Case studies and simulation exercises will develop professional skills in family intervention, child protection and the appropriate disclosure of information. 

FCC 225 Issues in Counselling
Credits:  3
This course introduces students to resources, career opportunities and the different agencies in the Vancouver area.  Guest speakers from various agencies present their experience and perspectives to the students. The students are introduced to topics including specialized techniques, codes of ethics, counsellor self-care, and professional fulfillment of the human services field.

FCC 230 Legal Advocacy (Formerly Aboriginal Social Work and the Law)
Credits: 3
This course is designed to provide the student with a basic knowledge base in areas of law relevant to social services.  Specific areas of law that affect Aboriginal people will cover primarily family law, civil liberties, the accountability and liability of social services staff and legal issues.  The family life cycle is used as an organizing principle which connects legal procedures to the life of the family as it moves through marriage, parenthood, normal events and specific crises along the continuum from birth to old age. 

FCC 235 Recovery & Rehabilitation (Formerly Aboriginal Recovery & Rehabilitation)
Credits: 3
This course is an introduction to substance abuse counselling.  There is an emphasis on comparing and critically evaluating diverse counselling approaches.  The psychological, physiological, and sociological effects of substance abuse are examined as they pertain to First Nations people.  Students will learn culturally appropriate assessment, diagnosis, treatment (individual and group), and intervention and prevention methods.  Research projects will examine contemporary issues in recovery and rehabilitation.

FCC 240  Child Welfare (Formerly Aboriginal Child Welfare)
Credits: 3
This course explores the changing context of child and family policies.  Students examine federal and provincial jurisdictional issues concerning Aboriginal child and family services, child poverty in Canada, single parenthood and Aboriginal self-government.  The students participate in simulated child welfare scenarios.  These case studies will assist the student in understanding the Child, Family and Community Service Act, rights of children in care, child protection measures, confidentiality and the disclosure of information.

FCC 245 Crisis Support Counselling (Formerly Aboriginal Crisis Support and Intervention)
Credits: 3
This course will introduce students to the empowerment model of assisting clients and communities to lessen the impact of trauma.  The student will be introduced to the after-effects of trauma and restorative techniques in working with clients and communities.  Knowledge of mental health issues will assist students in identifying and assessing the impact of the trauma on the individual.  Student will learn to manage clients’ symptoms of traumatic stress in a creative life-affirming way.

FCC 250 FCC Practicum II
Credits:  6
The 12 week block practicum placement (420 – 450 hour) is to give students a supervised opportunity to enhance the skills learned in the areas of individual and group counselling.  The students might, for example, work individually with clients under supervision, or as a co-counsellor orco-facilitator.  Students develop an increased level of competence in the areas of workshop presentations, support and intervention or recovery and rehabilitation.  Students are expected to assume greater responsibility in their duties while working under regular supervision.

FCC 260 Ableism/Disability
Credits:  3
This course will combine theory, policy and practice issues related to disability.  Overall it will have an empowerment/advocacy/rights orientation underlying the specific issues addressed. It will be “pan-disability” in that it will not specifically focus on one type of disability but will draw from the complex of disability related impairments.  The aim of the course is to give students a broad understanding of how disability is constructed, the past and current responses to disability and how social workers can work to support the empowerment of people with disabilities. Format for the course will be primarily lecture based. Seminars, guest speakers, site visits and videos will supplement this.

FCC 265 Mental Health
Credits:  3
This course is designed to provide students with a background in the theory, policy, practice and issues central to mental health issues.  Students will learn about factors, situations and conditions that cause mental disorders and discuss and learn how the disorders may be best treated.  Specific attention will be paid to the role of understanding behaviours that cause suffering to the individual and others around him or her, and that interfere with functioning. Different approaches to treatment and current research on psychological disorders will also be reviewed.
Prerequisites:  FCC 110, FCC 120

PSYCHOLOGY COURSES

PSY 101 Introduction to Psychology   
Credits:  3
Psychology emphasizes the scientific method in the study of human behaviour. The course focuses on the history and methods of psychological enquiry, the phenomena of sensation and perception and the fundamentals of conditioning and learning. Other topics, including human development, physiology, and the properties of language, thinking and states of awareness, will be selected at the discretion of the instructor.

PSY 120 Cultural Health Practices (Formerly Aboriginal Health Practices)
Credits: 3
Students will examine holistic healing practices and spiritual traditions of indigenous people from different parts of the world, including their own cultural traditions on personal healing paths. They will be encouraged to define their own philosophies around healing and working with others in a helping profession, as Aboriginal beliefs and philosophies around relationships to the land, the earth’s healing energy, and the interconnectedness of all life will be explored. The importance of storytelling, myth, ritual and symbolism will be reviewed. The focus will be on self care techniques, as well as family and community wellness.

PSY 140 Introduction to Trauma Counselling (Formerly Introduction to Trauma Counselling Techniques)   
Credits: 6   
This course will provide an overview of trauma and trauma theory, people’s responses to trauma and an introduction to a variety of therapeutic strategies including dialogical, experiential, and cultural.  Discussions will include a historical overview of the impact of genocide on First Nations people and generational trauma.

SOCIOLOGY COURSES

SOC 110 Family Dynamics (Formerly Traditional Aboriginal Parenting)
Credits: 3
There are three major themes in this course:  the family as a system, family strategies and the parent-child relationship. In addition, the needs of children and youth in the family system and family interaction from a multigenerational developmental perspective will be explored.  Students will examine the multi-generational effects of the Residential School System on the family system. In addition, two major themes, Aboriginal values and parenting models, will be explored as a way of assisting parents and teachers of youth at risk.  Students will research and discuss attachment, trauma, FASD and ADHD.