Desired Educational Outcomes

Twelve outcomes are fundamental to the Group Psychotherapy doctoral program of The Professional School of Psychology:

 

• An understanding of the full range of normal developmental processes of humans and how these influence behavior and functioning across the life span.
• The capacity to influence community life through multiple roles and functions, including those of teacher, learner, scholar, researcher, interventionist and advocate.
• An understanding of both traditional and nontraditional research methods that illuminate the human condition and the ability to comprehend and appreciate literature about group functioning coming from many different disciplinary perspectives.
• An ability to work with professionals from different disciplinary backgrounds and an appreciation of the methods and scope of other disciplines, particularly as related to the study of group life.
• An understanding of the ethical issues associated with group psychotherapeutic practices and of the principles of effective and ethical performance in a professional role.
• An ability to relate knowledge about group functioning to the social and cultural context of those individuals and organizations that are being served by this knowledge.
• An attitude of ongoing and critical self-evaluation, including the ability to know when and where to get consultation, coaching, and other forms of assistance.
• A broad familiarity with the disciplinary foundations of human knowledge: biological, social, cognitive, and affective, and the capacity to appreciate, integrate and apply knowledge about group functioning in a wide variety of social and cultural settings.
• Understanding of the critical/reflective process, based on personal experience, and an understanding of the relationship between scholarship, research and application.
• Dialogical skills, including the skills of hermeneutic and phenomenological inquiry.
• An understanding of an array of intervention models and the strengths and limitations of each, as well as an integration of other models and empirical information into a personal model that provides a basis for informed practices regarding the development and engagement of group psychotherapy.
• Flexibility, tolerance of ambiguity, and commitment to ongoing professional development and learning.