BH 400 - Counseling and Communication Skills in Behavioral Health

This course examines how to develop basic communication skills that will be applied within the Behavioral Health field. Students will be introduced to the major theoretical systems of counseling, the helping process, communication skills, and basic written communication techniques will be explored. The helping process will examine how to engage others, apply professional use of self, and ethical communication, development of interpersonal skills, and demonstration of empathy. Students will demonstrate communication skills that will include nonverbal messages, verbal messages, listening and responding, interviewing, paraphrasing, active listening, practicing mindfulness, and observation. In addition, students will apply basic professional writing skills including common tools used within behavioral health. Semester Credit Hours: 3.00 Contact Hours: 45/0/0/45 Prerequisites: None. Corequisites: None.