70 hours of classroom time plus 35 hours in practicum projects

The following classes are required

Students must also complete multiple practicum projects

1) ACC 101: Advanced Theological Foundations (10 hours)

This class provides theological and philosophical foundations for counseling. Students critically examine secular and integrationist counseling theories from a biblical worldview. The course addresses the sufficiency of Scripture debate, explores insights from secular psychology, compares integration and biblical counseling models, and examines the Holy Spirit’s role in personal transformation.

2) ACC 102: Advanced Counseling Skills (10 hours)

The class covers advanced competencies beyond basic skills to address complex relationship dynamics. Students refine listening and interpretation, navigate resistance, and build grace-filled confrontation skills. Also covered: deep listening, advanced questioning, reading nonverbal cues, addressing defense mechanisms, understanding transference and countertransference, and emphasizing spiritual formation.

3) ACC 103: Assessment and Case Formulation (5 hours)

This class covers comprehensive data gathering, assessment methods, and problem formulation from a biblical perspective. Students will conduct thorough assessments, recognize mental health symptoms for appropriate referral, and formulate problems through a biblical lens. Topics include mental status exam basics, DSM-5 categories for reference, spiritual assessment tools, and biblical problem formulation.

4) ACC 201: Advanced Depression and Anxiety (5 hours)

This is a comprehensive study of mood and anxiety disorders from biological, psychological, and spiritual perspectives. Students distinguish between disorder types, understand biological factors including brain chemistry and medication, apply cognitive-behavioral approaches within a biblical framework, engage the theology of suffering, and learn to collaborate with physicians when counselees use medication.

5) ACC 202: Advanced Marriage and Family Counseling (10 hours)

In-depth marriage and family therapy from a biblical perspective covering complex relational dynamics. This course addresses marital and family health assessment, communication patterns integrated with biblical wisdom, sexual intimacy and dysfunction, addressing infidelity and rebuilding trust, biblical peacemaking in marriage conflict, blended families and step-parenting, family systems theory, and comprehensive premarital counseling.

6) ACC 203: Addiction and Compulsive Behaviors (5 hours)

In-depth study of addiction including neurobiology, substance abuse, pornography, gambling, and eating disorders. Students explore the neurobiology of addiction, biblical theology of heart idolatry, stages of change model, advanced strategies for sexual addiction, assessment and intervention for eating disorders, biblical evaluation of Twelve-Step programs, and building long-term recovery support systems.

7) ACC 204: Trauma, Abuse, and PTSD (5 hours)

Learn to understand trauma’s impact on the brain, body, and soul from clinical and biblical perspectives. The class covers the neurobiology of trauma, post-traumatic stress and complex trauma, dynamics of physical, sexual, emotional, and spiritual abuse. Also covered: trauma-informed counseling approaches, safety planning, mandatory reporting, and recognizing secondary trauma in counselors.

8) ACC 205: Suicide Prevention and Intervention (5 hours)

This class provides training in suicide risk assessment, intervention protocols, safety planning, and ministering to those affected by suicide loss. Students learn risk assessment tools and warning signs, intervention protocols including SAFE-T, ACT, and STOP methods, creating safety plans, pastoral response to suicidal ideation, ministering to complicated grief following suicide, and navigating legal & ethical issues.

9) ACC 301: Ethics, Law, and Professional Issues (5 hours)

In this class students examine ethical principles, professional boundaries, confidentiality, mandatory reporting, documentation, and liability issues for pastoral counselors. Topics include ethical decision-making frameworks, legal boundaries of confidentiality in church settings, mandatory reporting requirements, documentation best practices, and professional liability management.

10) ACC 302: Difficult Counseling Situations (5 hours)

Working effectively with personality disorders, resistant counselees, and manipulation. Students learn to recognize personality disorders by cluster, identify narcissistic and borderline dynamics, develop strategies for counseling resistant or manipulative individuals while maintaining boundaries, and discern when and how to appropriately terminate counseling relationships.

11) ACC 303: Special Topics in Counseling (5 hours)

This is an integrated exploration of cultural competence, spiritual warfare, and lifespan considerations. Students enhance their cultural self-awareness, learn cross-cultural communication, address race and ethnicity in counseling, and cover both biblical demonology and spiritual warfare perspectives. They also explore counseling strategies from child development through aging and end-of-life issues.

12) ACC 401: Supervised Counseling Practicum (25 hours)

Hands-on counseling experience with qualified supervision. This practicum includes a 5-hour classroom component covering preparation for supervision, case presentation skills, receiving feedback, and ethical issues. The 20-hour practice component requires 10 hours observing experienced counselors and 10 hours conducting counseling while being observed. Students complete three written case presentations (5-7 pages each), participate in peer consultation, and receive formal supervisor evaluation.

Advanced certificate students must also produce a theological integration essay (7-10 pages) and

complete a capstone project consisting of a comprehensive case study analysis (14-20 pages),

demonstrating advanced counseling competency, theological integration, and ethical decision-making.