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| navigate: home: magazine: spring/summer 1998: article | |
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Societal, health care trends fuel demand for chemical dependency education By Deborah A. Benedetti | ||||||
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Today, counselors working with abusers of alcohol and drugs are dealing with increasingly complex problems in addition to dependency, including mental illness and violent and criminal behavior. Counselors also face new certification and licensing requirements from many states and changing managed care and insurance provider standards. To meet these challenges, Penn State began offering an 18-credit Chemical Dependency Training Program in 1984, according to Dr. John D. Swisher, professor of education and head of the Department of Counselor Education, Counseling Psychology and Rehabilitation Services. Swisher initiated both the training program and more recently a master of education degree in counselor education with chemical dependency emphasis, first offered in 1993 through the College of Education. The programs are designed for human service professionals, counselors, health care workers, educators, school guidance counselors, corrections personnel and social workers. There are two education tracks: treatment and prevention. “For the last five years, more than 1,200 students have enrolled in chemical dependency courses offered at a dozen Penn State campuses around the state,” he said. “In addition, the master’s degree is offered at Penn State McKeesport and University Park campus. Currently, there are about 20 students in the master’s program at Penn State McKeesport and another 40 students in the master’s program at University Park.” A new national market survey confirms the demand for these programs is rising and will continue to grow, he added. Two-thirds of students are enrolled in the treatment track and one-third are studying prevention. The typical student is a female in her 30s and either working in the alcohol and drug field or interested in entering the field because a family member or friend has an alcohol or drug problem, Swisher said. Penn State’s World Campus, launched in January, offers chemical dependency certificate and master’s degree programs. These programs have the potential to reach location-bound professionals in remote locations worldwide, he said. The World Campus, supported by a two-year $1.3 million grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, is making some of Penn State’s most highly regarded undergraduate, graduate and continuing professional education programs available through the World Wide Web, computer conferencing, video and other media. The chemical dependency master’s degree program planned for the World Campus is “an experimental study,” Swisher said. “The program will involve courses delivered by distance education technologies (including interactive compressed video), the Web, videotapes and interactions with adjunct faculty members who will supervise some assignments and practicum experiences.” He added that the program will be “very much competency-driven. A student will log into a Web course and find a list of competencies with links to resources and background information. This will be very asynchronous learning.” [Asynchronous learning is learning that is done anytime, anywhere and at any pace.] Swisher also has coined a new term, “test-through competencies,” to describe a process that will enable students who are already competent in an area to demonstrate their competency, eliminating the need to take part or all of a course in that area. In addition, the faculty and staff of the chemical dependency counselor education programs constantly monitor and evaluate courses to ensure student learning and satisfaction. Evaluation also will be a vital component of the programs offered through the World Campus, Swisher said. “The drug and alcohol prevention and treatment field is an emerging profession within counseling,” he noted. “Twenty to 30 years ago, many practicing professionals had little or no professional training, but they had a lot of personal experience with recovering from their own alcohol or drug dependency. Over the years, insurance companies and many state legislatures began to organize and regulate these professionals.” Today, several states license alcohol and drug counselors. Pennsylvania, which does not, is exploring licensing options, Swisher said. He is a member of a committee that is helping the state Office of Drug Programs develop the licensing process. Penn State faculty and staff members involved with the chemical dependency counselor education programs include Dr. James A. Barnes, assistant professor; Dr. Robert E. Shute, associate professor of counselor education; Dr. Karen A. Plavan, assistant professor, Penn State McKeesport; Dr. Michael J. Taleff, assistant professor of counselor education; and April Neal, program assistant. Swisher, who joined the College of Education faculty in 1969, was appointed head of the Department of Counselor Education, Counseling Psychology and Rehabilitation Services in 1996. During his tenure at the University, he has received grants totaling nearly $5 million for his research projects, which focus on prevention strategies targeted to keeping adolescents from using tobacco, alcohol and other drugs. The focus of his current research is evaluating a new approach to alcohol and drug prevention in schools. A $2.3 million grant from the National Institutes of Health is pending. an outreach program of the College of Education | |||||
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