Western washington university clinical mental health counseling

Table of Contents

• Summary of Program Evaluation Results
  • Passing Rate for the National Counseling Exam
  • Graduation Rates
  • Job Placement Statistics
  • Demographics of Applicants
  • Demographics of Students
  • Demographics of Graduates
  • Systematic follow-up studies of graduates, alumni, site supervisors, and employers
• Subsequent Program Modifications
• Comprehensive Exam
• Any Other Substantial Program Changes

A summary of program evaluation results:

Below, you will find student assessment data addressing the passing rate for the NCE, job placement statistics, demographic and other characteristics of applicants, students, and graduates, aggregate assessment data on student knowledge, skills, and professional dispositions, and the results of our systematic follow-up studies of graduates, site supervisors, and employers of program graduates. We also included a summary of students involved in remediation plans for Dispositions (including a description of our process of reviewing and evaluating student professional dispositions) and a summary of outcomes for our comprehensive exam administered in April of 2021.

Passing Rate for the National Counseling Exam:

For the Spring 2021 testing cycle, WWU had 9 students (out of 12) take the National Counseling Exam (NCE), including six Clinical Mental Health Counseling students and three School Counseling students. The National Board for Certified Counselors administered three different versions of the NCE for our students and 100 percent passed the exam (See table below).

Graduation Rates for 2020-2021:

Job Placement Statistics:

The following table shows a summary of job placement statistics for the 2021 graduating class (see ‘Job Placement’ documents in annual report evidence folder).

Demographics of Applicants in 2021

Demographics of Students Admitted in 2021

Demographics of Graduates in 2021

Systematic follow-up studies of graduates, alumni, site supervisors, and employers:

NOTE: While the following data indicated that there was a lot going well with our program, we are only reporting on the opportunities for growth identified by our various stakeholders (e.g., graduating students, alumni, site supervisors, employers, etc.).

The Clinical Mental Health Counseling (CMHC) and School Counseling (SC) graduate programs at Western Washington University (WWU) are committed to both gathering program evaluation data and to making adjustments to each program based on the results. One of the many things our counseling graduate programs do to gather program evaluation data is to survey:

• CMHC (n = 5) Graduates (via the CMHC Exit Survey)
• CMHC (n = 8) Alumni (via the CMHC Alumni Survey)
• CMHC (n = 1) Site Supervisors (via the CMHC Site Supervisors Survey)
• CMHC (n = 1) Employers (via the CMHC Employers Survey)
• SC (n = 5) Graduates (via the SC Exit Survey)
• SC (n = 2) Alumni (via the SC Alumni Survey)
• SC (n = 5) Site Supervisors (via the SC Site Supervisors Survey)
• SC (n = 1) Employers (via the SC Employers Survey)

In reviewing this data, the faculty meets during the Fall quarter counseling program faculty retreat. We sent out multiple survey requests to each of these groups of stakeholders. Please note that while there were many things that our program was rated positively for, throughout our analyses of each of the eight surveys, the counseling faculty focused primarily on survey items that received two or more unsatisfactory votes OR any written comments that explicated

suggestions for improvements. Below, you can read our narrative responses for program modifications in section 2 of this document.

Subsequent program modifications:

Below, we have provided a narrative response for each of the areas noted for improvement via our ‘Summary of Needed Improvements and Action Steps’ chart below (i.e., two or more unsatisfactory votes OR any written comments that explicated suggested improvements).

For the School Counseling (SC) program exit survey, five out of six students completed it. It is noted that two students (out of six that responded) were unsatisfied with the internship experience overall. Based on discussions with faculty during the retreat, the program plans to prioritize increasing the number of community partnerships, and will work to enhance the amount of diversity in terms of internship site supervisors. Three students were unsatisfied with the range of sites available, so the program will implement changes to the site selection process for this coming Spring (2022). The internship coordinators (Dr. Diana Gruman and Dr. Shaun Sowell) will be working in tandem to contact more potential sites in order to give students more choice over where they end up. It should be noted that is not common among counseling graduate programs that every student will get to intern at the site of their choosing as there is a rigorous interviewing process that occurs between internship sites and students; however, this coming year, five out of seven students were able to intern at the site of their choice. Dr. Sowell will also plan to check in with students about site experiences with site supervisors. It is noted that COVID has negatively impacted interest from internship sites in taking on interns, which has been a barrier. Two students were unsatisfied with the quality of academic advisement, something that faculty expected as COVID forced advisement to occur over Zoom (which was deleterious to relationship building with students). In response, the SC director who provides advisement to the SC students used group formats to discuss issues that may arise with students, as well as offering individual meetings with students to check-in with them regarding advisement-related issues.

For the School Counseling program alumni survey, two people completed it and there were no items that they reported being unsatisfied with. They did write in the written comments that there was a need for more training on 504 plans and how to support students with post high school opportunities. In response, the SC faculty note that they are now covering 504 planning in the first quarter and assisting with post-high school opportunities will be covered in the Career Counseling course.

For the School Counseling program site supervisor survey, five completed the survey. Two noted feeling unsatisfied with their students’ understanding of career development models, theories, and assessment, and in implementing strategies that support life-decision making for culturally diverse clients and students. In response, the SC director noted that she will work with our adjunct professor to assist with course preparation to include a project on serving a diverse population with career-based content or services. Next, two note feeling unsatisfied with their students’ knowledge and skills in assessment including the use of interviewing, observations,

suicide and risk assessment, symptom checklists, and standardized tests. As a result, the faculty commits to more in-depth conversations around suicide assessment in schools across the SC curriculum. We will also be broadening the definition of assessment for school counseling students in their course on assessment to include crisis and other diagnostic assessments. The faculty will also seek to bring in a crisis response professional that works with the schools as a guest speaker and explore enrolling students in regional crisis training opportunities. Finally, two responders were unsatisfied with their students’ understanding and critique of various research methodologies and their ability to use data to identify needs and evaluate counseling processes and outcomes. In response, the instructor for the Research Methods course (550) will include a project where students will be asked to develop an assessment plan for a client they are seeing in their clinical practicum. They also were asked this year to select an assessment instrument for an outcome or a process variable to do a mental measures yearbook evaluation project.

For the School Counseling program employer survey, only one person responded and rated their school counselor hire as being excellent in all categories with no suggestions for improvement.

For the Clinical Mental Health Counseling exit survey, five students provided responses. Three students reported being unsatisfied with the standard, “etiology of addictions and addictive behaviors, including strategies for prevention, intervention, and treatment.” In response, the program faculty discussed the potential for creating an addictions elective course for grad students. We also talked about potentially having them complete an addictions-based webinar while they are enrolled in the crisis counseling course. To do this, we discussed the possibility of seeking funding from the department/college to fund students’ entry to some sort of training (like a seminar) around addictions. We also discussed bringing in guest speakers from the community that specialize in addictions work to conduct workshops with our students. Two students reported being unsatisfied with their training in conducing, “an intake interview, mental status evaluation, mental health history, & psych assessment for treatment planning and caseload management.” It is noted that COVID has negatively impacted shadowing opportunities at internship sites; however, we discussed enhancing content in those areas during their testing and assessment graduate course.

For the Clinical Mental Health Counseling alumni survey, eight alumni responded. One student reported seeking more education on, “the different presentations of what counseling can look like. While in school, I felt as though my education was geared toward a profession that resembled private practice. However, when first coming out of graduate school, the likelihood of a graduate going directly into private practice is very limited. Some education or awareness around the difficulties or inherent barriers when working in community mental health, for example, would be great.” As a result, our faculty are going to coordinate with our faculty teaching internship and the professional practice course to broaden the content a bit outside of private practice (to include work in community agency settings). One student reported wanting more internship opportunities and the incorporation of multicultural conversations. The faculty noted that they have been working to enhance diversity of sites and experiences over the last three years and have worked over the last 5 months to diversify available site supervisors. One alumni reported wanting more content related to trauma work and instruction on mental status exams (MSEs). The trauma course has undergone significant curricular improvement the last three years and the MSE is now covered in the first year during their assessment class. One

alumni requested more instruction in DSM diagnoses like psychotic disorders, bipolar, and other organic based disorders. Core program faculty have been coordinating with the instructor of the psychopathology course to enhance content in these areas over the last couple of years and will continue to monitor progress. We also discussed the possibility of having students write their own “Professional Growth Plan” where they come up with a list of professional development resources that will continue to nurture their growth and development after they leave our program.

For the Clinical Mental Health Counseling site supervisor survey, only one person responded and rated their Clinical Mental Health Counseling hire as being excellent in all categories with no suggestions for improvement.

For the Clinical Mental Health Counseling employer survey, only one person responded and rated their Clinical Mental Health Counseling hire as being excellent in all categories with no suggestions for improvement.

Comprehensive Exam

We created comprehensive exam questions in the following CACREP content areas: Research Methods/Program Evaluation; Career Counseling; Development & Psychopathology; Professional Identity/Professional Practice (by Specialty area). Multicultural considerations were included in several questions. The exam was blinded for review and each question was graded by two counseling faculty members. If the evaluators did not initially agree on a score, a third reader was brought in to read the exam question. Once all the scores were reported to our Comp Exam coordinator, Dr. Brent Mallinckrodt, the whole counseling faculty met to discuss the results and determine pass/fail rates. This year four students needed to rewrite and resubmit the Development & Psychopathology exam question due to inadequate responses in one sub-section. After required re-writes, all 12 students eventually received passing scores, thus qualifying them for graduation.

Student Dispositions

The WWU Counseling faculty has selected six essential dispositions (Ethical Behavior, Emotional Stability, Self-Awareness and Flexibility, Self-Care, Interpersonal Skills, & Conscientiousness), drawn from established counseling student evaluation tools (e.g. PDCA-RA; CCS-R), to guide the development of work habits, behaviors and personal characteristics leading to effective professional practice. These dispositions are expected of counseling students at the university and in their placements. According to CACREP (2015), dispositions are defined as, “commitments, characteristics, values, beliefs, interpersonal functioning, and behaviors that influence the counselor’s professional growth and interactions with clients and colleagues.”

We believe that dispositions and behaviors, like skills and knowledge, can be strengthened when students are given regular feedback and support. Our goal is to have every student who is recommended for graduation demonstrate these dispositions on a consistent basis.

At the end of each quarter, faculty meet to review the progress of all students in the program and provide feedback in the form of a progress letter. Students who demonstrate consistent evidence of the dispositions will receive a letter to indicate they are in good standing. Students who receive an inconsistent in one or more areas will receive a letter to indicate how to improve their behavior or habits to remain in good standing. The student will then arrange a meeting with the program director to develop a plan for improvement for the next quarter. Students who receive an unsatisfactory in any area will be asked to schedule a performance review meeting with the program director and two faculty members before proceeding to the next quarter. The expected outcome of the performance review meeting will be development of a remediation plan or dismissal from the program. If a student is demonstrating unsatisfactory performance, a performance review meeting may be initiated at any point in the quarter.

The Clinical Mental Health Counseling program had one student fill out a remediation plan for improvement at the end of Fall 2020 and another follow-up improvement plan at the end of Spring 2021. The CMHC program also had one fill out an improvement plan at the end of Spring quarter 2021. The School Counseling program had one student return to the program after some time-off who had been on a remediation plan prior to leaving the program and the student is currently was working to fulfill their remediation plan with program faculty during the 2020-2021 academic period.