Certificate in Fundamentals of Correctional Psychology with Assessment
Gain the knowledge, skills, and attitudes essential to working within correctional settings.
Certificate in Fundamentals of Correctional Psychology with Assessment Overview
The advanced practice certificate in fundamentals of correctional psychology supports mental health professionals working within, or seeking to work within, correctional systems to attain the skills, knowledge, and attitudes essential to success and safety. It is also designed to support those already within the system to enhance their knowledge and skills.
Program Highlights
Pathway to a Master’s
The credits from this certificate coursework can be applied toward earning your master of science degree in forensic behavioral science or forensic leadership administration.
Taught Online
The program is offered online giving you the flexibility to complete your coursework virtually and from a location of your choice.
Forensic Assessment Focus
This program supports students in discerning the purposes and differences between clinical and forensic assessments in correctional settings.
Admissions
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Faculty
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Degree Information
Curriculum Plan
Course One: Developing a Correctional Professional Identity
This course provides an introduction to and overview of the field of correctional psychology, and of the unique relational factors that contribute to or hinder realization of professional identity within correctional settings. In this program you’ll learn about the unique culture of correctional institutions, and the health professional’s role as a member of an inter-professional team. You’ll explore the factors associated with successful and intentional development of a solid professional identity, including addressing difficult situations within corrections, common lapses in judgment and missteps that occur in correctional institutions, conditions that lead to burn out, compassion fatigue, vicarious trauma, strategies for self-care, and best practices for conflict resolution in an adversarial environment. Special emphasis will be placed on ethical decision-making in the correctional setting.
Course Two: Developmental Bases of Criminal Behavior
This course will explore the major distinctions between normative and criminal human development, including the major theories of personality development as related to criminal behavior. The impact of various factors on criminal behavior, including macro-level factors (culture, media, political context), neuroscientific factors, and major theories of cognitive development, related to criminal behavior.
Course Three: Evidence-based Practices in Corrections
This course reviews the particular impact of common and co-morbid physical, psychological, and environmental conditions on clinical intervention in correctional settings. The impact of institutional resources and priorities on treatment planning is explored. Common treatment interventions used in the correctional environment, including motivational interviewing and various cognitive-behavioral and psychoeducational interventions, are reviewed and practiced. The course will also review basic psychopharmacology commonly used in correctional settings. You’ll learn best practices specific to correctional settings, including establishing a therapeutic alliance, including the strategies for working with resistant patients; counter-transference issues that arise when working within correctional settings; and special considerations, such as screening for and treating suicidality and homicidality.
Course Four: Assessment in Correctional Settings
This course supports you in discerning the purposes and differences between clinical and forensic assessments in correctional settings. It explores how legal standards inform your choice of assessment tools, and the commonly employed assessments and the specific considerations for interpretation when working with correctional populations.