Southwest Florida's Health and Wellness Magazine Health and Wellness Articles
By Dr. Thomas Hofmann, PhD, LCSW, LMFT
Why are people the way they are? How does understanding people help you personally and professionally?
Having a deeper understanding about yourself – your behavior patterns and thoughts – gives you the ability to better understand others. Ultimately, it means being more self-aware. Reaching a higher level of self-awareness is a journey you can take while also training for a meaningful career.
Our bachelor’s degree in applied psychology accomplishes that. Each class is designed to help you grow personally, which in turn helps you grow professionally. You’ll gain a dynamic skill set that can be applied in a variety of career paths. These paths include child and family services, human resources, sales, case management, community agencies and as counselor aides in hospitals. The people you work, depending on your chosen path, can range from children and adolescents to adults, the elderly, and veterans.
In addition to understanding what motivates people and influences their behaviors, you’ll learn the scientific methodology behind psychology, along with gaining stronger oral, written, and critical thinking skills. The degree is online, but you’ll participate in live-chat discussions and other shared experiences in a virtual environment designed to encourage and challenge your thinking.
Each class you take is an immersion into the subject, and you’ll learn from practicing experts in the field. Some of the classes include general, experimental and educational psychology, organizational psychology, cognitive and social psychology, plus the principles of analytic techniques and the psychology of conflict management.
As you near graduation from this program, your interest in helping others may mean the desire to become a clinical mental health counselor. Our master’s in clinical mental health counseling will take all that you’ve learned at the bachelor’s level to a whole new level of expertise. This program is accredited by the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). This will help you prepare for the licensing board exam to become a mental health counselor.
This master’s program offers the benefit of learning online, and is enhanced further with an internship and on-campus residencies. Some of the classes you’ll take include counseling in community settings, social and cultural foundations of counseling practice, group theories and practice, human growth and development, and legal, ethical and professional standards of counseling practice.
As you prepare to graduate with your master’s degree, you’ll also have your professional career plan completed.
As we know, the need for mental health counselors continue to rise. According to o’net, the demand will grow 11 percent by the year 2031. Nationally, that’s over 45,000 jobs!
Ultimately, both of these degrees can offer you a better understanding of yourself. This knowledge can then take you on a career path of your choice.
To learn more, visit Hodges.edu.
Dr. Thomas Hofmann is the Clinical Mental Health Counseling master’s degree program director at Hodges University. He is a Florida Approved Supervisor for Mental Health, Family Therapy, and Social Work Registered interns and a licensed social work and marriage and family therapist.
239-938-7744 | Hodges.edu
