Clinical Helping Skills

Prior to registering for this course, please ensure you have completed the one-time SAGE New Participant Application.

Participants can take up to THREE courses in a given term. 

DATES: Wednesday
TIME: 2:00 PM - 4:30 PM
PROFESSOR: Rodney Bragdon

This course provides an introduction to the foundational helping and interviewing skills applicable across a wide range of helping professions. Although the primary focus is on developing the helping relationship within the context of mental health counseling, the concepts and skills presented are readily transferable to other professional helping settings.

The course is designed to provide students with both didactic instruction and experiential learning opportunities that enhance the knowledge and practical skills necessary to establish effective, ethical, safe, and compassionate helping relationships. Course instruction will typically begin with lectures and class discussions introducing each core concept, followed by opportunities to practice and refine skills through in-class role-plays, recorded video assignments completed outside of class, and structured feedback during in-class video reviews.

In addition, students will have the opportunity to apply the skills learned in the course through service as volunteer listeners with Concern Hotline, a local nonprofit organization providing 24-7 crisis intervention, suicide prevention, and crisis referral services in the Northern Shenandoah Valley.

If any course is full, contact Scott King (sking4@su.edu) to be placed on a waiting list.