5 credits
In this course, students prepare for their roles as counselors and agents of social change in the areas of prevention, consultation, and community advocacy with diverse populations in different settings in order to bring about positive social change. At Walden University, positive social change is ""a deliberate process of creating and applying ideas, strategies, and actions to promote the worth, dignity, and development of individuals, communities, organizations, institutions, cultures, and societies. Positive social change results in the improvement of human and social conditions"" (Walden University, 2018). Prevention, consultation, and advocacy are tools and methods to help bring about positive social change in local communities and globally. Students examine relationships between prevention, consultation, and advocacy giving consideration to theoretical underpinnings, diversity, and ethics. Students also identify a mental health or public health need in their community, develop a prevention plan to address that need, engage in consultation with fellow students about the prevention plan, and explore advocacy related to the community need. Applying prevention, consultation, and advocacy in this course is all oriented toward promoting positive social change and becoming more effective agents of change.