Syllabus for
Master of Science (Psychology-Counselling)
Academic Year  (2023)

One of the first departments to be founded in Christ (Deemed to be University), the Department of Psychology has grown in leaps and bounds with innovations in curriculum, pedagogy and ground-breaking initiatives. The Vision of the Department of Psychology is to promote high academic standards and scholarship in psychology, by creating an optimal and enriching learning environment, fostering on going professional and personal development and contributing effectively to societal needs. The Department in Delhi NCR campus was initiated in 2019 and runs a range of programmes that include Certificate courses, Undergraduate programmes, Post Graduate programmes with two specializations and Research degree in psychology (Ph.D.). Through these programmes we encourage students to consider careers and life missions that integrate psychological understanding to life. Our programmes integrate scholarship with professional awareness are service oriented and are encouraged to embrace humane values in their vocation.

The Vision of the Department of Psychology is to Promote High Academic Standards and Scholarship in Psychology, by Creating an Optimal and Enriching Learning Environment, Fostering Ongoing Professional and Personal Development and Contributing Effectively to Societal Needs. The Department realises its vision to promote high academic standards through a continuous and dynamic curriculum review process based on feedback from peers, professionals, potential employers and students. A variety of student-centred teaching and training pedagogies are practised by the faculty members. Prominent among them are the use of seminars, experiential methodologies, laboratory training, conferences, workshops, field based studies, and film based discussions and interactions with field experts, practise and we offer courses that are cutting edge in the field of psychology. Students who complete programmes in Psychology from the University demonstrate high degrees of self.

The Department of Psychology offers two year full-time M.Sc Course in Counselling Psychology. Masters course in Counselling Psychology is an advanced course aimed at competence building among the students from a holistic and an interdisciplinary perspective.

Assessment pattern for PG programmes offered by Department of Psychology

Continuous Internal Assessment (CIA) for all courses : 70%

End-Semester Examination  (ESE): 30% (30 marks out of 100)

Continuous Assessment

The assessment and grading of the students will take place in the following manner:

• A formative assessment of the competencies is carried out the beginning of the course. This is not graded.
• Assessment of the acquisition of the competencies is done continuously throughout the course with a minimum of one assessment per month.
• Two of the assessments, one of 30 marks and the second for 35 marks are graded for 4 credit papers. 

Attendance : 05 marks

CIA 1 and 2 are conducted by the respective faculty in the form of different types of assignments within the stipulated time for awarding the marks.

The students have to attain minimum pass marks in each assignment or will have to repeat the assignment within the time stipulated by the department.

Marks scored by the students for CIA will be displayed in the student login within a week after the last date of submission of marks by the faculty. Any discrepancy shall be informed immediately to the faculty concerned for correction of marks.

Students who either fail   or do not appear for   CIA  will have to apply for repeat CIA immediately after publishing the results of each CIA component. Application to be forwarded  through the HoD and Dean to the Office of Examinations and obtain necessary approvals. Number of chances for repeating each CIA is only one

. Students who  fail in the  CIA  in a semester have to apply for CIA repeat of the whole course in the subsequent semester

End Semester Examination

• The End semester (competency) examination for the theory as well as practical courses is held at the end of the semesters .
• The End semester (competency) examination might take place in the form of written examination, project submission and Viva Voce examination and managed by Office of Examinations
• Generally the duration of is 2 hours but it may vary for certain courses.
• Absentee's parents will be alerted through SMS within 1 hour after the commencement of the examination.
• ESCE for all courses will be conducted for 50 marks and reduced to out of 30 marks
• Hall ticket with timetable and seating allotment is compulsory for ESCE which can be downloaded from the Student Login or obtained from the department office.
• Dress code of the University should be followed during the examination days except wearing ties.
• Permission for admission to the ESCE is granted only if
• A student has passed in CIA’s for that course with a minimim grade for overall CIA.

o   A student has at least 85% of the attendance in aggregate at the end of the semester.

o   The Vice-Chancellor is satisfied with the character and conduct of the student.

For 2 and 8 credit courses, a similar system will be followed with marks adjusted accordingly. All Internships, practicum, seminars and research related courses will follow the same pattern.

Pass Criteria

A student shall pass each course with a minimum aggregate score of 50 marks with minimum of  50%  for CIA and 40 % for ESE. The overall aggregate to pass a semester is 50%.  Student failing a course due to less than minimum in ESE  shall repeat the ESE while his/her internal scores shall remain valid.

All other regulations pertaining to assessment and evaluation are same as other programmes of the CHRIST (Deemed to be University)

Course Description:

This Course will introduce students to the domain of academic writing and its intricacies. Every student, regardless of his or her area of interest, will be called upon to use an academic style of writing at different levels and at various points in time. This course will therefore seek to impart such knowledge about the styles of writing used in the current academic scenario. It will provide students with opportunities in the classroom setting to practice such styles, both individually and in collaboration with others. In doing so, it will allow students to delve deeper into scientific literature, while also preparing them for efforts in research. The insights gained from such a course can be used by students as a foundation in their specialized line of work.

 Course Objectives:

 This course will help the learner to gain a familiarity with different academic writing styles used in contemporary scientific journals.

• Students will gain better understanding about in-text and reference citations, APA formatting.
• Students will also be introduced to the concept of plagiarism and its different types to avoid such academic forgery.

Course description: This course has been conceptualized in order to shape students to ultimately serve clients of counselling services effectively. It is necessary to monitor the student’s academic progress in the domains that are both personal and professional. These qualities will enhance their counselling skills. The most important aspect of this process is for  the counsellor to grow as a person and then a professional. This course will help the students to understand their skills and developing new skills to become a professional counselor. Life skills and basic counselling skills will be the focus of this course. 

 Course objectives: This course will help the learner to

• Understand the basic skills needed for a counselor in professional life.
• Understand the Life Skills (personal, cognitive and social skills) model for professional development
• Develop modules for psycho-educational training.

Course description: This course will give students an insight into topics that provide a foundation for counselling psychology and lays down the ground concepts for their journey towards becoming a professional in this field. The course will also provide students with an in-depth examination of biological foundations of human behavior with specific focus on the intersection of biology and psychology in the context of counselling psychology. Topics covered include, understanding the meaning of counselling, its settings and aspects, the historical roots of this field, an Indian Perspective, ethical components, and current trends, structure of brain, neurons, transmission of signals. This course is the steppingstone for students to gain a foundation towards understanding their roles and requirements to provide services to those in need of them.

Course objectives:

This course provides students with an understanding of:

 The counsellor’s roles and responsibilities within evolving practice environments

 Historical development and its current status of counselling psychology

 Ethical issues and dilemmas in the field of counselling psychology

 Understand the key biological processes underlying emotional and cognitive processes.

Course description: This course has been conceptualized in order to introduce trainee counsellors to human development across the lifespan with a focus on normal and atypical development, developmental transitions, the socio-economic context of development and wellness at each stage of development. This course looks at life span development through the lenses of social, cognitive and biological theories. The course aims at providing conceptual understanding of healthy development and practical understanding of how to help children, adolescents, and adults address the developmental challenges they face across the life span.  This course provides counselling students with a foundation to conceptualize and apply developmental theory and research.  

Course objectives: This course will help the learner to understand

·         Atypical growth and healthy development, and practical understanding of how to help children, adolescents, and adults 

·         Processes of human development and apply this knowledge to understand developmental needs of all diverse age groups

·         Theories of individual development across the lifespan

·         The systemic and environmental factors that affect human development, functioning, and behavior

·         Biopsychosocial and eco-systems model of development across the lifespan.

Course description: This course is offered to students in the first semester to introduce them to the tradition of quantitative research in psychology. It begins by discussing the philosophical foundations of quantitative research, followed by the scientific process of research. Students are expected to identify the links between the scientific process of research and development of counseling psychology. Students will be introduced to research designs, data collection and sampling methods and application of basic statistical methods in quantitative psychology. The course also provides opportunities to practice skills of research in laboratory settings.

Course objectives: This course will help the learner

• Understand the importance of scientific enquiry in counselling practice
• Gain familiarity with the process of Quantitative research
• Provide an overview of the different experimental designs

Course description: This course has been conceptualized with an intention to orient students to the theoretical foundations, processes and techniques underlying different counselling approaches for the treatment and care of clients that they will see. 

 Course objectives: This course will help the learner understand

• Theoretical foundations underlying different counselling and psychotherapeutic approaches
• The therapeutic process and techniques unique to each psychotherapeutic approach
• Evidence-based practices for psychological interventions and their specific areas of application

Course description: This practical course has been conceptualized in order to train students in counselling skills. The developmental model of training is followed. Through this course the students are trained in basic counseling skills, such as attending skills, basic listening sequence, observation skills, along with ethics in a multicultural context through dyad and triad work.The papaer will utilize the following pedagogy. Pedagogy: Interpersonal Process Recall,  Lectures, simulations, video presentations, case studies, discussions

Course objectives : After the completion of this course, a student will be able to:

• Demonstrate Basic Counselling Skills.
• Reflect more on themselves as developing counsellors.
• Demonstrate a few counselling techniques.

Course description:

In this course students will spend four hours a week or a total of 30 hours during the semester involved in supervised community service. Students are encouraged to work alongside NGO’s or other professional bodies. Students will engage in activities such as children, adolescents and youth teaching/tutoring, community organization, psychological assessment and mental health awareness. Reflections on their interactions are integral part of this course. Student engagement will be assessed by a supervisor.

Course objectives:

This course will help the learner: 

• To build awareness about the requirements of the society.
• To identify the needs of underprivileged communities.
• To create mental health awareness among children, adolescents and youth.

Course description: This course is an extension of the professional development course offered in the first semester and encourages students to continue to examine their developing identities as counsellors in training.

Course objectives: This course will help the learner to:

• Explore parts of their self at a deeper level through guided autobiographical reading, having specific life review themes that are shared in a group.
• Engage in active listening as well as sharing life stories in a group setting.

Generate new perspectives on different areas in their lives.

This course provides a theoretical foundation on qualitative research methods. Different methods of collecting qualitative data are discussed. Methods of Qualitative data analysis are also touched upon. Along with courses on research in the first and second semesters, this course intends to provide students with the theoretical background to develop their research proposal.

Course objectives: This course will help the learner to:

• Understand the philosophical foundations on which qualitative research methods are based
• gain familiarity with the conceptual foundations of qualitative research methods in Counseling Psychology
• understand various traditions of qualitative research methodologies in Counselling psychology.
• learn different methods of data collection
• understand different methods of data analysis in qualitative research methods

Course description: This course is an applied course with a focus on the integration of theory and clinical group work, and discussion of clinical, professional, and ethical issues. This course is designed for students to gain group counselling skills and self-awareness about how one’s own qualities, needs, motivations, and values can either facilitate or interfere with one’s effectiveness as a group counsellor.

 Course objectives: This course will help the learner gain familiarity with

• different types of groups that can be run for different populations
• the group process, including opening and closing groups, and group dynamics
• ethical, legal and training issues
• the application of theoretical approaches in groups

Course description: Course description: This course familiarizes the students with some of the major theoretical perspectives in social and cultural psychology. Appreciating interpersonal and group level psychological processes in the cultural context, this course analyzes multimodal influences on human behaviour. Applications to counselling will be discussed.

Course objectives:

This course will help the learner to gain a familiarity with

·       -The role of culture in understanding the development of the self and the multidimensional nature of social identities.

·       -The processes of social perception and social cognition involved in the way we understand our social world, form attitudes, make attributions, categorize and engage in intergroup comparisons, with specific focus on how these may impact the practice of professional counselling.

·       -Theoretical explanations of social behaviours such as aggression and intimate relationships.

·       -The social issues prevalent in our cultural context and an understanding of how social psychological theories can be applied to develop scientific and community oriented solutions , programmes and interventions.

Course description: This course has been conceptualized in order to enable the students to understand the various mental health disorders affecting an individual from infancy to old age.

Course objectives: This course will help the learner

·      -understand about international classificatory systems of mental health disorders, diagnostic criteria & clinical manifestations

·      -gain an understanding about psycho social aetiology of mental health disorders.

Course description: This course is a continuation of the Multicultural Counselling Skills Course–I. The developmental model of training is followed. Here the student is trained in the

more advanced skills of influencing and bringing about client change, case conceptualization and treatment planning through observation and roleplay.

Course objectives: The aim of this course is to learn 

•Advanced individual counselling skills.

•To use counselling techniques in applied settings.

•Conceptualization of client problems and effectively work towards client change and growth.

Course Description: This is a practical course aimed at familiarizing students with different assessment methods including psychological tests. A range of Personality, Intelligence, Aptitude and Achievement tests are covered.

Course Objectives: The course is intended to help students to:

• Demonstrate competence in administering, scoring and interpreting a range of psychological tests.
• Identify relevant tests to be used for specific counselling needs.

Course Description: In this course the students are required to identify and select a topic of their interest to conduct research on.

Course Objectives:

This course intends to help the learner

• identify a research problem
• develop a research proposal to study the problem

Course Description: This course will provide trainee counsellors the knowledge and application of counselling techniques and skills to work with children and adolescents in a variety of settings: school/ educational, family and community. The course prepares trainee counsellors to address the specific needs of children and adolescents, with emphasis on developmental needs, specific therapeutic interventions, and common emotional issues. Courses including multicultural counselling skills, counselling theories and techniques (individual and groups), and Life span psychology are key foundational and pre requisite courses for this course. This course is taken along with supervised practicum in the third semester to provide students the opportunity to practice and develop specific skill sets to work with children and adolescents.

Course Objectives: This course will help the learner to

• Demonstrate understanding of issues that may affect the development and functioning of students
• Understand the principles and skills needed for counselling children and adolescents
• Gain knowledge and application of evidence-based research and practice in child and adolescent to assist students, families, and educators in using resources that promote informed academic, career, and personal/social choices
• Understand ethical and legal considerations related specifically to the practice of child and adolescent counselling
• Coordination, collaboration, referral, and team-building efforts with teachers, parents, support personnel, and community resources to develop promotive and preventive interventions

Course description: This course has been conceptualized in order to provide an overview of the different family therapy models. Students will be encouraged to view the historical and cultural contexts within which family and marital therapy (including couples counseling) has emerged.

Course objectives: This course will help the learner to  

• Gain a familiarity with historical aspects of family therapies

• Assess and conceptualize dynamics that contribute to or maintain pathology in families

• Plan appropriate interventions to address pathology in families

• Course outcomes: By the end of the course the learner will be able to:

• Trace the historical development of family therapy

• Assess family dynamics in a structured manner

• Apply concepts from family system theories to understand family dynamics and thereby develop treatment plans for couples and families.

Course Description: This is a practical course aimed at familiarizing students with different assessment methods including psychological tests. A range of Personality, Intelligence, Aptitude and Achievement tests are covered.

Course Objectives: The course is intended to help students to:

• Demonstrate competence in administering, scoring and interpreting a range of psychological tests.
• Identify relevant tests to be used for specific counselling needs.

Course description: The students will be at practicum sites 2 days a week. They will engage in  providing counselling services which include, individual counselling, group counselling and psycho-education. Two hours a week they will receive supervision at college in batches of 8-10 students. The students discuss cases seen at their practicum sites and elicit feedback from their peers and supervisors. 

Course Description: This course has been conceptualized to empower the students with skills of preparing a research manuscript and aiming to publish the same.

Course Objective: This course will help the learner to gain familiarity and develop skills associated with the processes of data collection, data analysis, writing a manuscript and publishing it.

Students will do volunteer work with any community / mental health agency at the end of the second semester during the summer holidays for a minimum period of 30 days under the guidance of a faculty member.

Course description: This course provides an overview of counselling interventions for special populations. Various domains like Substance abuse counselling, health counselling, and queer affirmative practice are dealt with in this course. This course in the final semester aims to help students to integrate learning from the previous semester and apply it to provide counselling interventions for specific populations. 

Course description:

This course aims to introduce the learner to trauma-informed counselling. The course will help learners gain knowledge on techniques relevant to crisis and trauma management and enable them to understand the clinical outcome exposure to trauma events and plan interventions accordingly.

Course objectives: This course intends to provide learners:

·      An overview of trauma and traumatic stress

·      Knowledge and skills for working with adult clients with trauma

·      Knowledge and skills to respond to abuse and trauma in children and adolescents  

Course Description: This Course will introduce students to the world of business entrepreneurship for varied counselling practices. Students will explore the skills and challenges related to planning, launching, and maintaining an entrepreneurial venture. Through faculty and guest lectures students will learn about logistics, legal and ethical issues, marketing and branding, and business planning related to running a counselling practice. Through this course students will have the opportunity to develop a business plan for their practice of choice, to implement, should they choose, after graduation. 

 Course objectives:

This course will help the learner to:

1. Understand the elements of a viable business plan (vision/mission, business description, market research, financial Plan, marketing & Goals) 

2. Explain ethical and sustainable business practices.

3. Develop logistical systems and business materials related to the operation of a counselling practice.

This course will provide an in-depth overview of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), a third wave cognitive behavioural therapy, which integrates acceptance and mindfulness with principles of behaviour change. This course will explore foundational ACT concepts as they apply to assessment and interventions with clients.

Course Objectives

This course will help the learner to:

1.Acquire an understanding of the basic theoretical concepts underlying acceptance and commitment therapy

2.Gain mastery in using ACT to conceptualize and treat client issues.

This course wll provide the students with an opportunity to understand the foundations of grief inorder to help persons experiencing grief and loss.

This course aims at providing group supervision to the counsellor trainees who are practicing in the field. It will follow a small group format where 6-8 students are supervised by one supervisor. Students will be asked to present cases they are seeing in the field.

Course Objectives

This course will help the learner

• Understand the importance of supervision
• View client issues with a multiple and wider perspective
• Understand how their personal lives are influencing and being influenced by their clients and therapy
• Receive supervision so that they provide an ethical service to their client

Course description: This course has been conceptualized in order to provide students with a hands-on experience of working with clients. Students will be attached to various agencies where they will be trained and supervised in acquiring counselling skill competencies. They will be mentored by a supervisor at the University also. Students must periodically meet their supervisors, maintain case files and submit four case records at the end of their practicum period.

 Course objectives: This course will help the learner  

• Gain exposure to dealing with a wide variety of clients
• Gain experience of real-life issues in the workplace
• Enhance their counselling skills

 The student must complete a minimum of 450 hours of supervised internship which includes 300 direct hours and 150 indirect hours.

This is a block placement for short field training. Students are required to search for, examine and carve their niche in the field related to their chosen specialization. The basic purpose is to create awareness for the students so that the career progression of the students and the growth of the discipline can both be realized.

Course Objectives

The course is intended to help students 

• Gain exposure to a new population that they may work with
• Integrate all they have learnt and apply it in practice
• Gain confidence in practising as a counselling psychologist

Course Description: The student engages in original research work and writes a manuscript based on a field study to publish in a nationally/internationally reputed journal. This course helps the students organize learnt concepts, conceptualize and work on short feasible projects by applying their knowledge of research methodology creatively.

Course Objective: 

• Prepare a manuscript based on the field study
• Disseminate their study findings through a suitable conference presentation