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The study of human development and psychology
at Prescott College is a personally, socially, and ecologically
responsible process. An academic environment is fostered in which
students are encouraged to develop self-awareness and a psychologically
sophisticated sense of responsibility within both human and non-human
worlds. This requires the integration of cognitive, emotional, behavioral,
social, and spiritual aspects of the subject areas and an understanding
of systems perspectives. This kind of integration often requires
a shift in attention beyond modern Western views of human nature.
Human
Development
The human development graduation area will provide students with
an opportunity to select from a broad variety of courses that provide
perspectives on human potential. It is a broad-based competence
area with few required courses. The students’ freedom to choose
courses according to his or her interests reflects Prescott College’s
educational philosophy, which stresses self-direction and experiential
learning within an interdisciplinary curriculum.
Psychology
Conventional
Western approaches to psychology generally define the field of psychology
as the scientific study of mental processes and behavior. From this
point of view, there is a large literature that serves to translate
between the inner realm of the mind and the external conditions
of the world. However, the term "psychology" is derived from the
original Greek "psyche", which primarily signified the soul. "Logos",
also derived from Greek, referred to the act of collecting or gathering
together. From an historical perspective, then, psychology is an
inquiry into the nature of the soul, or refers to the act of gathering
together the soul.
Our psychology graduation
area offers opportunities to study both traditional and emerging
dimensions of the field. Some courses present both foundational
studies based in the conventional research literature as well as
interpretations of human nature inspired by ecological and spiritual
perspectives. Other courses provide opportunities to apply conventional
psychology to the challenges of social and environmental justice
work.
Counseling
Psychology
While academic scholarship and professional training in counseling
psychology are generally reserved for graduate-level programs in
higher education, Prescott College’s philosophy and curriculum
allow for competence in counseling psychology. Students are earnest
about working in mental health care, substance abuse treatment,
education systems, adventure-based programs, and other health and
human services in our county and nationwide. Our student interns
and graduates are already staffing an impressive share of our county’s
human services positions.
Therapeutic
Use of Adventure Education
A lively and effective development in the helping professions is
the therapeutic use of adventure education. Competent practitioners
combine the essential knowledge and skills of counseling with the
skills of Adventure Education. Over the past twenty years a marriage
of Human Development and Adventure Education has been used increasingly
to develop adventure-based, therapeutic wilderness programs. This
course of study combines essential knowledge and skills used in
therapeutic group work with the technical skills needed for safe,
effective wilderness adventure education. Graduates with this competence
will be able to design and teach educational experiences in the
wilderness that are therapeutic; they will not be qualified as a
therapist. Both the Integrative Studies Program and the Adventure
Education Program acknowledge the need for exacting and rigorous
training in this interface and addresses it by offering the following
foundational courses.
Ecopsychology
Conventional psychology rarely includes an ecological perspective.
Humans are considered as individuals acting independently or within
family settings, and occasionally within larger social systems.
The environmental context is typically left out of the analysis.
In the contemporary world, however, there are numerous indications
that much of what is understood as human behavior and consciousness
is directly influenced by the conditions of our local and global
environments. Similarly, the environmental conditions that we face
are in many respects the direct result of human thought and behavior.
It follows that responsible environmental action must include a
significant understanding of human nature, and that psychological
well being must be considered in the context of environmental health
or degradation. From an ecopsychological perspective, psychological
well being and ecological health are seen as highly interdependent.
Ecopsychology strives
to integrate ecological principles and psychological wisdom into
a unified field of study. A competence in Ecopsychology must include
courses from both the Integrative Studies (IS) and Environmental
Studies (ES) programs. Depending on the specific interest of the
student, course work in either psychology or environmental studies
may be emphasized. In either case, the student must develop a substantial
foundation in each of the disciplines. It is only with solid foundational
studies that the student may develop a significant appreciation
of humans as psychological beings acting within ecological systems.
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