Program Description
Students in the Chicago Campus' M.A. in Forensic Psychology Licensure Track program may choose a concentration in sex offenders. This program prepares students to provide services to inmates and ex-offenders as well direct programs to help reduce recidivism rates. In addition, forensic treatment can focus on dual diagnosis programs, where counselors provide treatment to inmates who have both mental health and substance abuse disorders.
Our Forensic Psychology graduate school is the only one of its kind in the Midwest. Students will learn from experienced faculty in a practitioner-focused curriculum and obtain the mastery need to effectively use psychology in legal and public policy arenas in an ethical, academically informed, and research-based manner. Through a range of community partnerships, the center gives students powerful service-learning opportunities that prepare them to be competent and civically engaged forensic mental health practitioners. Internship placement rates typically exceed 95% for students enrolled in the Forensic program licensure track. The Chicago School offers students a wide range of applied forensic psychology learning experiences rarely available at other schools, such as providing expert witness testimony in front of practicing judges and attorneys during a realistic mock trial experience, participating in a hostage negotiation simulation, or providing Parent-Child Interaction Therapy (PCIT) to families involved with the juvenile court system.
Department
Forensic Psychology
Concentrations
Licensure
Qualifies licensure track students to sit for professional counselor licensure exams in Illinois (LPC and LCPC)
Total Credits
63
Fieldwork Requirements
Sample Courses
Evaluating and Treating the Sex Offender
Examines the forensic and therapeutic assessment and treatment of juvenile and adult sex offenders. Students learn about the prevalence of sexual offenses, the psychopathology and theories of sexual deviance, and legislative efforts to manage sex offenders. The various treatment interventions employed with this unique population are explored.
Social Psychology and Cultural Aspects of Aggression
Provides students with an in-depth examination of social psychological experiments and cultural studies related to the foundations of aggressive behavior. Some of the topics addressed include conformity and its relation to stereotyping, racism and aggression, bystander apathy, media impact on aggression, cultural norms as they relate to organized aggression, and prison psychology. Readings are drawn from the extensive literature of social psychological experiments as well as field studies related to the topic.
Violence and Risk Assessment
Provides students with the fundamental aspects of conducting violence and risk assessment evaluations and the manner in which opinions are communicated. Students gain an understanding of empirically-based risk factors and assessment tools used to conduct violence and risk evaluations, as well as management strategies employed to ameliorate risk/risk conditions. Practical exercises drawn from actual cases are used to illustrate key concepts.
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