Psychology 512-10

Martin Weinstein

Basic Active Coping Skills

Fall, 1999 

Basic Active Coping Skills is one of the required courses for the basic and advanced certificates in stress management offered by the Roosevelt University Stress Institute. The purpose of the Institute is to promote the scientific study of stress and provide quality training in the latest and most effective approaches to stress management.

The goal of the class is to provide clinical training in active approaches to stress management. Emphasis is on problem-solving, relapse prevention, and stress inoculation training. Students learn crisis intervention, cognitive restructuring, assertiveness, anger-management, negotiation, pain-management, and desensitization. In addition, various job stress topics are explored, including stress workshops, time management, and burnout.

This class has both a didactic and an experiential component. Unlike most other classes, this one does not primarily use a traditional lecture format. Instead, an essential part of this course is active class participation. Often this will occur in small groups where you will discuss assignments. This experiential component is the primary way that students learn to understand the material covered in the class.

An important component of this class will be the opportunity to apply and practice various stress management techniques on practice clients. The practice clients will be one of your fellow classmates. In your role as a practice client you may use real or imagined stressful events. There will be two types of practice opportunities. The first type will consist of a number of brief interventions focused on developing a specific problem-solving skill. These practice sessions will occur during the early and middle part of the semester. For these sessions, the class will divide into small groups. One member will serve as a counselor-in-training, one as a client, and the remaining as observers. The counselor will then try out various stress management techniques with the client.

The second type will be a more formal use of the approaches where the various skills may be integrated. This will occur during the latter part of the semester. For this assignment, each of you will participate both as a counselor-in-training and as a client. The class will be divided into small groups. You may choose who will be in your group. Once you have decided this, you will then choose your counselor-in training and client. The counselor will have three sessions with the client. There will be one session per week: This will last over a 3 week period. Each session should last approximately 50 minutes. In total you will have six 50 minute sessions: three sessions as a counselor and three as a client.

You will be expected to provide a written report on your experience with your practice client. The paper should be 7-8 pages. It is due no later than the last day of class, December 6th. Papers will be graded on a scale of 10 (A) to 1(D). Papers handed in late will not be accepted except under very unusual circumstances.

For most class periods you will be given a reading assignment and homework exercises. When there are written homework assignments, they should be handed in the following class. Written assignments will be graded on a scale of 10(A) to 1(D). Papers handed in late will lose one point per class. If you miss a class, it is your responsibility to find out the homework assignment. You may do this by contacting me during my office hours. I strongly recommend that you get the phone number of another student in the class so that if you do miss a class and are unable to contact me, you can make up the work.

As a final project, students are required to write a script for a job stress workshop in small groups and then make a presentation to the class. For this assignment you are to imagine that you have been asked by an agency (e.g., business, hospital, clinic or school) to run a two-hour workshop on a work-related stress topic. The specific topic may include material covered in class, such as the material on learning to negotiate, managing work stress, managing time, etc. In essence, you will be choosing a stress topic (e.g., time management) that a specific audience (e.g., business executives) would like to learn more about. The script is due on November 29.

Because of the way this class is structured, you need to attend each class. Also, you need to do the assigned readings and exercises prior to coming to class. If you will be unable to attend a class or are having any other difficulty meeting course requirements, you should contact me as soon as possible. To do this you may meet with me in my office (room 1252) or call me; my telephone number is (312) 341-3759. Unless you receive permission from me to miss class, your grade may be lowered for each class you miss by one half of a letter grade (e.g., if you miss two classes without talking with me, your grade will be lowered from an "A" to a "B").

Required Text:

Smith, J. C. (1997). Comprehensive Professional Stress Management: The Guided Problem-Solving. Unpublished manuscript, Roosevelt University.

In addition to the text, you will be expected to read other articles that are on reserve in the Roosevelt library.

Recommended Text:

American Psychological Association. (1994). Publication manual of the American Psychological Association (4th ed.). Washington D. C.: Author.

The grade for the course will be based on the homework assignments (25%), job stress workshop script and presentation (30%) paper on your practice client (30%), and class participation (15%). For class participation, students will be graded on the depth of understanding they reflect during class discussion, on their investment in various activities such as role playing, and on their attendance.

In order to take Psychology 512, you must have completed a Bachelor's Degree and be enrolled as a graduate student at Roosevelt University.

Note: This course is not designed to provide psychotherapy or counseling. If you have a personal concern which you feel may require therapy or counseling, you should contact the Counseling and Testing Service located in room 854, (312) 341-3548.