Minor in Counseling

Undergraduate Minor Advisor: Dr. Sandra Fitzgerald sfitz@sfsu.edu

The Minor in Counseling program and related elective courses emphasize counseling as it relates to a variety of major fields of study. COUN 690 provides a broad overview of the entire field of counseling and COUN 691 exposes students to the department’s core value of multicultural human relations.

The Field of Counseling

Students are introduced to the counseling profession through an overview of the role and functions of counselors in career, college, marriage, family and child, school, mental health, and rehabilitation settings; historical perspective; professional identification; ethical considerations; and self-awareness.

Psychological Understandings

Students receive a general introduction to the field of counseling and psychological dynamics.

Decision Making

Students examine how individuals make choices and how decisions are made through self-assessment and evaluation by others. The study includes ethnic and cultural differences in the decision-making process.

Multicultural Human Relations

This group of courses equips students with the intrapersonal and interpersonal insights, socio-historical knowledge and communication competencies necessary to develop and enhance their multicultural relationships.

The counseling minor requires that students take courses that coincide with their major field of study. In addition to required courses, students must take elective courses. The electives must include courses that address social justice and at least one fieldwork course. Students must select courses with the approval of the minor advisor. Courses used to fulfill a major requirement may also be counted to fulfill the minor requirements.

Counseling, Minor — 18-20 units

  • A minimum of 6 upper-division units are required to complete the minor.
  • All coursework used to satisfy the requirements of the minor must be completed with a minimum grade point average of 2.0.
  • All coursework must be taken at SF State except for the general psychology course, which can be transferred from a community college. 

Required Core Courses (12 units)

COUN 690Field of Counseling I3
COUN 691Multicultural Human Relations3
PSY 200General Psychology3
Select One:3
Developmental Psychology
Child Development
Human Development and the Social Services

Electives (6-8 units)

Social Justice Elective

Select One:

AIS 420Native Genders and Feminism3
AIS 440Native Sexualities and Queer Discourse3
AIS 470American Indian Ethnicity: Problems in Identity3
AFRS 515Black Family Studies3
COMM 541Critical Approaches to Culture and Communication4
COMM 557/LS 403Performance and Pedagogy of the Oppressed for Educators3
COUN 110Critically Thinking About Career Choice: Self, Community, Society, and the World3
PSY 450Variations in Human Sexuality3
RRS 303Health and Wellness among Pacific Islanders3
RRS 410Grassroots Organizing for Change in Communities of Color3
RRS 571Women, Race, and Class3
RRS 580Educational Equity3
S ED 300Education and Society3
SOC/RRS 330Comparative Race and Ethnicity in the U.S.: Class, Gender, and Nation3
SOC/SXS 400/PSY 450Variations in Human Sexuality3
SPED 330Introduction to Disability3
WGS 220Introduction to Feminist Disability Studies3
WGS/AIS 420Native Genders and Feminism3
WGS 511Women and Violence3
General Elective

Select One:

AFRS 401Pan African Black Psychology: A North American, South American, and Caribbean Comparison3
AFRS 525Black Child Development3
C J 550School Violence and Discipline3
COMM 502Interpersonal Communication4
COUN 110Critically Thinking About Career Choice: Self, Community, Society, and the World3
FCS 220Young Children and Families3
FCS 321Adolescents and Families3
LTNS 380Afro/Latina/o Diasporas3
PSY/SXS 320Sex and Relationships3
PSY 464Psychology of Career Pursuit3
PSY 465The Psychology of Work-Life Stress3
SOC 464Families and Society4
SOC 467/SXS 667Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer Cultures and Society4
SOC 469Gender and Society4
S W 350Services to Children, Youth, and Their Families3