About the Counseling and Addiction Recovery Sciences Bachelor’s Program
The B.S. in Counseling and Addiction Recovery Sciences (CARS) prepares students to excel in careers related to human services administration and service delivery, including substance abuse prevention and counseling, management of community service and outreach organizations, non-profit administration, or case management. The CARS major also provides a strong foundation for students planning to pursue a graduate degree in counseling, marriage and family therapy, substance abuse prevention or treatment, or other mental health fields. This plan of study places emphasis on professional readiness and service delivery. All coursework is grounded in family systems theory and its applications in human services settings. An understanding of addiction in its various manifestations and the development of multicultural competence are also core elements of the curriculum.
CARS graduates develop a unique combination of skills in entry-level counseling, counseling theories, leadership, administration, program delivery, and cultural competence. They are also trained to understand addiction, including prevention, assessment, treatment, and relationship dynamics. Students who complete a degree in Counseling and Addiction Recovery Sciences are eligible to take the Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor examination and register as a Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor Intern in the state of Texas (as regulated by Texas Health and Human Services and the Texas Certification Board of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Counselors).
Communication Literacy Requirement. In the CARS major, Communication Literacy is demonstrated by the use of verbal, aural, and written communication to create systemic change across a wide variety of contexts. For example, graduates will use focused oral and aural skills when working with clients, and professional writing skills to accomplish goals such as securing funding for an agency, developing new programs, or composing psychoeducational curriculum. The Communication Literacy courses are senior-level classes in which students synthesize knowledge and skills introduced throughout the curriculum to complete tasks that will be a part of their future career. In order to fulfill the CARS Communication Literacy requirement, majors must complete the following courses with a grade of C or higher. Courses in the Communication Literacy plan are CARS 3324 , CARS 3325 , and CARS 4390 .
All upper-division CARS courses have a prerequisite of a 2.5 GPA. Students must earn a final letter grade of C or better in all CARS and ADRS courses, as well as any course accepted for CARS and ADRS courses that will be applied to graduation requirements. The program also requires a practicum in which students work with an existing human service organization during the summer between the junior and senior years.
Concentrations. The department offers two concentrations within the CARS major, (1) Applied Relational Counseling or (2) Addictive Disorders and Recovery Studies. All concentration courses must be completed with a grade of “C” or higher. Concentrations are only available to CARS majors.
Applied Relational Counseling. Students may choose to complete a concentration in Applied Relational Counseling by completing CARS 3325 , CARS 4314 , and CARS 4331 , then HDFS 2322 and HDFS 3324 as guided electives.
Addictive Disorders and Recovery Studies. The Addictive Disorders and Recovery Studies Concentration requires ADRS 3327 , ADRS 3329 , ADRS 4324 , ADRS 4325 , and ADRS 4329 .
