Bring TCP to Your Campus

Bring TCP to Your Campus

The Connection Project is designed to be scalable within a regular university course-credit structure, led by a faculty member or adjunct.

Resources Needed to Get Started

  • 1 interested faculty member able to get credit for teaching the set of The Connection Project courses.
  • 1 Teaching Assistant
  • Participation in a one-week summer training workshop.

     

How Initial Piloting/Implementation Could Work

Semester 1:

  • Teach a 3-credit course for a small group of students learning all the key details of facilitating groups, managing potential problems, providing key supports, etc. (We provide a full syllabus accompanied by detailed lecture notes, PowerPoint slides, and assignments).
  • Post recruitment materials targeting students who might want to participate as group members in Semester 2

Semester 2:

  • Facilitators working in pairs run groups of 6-10 students meeting once a week.
    • Participating students get 1-credit (allocated to faculty member)
    •  Facilitators get 2 credits (allocated to faculty member) for preparing and leading groups and engaging in 75 minutes of group supervision led by faculty member.
  • Optional: Faculty can also begin teaching a new facilitator training course to increase the facilitator pool for the following semesters (most facilitators continue participating in future semesters, hence the pool grows, limited mainly by facilitator graduations).

 

What if we want it to grow?

Using UVA as an example (where the program serves ~ 900 students each year), this level of growth can be managed with:

  • One 9-month full-time faculty member who handles the courses
  • .25 FTE of a person with clinical skills to assist in facilitator group supervision
  • Several undergraduate TAs
  •  One full-time logistics support person (typically a recent alumni)
  • A minimal budget for physical supplies (paper, pens, binders, etc.)
  • Very modest administration support in disseminating information about the program.

 

How much does it cost?

  • The program runs on a course model, so that, depending on how tuition credits are allocated, the program is likely less expensive to offer than a comparable series of small enrollment courses for students.
  • The cost for the weeklong training for up to 3 people along with weekly consultation over the following year is $25,000. The curriculum and all accompanying materials are licensed to participating universities without charge.

For more information, contact Dr. Alison Nagel ([email protected]) or Dr. Joseph Allen ([email protected]).