Human Service Practice
Courses
The Program is comprised of 3 courses with 6 credits (2 competencies) each taken over three semesters. The cost for each course is $1035.00. This includes all fees and course materials.Semester One
- Professional Responsibility and Ethical Dilemmas in Human Service Practice
- In this course, students examine the various roles and responsibilities of human service workers in regards to ethical and professional issues. These issues may include: conflicts and issues arising in the human service with changing laws and the use of technology; relationships with clients, staff, and supervisors; confidentiality issues and the law; and other ethical conflicts and professional issues in human service work. Students will be able to identify ethical conflicts in their work, examine theories that guide best practices as human service professionals, and explore how those theories can be translated into action in their own practice.
- Competencies: Professional Responsibility or Value Conflicts (3 credits), Critical Practice in Human Service Work (3 credits)
Semester Two*
- Issues and Best Practices in the Delivery of Human Services
- In this learning activity students learn how to conduct needs and resource assessment, research and identify best practice models, assess and implement basic intervention strategies and evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of different intervention approaches. The course provides a contextual framework for understanding different issues and tensions in human service work and group dynamics, and provides an opportunity to study intervention practices from alternative perspectives. This course provides a foundation in human service practice skills and theory. Students are also encouraged to draw from their own experiences and to think critically about their own practice in relation to best practices they identify.
- Competencies: Human Service Intervention (3 credits), Group Dynamics (3 credits)
Semester Three*
- Case Management and Advocacy
- Case management is a coordinating and therapeutic function for working with those in need of particular kinds of human services. Client (case level) and class (system level) advocacy are considered integral to the case management process. Client advocacy denotes speaking on behalf of and working for a client's benefit to ensure that quality services are provided. Class advocacy denotes working at a system’s level to provide general policy and service benefits for a particular target population. The goal of case management in human services is to resolve the client's problems in the most effective way possible within the constraints of the service program. In this course students have the opportunity to study appropriate case management models and strategies for working with clients in a variety of human service settings or other kinds of relevant settings. Students are encouraged to draw on their own work experience to develop case studies.
- Competencies: Case Management and Advocacy (3 credits), Professional Writing (3 credits)
* The second and third course will be offered sequentially in the following semesters. Classes are held on Thursdays, 9a-12p, while the first class will be held on Thursdays, 3:30-6:30p.