Human Services Course Descriptions

A historical framework for the present delivery of human services in areas including income maintenance, children’s services, family services, aging, alcohol and substance abuse, mental health, and services for persons with disabilities in a multicultural society. Students learn about basic human needs and how unmet needs create social problems which require societal responses. The class explores the different methods, careers, and job opportunities in the various helping professions, and the goals of the human services curriculum in particular. Class hrs. 3.

Examination of individual development within the context of the immediate environment and the larger multicultural societal environment. In examining the developmental process and tasks related to the human life cycle, students are exposed to concepts of sociobiology, psychosocial, behavioral and psychoanalytic theory. The theories of Freud and Erickson are emphasized and integrated into the overall systems framework. Class hrs. 3.

The following two courses must be taken together.

Accompanies Group Dynamics and Leadership course and requires nine hours/week in a human services agency or school where students provide services to individuals or groups. Students are supervised by professional human service workers who help them learn about the function and the structure of the agencies, develop beginning skills in observation, group dynamics, communication, and developing relationships. Students maintain written records of their activities which are used in the linked seminar as a basis for classroom discussion. Prerequisite: HSERV 101 Introduction to Human Services. Corequisite: HSERV 110 Group Dynamics and Leadership.

This course accompanies Human Services Field Experience I and provides the opportunity for students to integrate their first field work experience with the basic concepts in the social systems approach to helping. Students learn about group dynamics and development. In weekly program skills workshops, students exercise leadership and group membership roles. The class also explores human service value assumptions as well as the many roles of the helping person. Class hrs. 4. Prerequisite: HSERV 101 Introduction to Human Services. Corequisite: HSERV 109 Human Services Field Experience I. Exception: Prerequisite may be waived by Department or Curriculum Chairpersons for experienced people working in the field.

The following two courses must be taken together.
 

Accompanies Human Services Field Experience II and provides continued opportunity for students to integrate field work experience with the social systems approach to helping. The class learns the basic skills of the helping process, including interviewing techniques. Students examine their own value systems, strengths and weaknesses, and how these may affect their interpersonal relationships in a multicultural society. They analyze their field settings, use of helping skills, behavioral concepts, and they assess the utility and limitations of the tools of the human service worker. Class hrs. 3. Prerequisites: HSERV 110 Group Dynamics and Leadership and HSERV 109 Human Services Field Experience I. Co-requisite: HSERV 203 Human Services Field Experience II. May be taken for Honors.

This field experience, which accompanies Methods in the Helping Process, requires nine hours a week in a human services agency or school where students continue to perform tasks related and essential to the service offered by the agency. Under the supervision of a professional human services worker, students further develop intensive communications skills such as interviewing, recording, case presentation, and the referral process. Students learn to understand their own feelings and attitudes so they may better differentiate between the personal and professional self. Students maintain written records of their activities which are used in the linked seminar as a basis for classroom discussion. Prerequisites: HSERV 110 Group Dynamics and Leadership and HSERV 109 Human Services Field Experience I. Corequisite: HSERV 201 Methods in the Helping Process.

This course is designed to provide students with an orientation to inter-group relations that are grounded in economic, political, psychological and sociological theories and concepts. The beginning of the course focuses on developing a framework for examining different theoretical concepts that help in understanding minority group experiences. It then focuses on different strategies for accomplishing change. Finally it focuses on current issues and problems facing the major minority groups in the US today (African-Americans, Hispanics/Latinos, Asians, American Indians, Women, GBLT, and the disabled). Emphasis is placed on self-examination, understanding the diversity of the American experience and embracing multiculturalism. Class hrs. 3.

The following two courses must be taken together.
 

One hundred twenty-six hours per semester of supervised internship are required in a human service agency or school where students continue to provide services to individuals and groups under professional supervision. Particular emphasis is placed on the understanding of case management skills, advocacy, effective interventions, resource identification, assessment and evaluation. Prerequisites: HSERV 120 Methods in the Helping Process and HSERV 203 Human Services Field Experience II. Corequisite: HSERV 208 Case Management.

The focus of this course is the process of case management. Students develop a basic understanding of the chief concepts of case management including the goals and principles. Particular attention is paid to the three-step case management process. They learn to: view clients through the lens of the ecosystems theory and strengths perspective and to complete a 10 domain assessment; develop goal focused plans using the SMART format; and identify a range of possible interventions. Attention is paid to understanding the service delivery system, with particular attention to government programs of benefits and entitlements. Finally students master the primary roles of case managers which include advocate, broker and negotiator. Class hrs. 3. Prerequisites: HSERV 120 Methods in the Helping Process and HSERV 203 Human Services Field Experience II. Corequisite: HSERV 207A Human Services Field Experience III. May be taken for Honors.