Human Services: General - Certificate of Achievement

This program map only provides one possible pathway for degree and/or certificate obtainment and is for reference only. Please schedule an appointment with a counselor to develop your individualized Student Education Plan.

The certificate program is for students preparing for or advancing their careers in social services, including those who plan to transfer to a four-year university and pursue a course of studies leading to a masters in social work and licensure as a clinical social worker. Students may go to work in a social services agency upon completing this certificate, or they may use it as a foundation for further study. The general course of study offers future career flexibility because graduates are not committed to a specialty area (such as addiction studies).

The pathway below represents an efficient and effective course taking sequence for this program. Individual circumstances might require some changes to this pathway. It is always recommended that you meet with an academic counselor to develop a personalized educational plan.

Possess knowledge and skills that will enable them to competently and ethically carry out the duties and responsibilities of jobs in the general human or social service field. The knowledge and skills that they will possess fall under the following three rubrics: (1) Interpersonal Helping Skills; (2) Ethics and Boundaries; and (3) Documentation.

Interpersonal Helping Skills: Graduates will possess interpersonal skills required to engage empathically with clients, develop safe and trusting relationships with them, assess their strengths and problems, and recommend appropriate interventions and/or referrals. They will demonstrate the ability to manifest the core conditions of helping relationships, including empathy, nonpossessive warmth, genuineness and congruence. They will recognize the importance of the family and societal contexts in which their clients live and utilize this information in providing helping services.

Ethics and Boundaries: Graduates will be familiar with a professional association’s code of ethics and demonstrate the ability to behave in accord with it. They will be able to define appropriate professional relationship boundaries and detect when these boundaries are crossed or violated. They will be able to maintain client confidentiality and know the conditions under which confidentiality must be broached. They will demonstrate an understanding of the principles of culturally competent practice.

Documentation: Graduates will demonstrate the ability to create and maintain appropriate client documentation, including intake notes, service or treatment plans, progress notes, discharge notes and other documentation such as informed consent and release of information forms.

Program Map

Requirement
GE General Education
E Elective

Fall Year 1

12 units
FCS 131
Life Management
Provides individuals with skills for understanding and using internal and external resources to function effectively in our present and future society. Major topics include: effects of cultural forces and future trends on values, standards, and goals; skills for decision making, time, energy, stress, and conflict management; and techniques for improving self-understanding and interpersonal relationships in a culturally diverse society. Students who have received credit for more than three life management modules may not enroll in this course.
  1. Advisories: ENGL C1000
      1. Category 5: Living Skills
        HUSV 101
        Introduction to Human Services: Becoming a Helping Professional
        An introduction to a variety of aspects relating to human service helping professionals, including required education/training, certification/licensure, ethical/legal issues, motives, values, cultural sensitivity/competency, special populations, life transitions, transference/countertransference, boundary issues, stress, burnout, and self-care.
                  HUSV 102
                  Case Management Skills
                  An introduction to basic concepts and skills of case management with diverse populations including cultural competence, ethics, intakes, assessment, case planning, referrals, implementation and documentation.
                            HUSV 103
                            Basic Counseling Skills
                            Introduction to counseling skills for the human services worker with applications to different work settings and diverse populations.
                                      Core Elective: Human Services General (Cert.)
                                      Explores the process and content of counseling groups and families. Topics include developmental stages of groups, group formation, constructive and ineffective processes, behavioral ground rules, interventions, entry into and exit from groups, ethics, cultural and ethnic diversity, documentation of client behavior, and self-awareness in group situations.
                                      Survey of culturally competent strategies and approaches for working in human service settings with clients who are culturally, ethnically, and physically diverse.

                                      This course is an introductory overview of the human sexual condition from the perspective of the diverse cultures, sociological and psychological aspects within the United States as well as other countries/cultures. Students will be encouraged to become aware of their own sexual values, attitudes and related behaviors as well as being tolerant of sexual expression/orientation different from their own experience. This course will emphasize social patterns of sexual behavior, sexuality lifespan, sexual norms and abnormalities as well as historical and current sexual problems.

                                      A balanced study of basic theories, research, and principles of physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development from conception to death is presented in an integrated manner; includes behavior, sexuality, nutrition, health, stress, environmental relationships, and implications of death and dying.

                                      Spring Year 1

                                      10 units
                                      HUSV 106
                                      Family Systems, Addiction & Trauma
                                      Examines family systems dynamics and intergenerational transmission of addiction, and the interacting effects of these phenomena with abuse and psychological trauma.
                                            1. Category 5: Living Skills
                                              HUSV 108
                                              Crisis Intervention Skills
                                              Training in basic crisis intervention skills and application of these skills to a wide range issues, situations, and settings including domestic abuse, suicide, sexual assault, addiction, post traumatic stress, and losses including deaths.
                                                        HUSV 120
                                                        Human Services (General) Practicum
                                                        Taken together with HUSV 121, HUSV 120 is the capstone course of the Human Services (General) Certificate or degree. Provides students with supervised work experience in a social service or interpersonal helping agency or facility (2 units 120-150 hours) required. Permission of instructor is required if the student has not satisfactorily completed all other requirements in the degree or certificate prior to enrolling.
                                                                  HUSV 121
                                                                  Human Services (General) Practicum Seminar

                                                                  Provides students with a seminar format in which to discuss, analyze, and critically evaluate their fieldwork experience in local human services agencies as it relates to Human Services. Designed for the student who is enrolled in HUSV 120. 

                                                                            Core Elective: Human Services General (Cert.)
                                                                            Explores the process and content of counseling groups and families. Topics include developmental stages of groups, group formation, constructive and ineffective processes, behavioral ground rules, interventions, entry into and exit from groups, ethics, cultural and ethnic diversity, documentation of client behavior, and self-awareness in group situations.
                                                                            Survey of culturally competent strategies and approaches for working in human service settings with clients who are culturally, ethnically, and physically diverse.

                                                                            This course is an introductory overview of the human sexual condition from the perspective of the diverse cultures, sociological and psychological aspects within the United States as well as other countries/cultures. Students will be encouraged to become aware of their own sexual values, attitudes and related behaviors as well as being tolerant of sexual expression/orientation different from their own experience. This course will emphasize social patterns of sexual behavior, sexuality lifespan, sexual norms and abnormalities as well as historical and current sexual problems.

                                                                            A balanced study of basic theories, research, and principles of physical, cognitive, and psychosocial development from conception to death is presented in an integrated manner; includes behavior, sexuality, nutrition, health, stress, environmental relationships, and implications of death and dying.