Human Services (HSER) Courses
HSER 100 : Self Exploration
Credits: 3
This group process course provides an opportunity for learners to explore self within society, their values, and attitudes, functional and dysfunctional patterns of behavior. The learners are encouraged to assess personal characteristics that may be hampering growth and be able to establish goals and action plans for change. Learners critically self-reflect through a biopsychosocial life-stage model of development that spans our lives from birth through death. The course supports the adoption of knowledge and skills for developing healthy interpersonal relationships and for working with a diversity of issues and people. The course is particularly applicable for those entering the field of human service and/or the helping professions as well as education, health sciences, or justice, etc.
Prerequisites:
Placement in ENG 100 or equivalent
or
Instructor approval
HSER 140 : Individual Counseling
Credits: 3
This course provides an introduction to counseling skills and theory. Learners will practice interviewing and micro-skills through role-plays and will be exposed to theories of counseling, assessment, treatment interventions, and ethical guidelines for work in the field of human services and the helping professions.
Prerequisites:
Placement in ENG 100 or equivalent
or
Instructor approval
Recommended Prep:
HSER 100, Basic computer and Internet navigation skills needed
HSER 160 : Ecology of the Family System
Credits: 3
The course explores the ecology and socialization of children, youth, and the family system. It identifies effective and harmful parenting styles and family interactions, as well as the impact of socialization agents such as media, peer groups, and community on family members and their functioning in society. The content also includes a review of various emotional, cognitive, and social-cultural influences that impact individual and family system development.
Prerequisites:
Placement in ENG 100
or
Instructor approval
Recommended Prep:
HSER 100, Basic computer and Internet navigation skills.
HSER 245 : Group Counseling
Credits: 3
The course includes theoretical and experiential training in facilitating groups. The course is designed to encourage understanding and skill development in selecting group members, establishing group norms and goals, and attending to ethical codes of conduct. Skill development includes setting group climate, developing group activities, promoting group and individual growth, and making appropriate group interventions with attention to special populations. Learners will be members of an in-class group and will be co-facilitating a group.
Prerequisites:
Placement in ENG 100 or equivalent
or
Instructor approval
Recommended Prep:
HSER 100, Basic computer and Internet navigation skills needed
HSER 248 : Case Management
Credits: 3
This course provides a systems-based orientation to the development of knowledge and skills needed to become a case manager in health and human services. The course incorporates an ethical, culturally appropriate, strength-based and client-centered approach. Skill development includes intake, assessment, service planning, care coordination, discharge planning, referral, advocacy, and documentation and exploration of ethical mandates. (Previously offered as experimental course HSER 297L.)
Prerequisites:
Placement in ENG 100 or equivalent
or
Instructor approval
Recommended Prep:
HSER 100, Computer and Internet skills
HSER 256 : Dynamics of Family Violence and Sexual Assault
Credits: 3
This course is designed to encourage the development of knowledge, skills, and the sensitivity necessary for engaging individuals and families affected by sexual assault, intimate partner violence, and non-familial violence. Course content focuses on the victimization of children, adults, the elderly, and other vulnerable populations. The course examines various influences that may encourage perpetrators and socio-cultural beliefs and behaviors that propagate sexual and physical violence, the historical responses, as well as a review of relevant state and federal laws. Victim, survivor, and perpetrator dynamics, current trends, intervention strategies, and community resources are identified. Learners have an opportunity to explore their own values and feelings in relation to a difficult subject matter.
Prerequisites:
Placement in ENG 100 or equivalent
or
Instructor approval
Recommended Prep:
HSER 100, WS 151, Basic internet, computer knowledge and navigation ability
HSER 268 : Survey of Substance Use Disorders
Credits: 3
The course focuses on the continuum of substance use. It analyzes historical, societal, and cultural perceptions, and examines the impact of substance use and behavioral disorders on the individual, the family, and the community. We will review current trends, legal responses, and the effectiveness of various approaches utilized in the field.
Prerequisites:
Placement in ENG 100 or equivalent
or
Instructor approval
Recommended Prep:
HSER 100, Basic computer and Internet navigation skills needed.
HSER 270 : Substance Use Disorders Counseling
Credits: 3
This course provides theoretical and experiential training in prevention, intervention, treatment, and aftercare approaches applicable to a diverse substance use disorder population. We cover aspects of the counseling process, specifically, the 12 Core Functions utilized by the substance use disorder counselor and ethical and legal issues encountered in the field.
Prerequisites:
Placement in ENG 100 or equivalent
or
Instructor approval
Recommended Prep:
HSER 100
Basic computer and Internet navigation skills needed
HSER 294 : Seminar & Fieldwork I
Credits: 3
The HSER 294 Seminar and Fieldwork I course is the first of two required courses, which offers the intern enrolled in the Certificate of Competence in Substance Use Disorder Counseling Program a graduated internship experience in which a learner may complete 200 hours of onsite fieldwork in an approved substance use disorders treatment facility. In the weekly seminar, the learner examines the 12 Core Functions applied by the substance use disorders counselor and ethical and legal mandates under which they must practice. Individual strengths and challenges are identified in relationship to the onsite experiences and the learner begins to develop a professional identity as a substance use disorders counselor by applying the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that they have learned in the previous program courses. Attention also is given to how to attend to one's self-care while working within a stressful and demanding field.
Prerequisites:
HSER 100, HSER 140, HSER 245, HSER 268, and HSER 270 with a grade of C or better
or
Instructor approval
Recommended Prep:
Basic computer and Internet navigation skills needed.
HSER 295 : Seminar & Fieldwork II
Credits: 3
The HSER 295 Seminar and Fieldwork course is the second of two required courses, which offers the intern enrolled in the Certificate of Competence in Substance Use Disorder Counseling Program a graduated internship experience in which s/he is able to complete 200 hours of onsite fieldwork in an approved substance use disorders treatment facility. In the weekly seminar, the learner examines the 12 Core Functions of the substance use disorders counselor and the ethical and legal mandates under which they must practice. One's individual strengths and challenges are identified in relationship to the onsite experience and the learner begins to develop a professional identity as a substance use disorders counselor by applying the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that they have learned in the previous program courses. Attention also is given to how to attend to one's self-care while working within a stressful and demanding field.
Prerequisites:
HSER 294 with a grade of C or better
or
Instructor approval