Human Services Minor

An introduction to psychology as a behavioral science and profession. Topics such as physiology and behavior, learning, memory and forgetfulness, intelligence, life span changes, personality development, social behavior, abnormal behavior and treatment approaches are examined.

This course is an overview of two major areas in Mental Health: 1) Psychological Dysfunctions and 2) Developmental Disabilities. The course examines various etiologies and functioning levels of the psychologically impaired and the developmentally disabled. It further examines intervention and treatment methods from a historical perspective, as well as more recent modalities of community-based treatment services.

A survey of public and private human service programs with special emphasis on current human services available in the city and state. Skills, knowledge, attitudes and values for human service work are examined, as are the methods of intervention and counseling theories available to the human service worker.

This course explores the social and medical issues of HIV populations from a cross-cultural perspective. It covers the issues encountered in the correctional, social service and health care systems and teaches students how to assess needs and develop a service network.

A survey of the major current theories practiced in the counseling profession. Roles, responsibilities, and career opportunities for counselors, as well as the development of the counseling profession.

Techniques of organizing and working with special client groups are reinforced by role playing and other activities.

A comprehensive overview of current theory, process and practice in family therapy, covering the field\'s major underpinnings. An examination of family systems theory and different approaches to working with families.

This course will investigate the psychological, socio-cultural, and physio-pharmacological foundations of addiction. Theories of addiction and treatment will be surveyed from social perspectives.

This course will examine the impact of the urban environment on the family, exploring a number of contemporary issues such as crime, poverty, drug addiction, homelessness, urban blight, racism, teenage parenting, etc. It will also examine a series of program models, services or treatment modalities developed to assist families in meeting and resolving these issues and will review the role of the Human Services practitioner as an advocate and resource for families coping with urban life.

This course will provide both a theoretical and a practical approach to the issues of physical and emotional child abuse and molesting by family members and strangers. It will provide an understanding of the effects of such abuse on the victim as well as the dynamics causing such behavior in the victimizer. Finally it will provide an overview of treatment interventions for the child, parents, and other victimizers. There will be an emphasis on how to develop a network and referral system with social service agencies, hospitals, courts, and child protection services.

This course will focus on the intervening role of the counselor and the techniques and skills necessary for working with children, adolescents, and family members who are experiencing the stress of normal and abnormal growth and change.

This course explores the recent development of the innovative functions of case management in human services. It further examines the case manager's role and its importance to effective client services. Issues of assessing clients. needs, brokering for client services and monitoring the quality of services will be discussed.

This course identifies the unique treatment and service delivery issues inherent in working as a case manager with adults and families. The broad range of human services interventions with and for adults and families is examined. The effects of social and psychological stressors such as homelessness, child abuse, domestic violence and disability are explored. The Supportive and entitlement services available to the adult and family population are discussed. The advocacy, brokering and coordination challenge of working with adults sand families is given much attention through the students. critical examination of his/her practice.

This course provides an in-depth approach to assessing the needs of children, including discussion of the rights and responsibilities that society has towards its children. It will explore the role of case management, advocacy and the process of networking services in the following areas: policy, intervention, family, juvenile justice system, public welfare, guardianship, education, foster care, child labor laws, protective services and adoption.

This course provides an in-depth multicultural approach to assessing the needs of chemically abusing individuals. It offers comprehensive approach to the case management of addictive behaviors. The student will learn how to network with the judicial system, rehabilitation services and social services supports. The approach will be multicultural in its approach.

This course surveys and analyzes the explicit and implicit values and ethical issues in the field of human services. Major theoretical perspectives are presented drawing on thinkers form the disciplines of science, philosophy, psychology, sociology and cultural analysis. A comparative analysis of ethical issues and practices in different cultures and societies are reviewed. The political and economic sources of values are considered along with how values and ethics affect the development of social rules and behavior. An examination of critical value issues at the national, city and organizational level are discussed.

Impact of the home, school, and community on the growth and development of youth in urban areas and their problems, including academic underachievement, unemployment, delinquency and youth crime, teenage pregnancy, and mental health problems.

The family as an institution of socialization, social control, and reproduction is studied, as well as family organization and disorganization, and comparative family systems.

The concepts of social deviance, pathology, social disorganization, value conflict, and labeling. Sociological theories of deviant behavior in relation to alcoholism, drug abuse, criminality and delinquency, suicide, sexual deviance and mental illness. A critical assessment of social causation, labeling stigmatization, and the scientific methods of determining deviance. The structure and organization of treatment for deviants, and institutions dealing with social deviance.

This course explores the nature and dynamics of family violence from a power and control perspective. It covers the issues of obsessive love, the Stockholm Syndrome, the battered child syndrome, throw-away children, homeless mentally ill, and juvenile gangs as family replacements. It also examines contributing factors: addiction, poor frustration tolerance, lack of boundaries, poor self-esteem, media and pornography, public social policy, and the criminal justice system. A variety of interventions are explored: parent skill training, batterers. programs, sex offender programs, anger management, gang re-direction programs, and services for the mentally ill.

TParents and families as the context for growth, development and learning; similarities and differences in parenting styles in various cultural groups; the range of family structures; parents and family members as teachers of young children and collaborators with professional educators; ways in which early childhood education programs build and expand upon the foundation provided by parents; how educators form constructive educational partnerships with parents; awareness of community resources for parents and their young children.