Ph.D. Candidate in Social Welfare, the
School of Social Welfare,
SUNY Albany
Masters in Social Work, the School of Social Welfare, SUNY Albany 1993
Social Pedagogue, Skovtofte Social Pedagogical College, Denmark 1984
Concentration in Human Services
What is the Concentration in Human Services?
The Concentration in Human
Services (CHS) is a comprehensive educational program that prepares students for generalist practice in the field of human
services. Students are prepared to work
with people throughout the life span.
The focus is on people, who face a variety of needs and issues, e.g.,
poverty, discrimination, crime, developmental and psychiatric disability,
interpersonal violence, and substance abuse. In addition, the CHS has a
distinct focus on macro level advocacy, international social welfare, and human
rights. Graduates work with children, youth
and adults as well as families and groups, in treatment programs as well as preventative,
social action or advocacy settings. Graduates have gone on to graduate schools
in fields such as social work, guidance counseling, mental health counseling, special
education, criminal justice, and international human rights work.
The Concentration in Human
Services is inspired by European social pedagogy/social education and
influenced by critical pedagogy with an emphasis on self-directed learning.
Students enjoying a break during the Ropes Course
What are the Field Education Internships
like?
Students do their field education internships in a variety of human services agencies, including
domestic violence shelters, residential treatment facilities and runaway
shelters for children and youth, community residences for adults with
developmental or psychiatric disabilities, and criminal justice settings, such
as maximum security prisons for men, probation or minimum security correctional
facilities for women. Field education settings also include daycare
centers and schools for children with and without special needs as well as
daycare, advocacy programs, and nursing homes for the elderly. Students
are afforded the opportunity to do their internships in a variety of advocacy
and social change/social action programs as well as in programs that utilize arts
and recreation and animal assisted therapies.
Students choose their field education placements
in collaboration with the college human services faculty and are expected to do
their internships in a variety of agencies diversifying their
experiences. Intensive individual and group supervision is a main feature
in the field education experience.
Students do three consecutive field education
placements of each 104 hours (8 hours a week for 13 weeks) while also taking
the three consecutive Human Services Theory and Practice courses.
All current and previous students highlight the
field education component of the CHS as the most important part of their
educational experience. The field
education placements afford students an opportunity to truly experience “real
life” before graduating, to explore which populations and agency settings they
prefer, to rule out what they do not prefer, and to guide them in their future
career choices.
Although students certainly study and read about
group dynamics, they actually LIVE it in their educational process. They stay together for 3-4 semesters as a
cohort, often more than 4 hours a week.
This cohort experience affords students the opportunity to learn to work
together, experience together, have fun and work out differences together and,
very importantly, learn from each other.
Students have a variety of learning experiences
both inside and outside of class. We
begin the cohort experience with a full-day Ropes Course (adventure based and
team building activities). Hanging from
trees, exploring our own boundaries, and encouraging each other, while also
laughing together are all great bonding opportunities!
We go on field trips every semester. Some of the field trips include: visits to residential
treatment centers for children, who have been removed from their homes due to abuse and neglect; visits to agencies serving
people with developmental disabilities; and a trip to New York City, where we
visit a child welfare program that serves lesbian, gay, bisexual,
transgender, and questioning young people in foster care. While in New York City, we also tour the United Nations and attend a briefing on human rights.
Exploring and understanding human rights are an integral part of the CHS. All field trips augment the learning process
in the classroom and serve to further strengthen the cohort experience.
Students from the Graduating Cohort in New York City at the United Nations studying Human Rights, March 2007
The requirement to build knowledge and skills in
the area of arts and recreation is also an integral part of the CHS. Although
we consider verbal counseling skills paramount to the practice of any human
service professional, we value the use of arts and recreation as equally
important. “Doing with” people is an
amazing opportunity to build relationships and rapport and it provides people
with competence and skills. We continuously
do a lot of class exercises to demonstrate the use of the arts and recreation
and students are encouraged to take 1-2 expressive arts courses, which have
been developed specifically for CHS students.
Finally, an international social welfare
perspective is integrated into every aspect of the CHS (see below for more
information regarding our International Social Welfare course). Expanding our knowledge and learning about
other cultures further prepare CHS students to take on the challenges that they
will face once they are in the field working with a diversity of people and
issues.
What are the Course Requirements?
Students obtain a BA degree in Sociology with a
Concentration in Human Services. The requirements include 59/60 credits and
although this sounds like a lot, students graduate with 120 credits as
required.
The courses are as follow:
Required Sociology Courses (15 credits)
SOC100 Introduction to Sociology
SOC220 Social Inequality
SOC303 Sociological Theory
SOC306 Research Methods
SOC350 Introduction to Human Services
Sociology Electives (12 credits)
Each student must complete, by advisement, 4 Sociology
Electives (prefix SOC)
Human Services Concentration Core Courses (9 credits)
SOC443 Human Services Theory and Practice I
SOC444 Human Services Theory and Practice II
SOC445 Human Services Theory and Practice III (the Writing Intensive CHS capstone course in
which students write a senior thesis)
Field Education Courses (9 credits)
SOC480 Field Education in Human Services I
SOC481 Field Education in Human Services II
SOC482 Field Education in Human Services III
Arts and Recreation Courses (5/6 credits)
Each student must complete, by advisement, 2 approved courses in Art and Recreation. These courses are hands-on courses that will provide students with a variety of modalities
Cognate Courses (9 credits)
Each student must complete, by advisement, 3 approved
courses in departments that offer courses related to human Services. These courses complement the human services
courses.
Do you
want to travel and study abroad?
In addition to the required courses, the Concentration in Human Services also offers an International Social Welfare course every summer to Denmark, Germany or Spain to study human services practices and the overall social welfare system. These 3 credit courses are 11 days long and count as either a Sociology Elective or a Cognate course. This course is open to both undergraduate and graduate students. Human services practitioners and educators are also welcome! The course has been approved as an advanced elective at several Masters in Social Work programs as well as in other graduate programs.
We encourage students to study abroad a semester and will work with each student individually to make sure all major course requirements are fulfilled.
Financial Support
Students, who are currently working in the human
services field in a direct support position, are eligible to apply for grants, fellowships,
and tuition/book reimbursement. For more information on this financial support,
see:
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Adventure Based Ropes Course: Balancing the Raft |
Becoming Friends with your Cohort Classmates - in New York City March 2007
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I obtained my social pedagogical degree and practiced as a social pedagogue in Denmark before coming to the US in 1988. After practicing as a direct care worker and social worker in the US, I am now the Director of the Concentration in Human Services (CHS) in the Department of Sociology.
In collaboration with
colleague Donna Chaffee, I teach all the human services theory courses, supervise
students in their field education placements, and provide academic and career advisement. I am currently responsible for 3 of the 4
human services theory courses and 1 of the 3 field education courses. My teaching
and style are highly influenced by critical pedagogy and many years of practice
in the field of human services having worked with a variety of populations and
age groups.
In Denmark, I began my
human services career working in day care centers. I also worked in a pre-school
for children with severe developmental disabilities, in a children’s home for
children, who were abused and neglected, and lived in a commune for adults
transitioning out of prisons, psychiatric hospitals, and drug rehabilitation
treatment centers. The years just before coming to the US, I worked with adults
with developmental disabilities focusing primarily on work with people with
autism and hearing impairment.
In the US, I initially
worked in residential centers with children and young adults with autism and
with youth with social-emotional problems.
During and after obtaining my Masters in Social Work, I worked as a
school social worker with children with hearing impairment and youth with learning
disabilities. I also worked as a family
therapist. Prior to coming to SUNY New
Paltz in 1997, I worked at Dutchess Community College in its Human Services
Program.
Throughout my time in
the US, my focus has been on professionalizing the human services workforce,
mainly in residential settings. This interest
has lead to involvement with the John F. Kennedy Jr. Institute and the
Mid-Hudson Coalition for the Development of Direct Support Practice.
The Mid-Hudson Coalition initiated the CHS in 1992.
An interest in international
social welfare policy, collaboration, and exchange continue to be at the heart
of my work. Since 1996, I have taught
International Social Welfare bringing college students, educators, and
practitioners to Denmark. In collaboration with Annee Roschelle and Donna
Chaffee, colleagues in the Department of Sociology, courses are now also taught
in Germany and Spain.
I am pursuing my Ph.D. in Social Welfare at SUNY Albany. Areas of research and interest include: professional socialization and education of social workers; international social welfare; and professionalization of US human services and direct support workers.
Contact Information
Jacobson Faculty Tower 506Introduction to Human Services (SOC350)
Human Services Theory and Practice II (SOC444)
Field Education in Human Services I (SOC480)
Human Services Theory and Practice III (SOC445)
International Social Welfare (SAB382/SAB582) :
