Human Services (AAS.HMS)

The following syllabi are for reference purposes only in regards to Human Services courses. Official course syllabi are distributed to students in class.

Human Services I - Syllabus
This introductory course offers an overview of helping strategies and interventions with attention to principles, methodology, practitioner skills and knowledge. It addresses social issues and problems and the attendant service systems of social care, social control, a d social rehabilitation. It introduces the fields of human services, social work, counseling and case management. It emphasizes legal issues of the human services profession.

Human Services II - Syllabus
This course introduces students in the human services, public administration, criminal justice, childcare, gerontology, and related curricula to intervention skills and activities and their uses in working with others. It examines ethical dilemmas in the helping professions.  

Group Dynamics - Syllabus
This course focuses on group functioning and leadership and the factors involved in group cohesion and group conflict, communication systems, emotional styles, and group role function. It examines how to design and facilitate task groups and therapy groups.

Contemporary Issues in Social Welfare - Syllabus
This course defines and discusses issues from various aspects of social service practice. It proposes and analyzes intervention methodologies and solutions for problems such as family violence, mental health and chemical dependency, foster care, adoption, delinquency, and crime. It prepares students to work with diverse populations as helping professionals.

Introduction to Counseling - Syllabus
This course examines the theoretical foundations and various counseling styles and technique s. It develops student skills in the understanding of developmental, nondirective, psychodynamic, transactional and other approaches to individual, martial, and family counseling. It examines the characteristics of a workable counseling relationship.

Social Work Process - Syllabus
This course surveys practices, concepts, methods, and current trends in human service work. It stresses basic skills inherent in casework, group work, and community organization. It examines methods of data collection used by a variety of social service agencies. It utilizes a strength-based empowerment approach and emphasizes skills for working with populations such as older adults and persons with developmental disabilities.

Interviewing Techniques - Syllabus
This course trains students to understand and effectively utilize the interviewing process to assist clients w ith problem resolution. It examines various interviewing styles and techniques and the theoretical foundations of each. It develops interviewing skills through the use of student interaction, role-playing, videotape, and recordings of actual student interviews. It focuses on th e concepts of communication, interaction, and the self.

Human Services Field Placement - Syllabus
This course places students in a social service agency for eight hours per week for fourteen consecutive weeks to perform tasks and engage in learning activities associated with acquiring professional standards, behaviors, and conduct. Students are supervised by a faculty member a nd field supervisor a nd are expected to attend a weekly seminar to discuss their experiences and observations. Students learn how to prepare for clinical supervision and complete a professional portfolio.

Addiction Dynamics & Interventions - Syllabus
This course provides a working knowledge of the helping process as it applies to drug and alcohol counseling. It focuses on assessment and diagnostic skills; the pharmacology of commonly abused substances; appropriate goals and treatment plans; individual, group, and family treatment approaches; the levels of care available to drug and alcohol clients and their families; current research, trends and success rates in treatment; the impact of sex, age and ethnicity on the treatment process; the ethical guidelines of practice; and the American Psychiatric Association’s diagnostic criteria for substance use disorders and their relationship to other mental health disorders. 

Download the Student Guide to the Human Services Program (PDF).

The Human Services Club is dedicated to promoting respect, empathy and social justice throughout Burlington County College and beyond.

Membership is open to any students of Rowan College at Burlington County.  Each year the club members participate with community service events, fundraisers and professional development in the field of Human Services.

• Student Government Association Club of the Year 2011
• Student Government Association Club of the Year 2012