The purpose of this course is to prepare students for work in human services serving a variety of population groups. The focus is on developing practical skills, communication and intervention techniques, training students in the case management process from intake and assessment to referrals and termination. Students will examine the dynamics of clients, agency, and the self as the representative and provider of services. The course will help students understand the complex aspects of human services practice when interacting with diverse clients. The student will be challenged to identify their own beliefs about the role of helping others in a professional context, to develop an approach that reflects ethical standards of the profession and an integration with biblical thought.

This course follows the HSER 201 class, which provides students with a broad overview of the field of human services and its historical context, and HSER 305 which addresses ethics in professional helping. HSER 301 will emphasize practice-relevant issues that will prepare students with knowledge and skills for the major’s required internship.

Textbook readings and lecture presentations

No details available.

Course Requirements Checklist

After reading the Course Syllabus and Student Expectations, the student will complete the related checklist found in the Course Overview.

Discussions are collaborative learning experiences. Therefore, the student is required to create a thread in response to the provided prompt for each discussion. For each post, the student must respond to the discussion and reply prompts accordingly.

Discussion: Active Listening

The thread for this Discussion will be 500-700 words and a bulleted list of 6 thoughts/questions. The student must then post two replies at 150-250 words each.

Discussion: Engage and Assess

The thread for this Discussion will be 650-950 words.

Discussion: Intervene and Evaluate 

The student will post his/her own video from the Skills Demonstration 3: Intervene and Evaluate Assignment and give a brief statement of the case -client’s (fictional) name and reason for referral – maximum of 50 words. The student will then reply to one other student’s video. The reply must be 750-950 words.

The student will conduct an active listening exercise with a colleague, friend, or family member (approx. 20 minutes) and write a 1-1.5 page summary of the interview, reflection, and feedback.

The student will complete the following as part of this assignment:

• Service Plan through preliminary Assessment.
• Recorded video of practice session with student in role as helping professional (10-15 minutes).
• Case analysis, self-reflection paper based on video (Analysis of Engage and Assess Demonstration Assignment).
• Peer feedback and critique via the related discussion (Discussion Thread: Engage and Assess).

This assignment allows the student to reflect on his/her performance during the Skills Demonstration 2: Engage and Assess Assignment. To complete this assignment, the student will fill out the template provided in the course.

This assignment allows the student to reflect on his/her performance during the Skills Demonstration 3: Intervene and Evaluate Assignment. To complete this assignment, the student will fill out the template provided in the course.

The student will complete the following as part of this assignment:

• Service plan through goals and action steps.
• Recorded video of practice session with student in role of helping professional (10–15-minutes).
• Case analysis, self-reflection paper based on video (Analysis of Intervene and Evaluate Demonstration Assignment).
• Peer feedback and critique via the related discussion (Discussion Thread: Intervene and Evaluate).

Each quiz will cover the Learn material for the assigned module: week. Each quiz will be open-book/open-notes, contain 20 multiple-choice and true/false questions and have a 40-minute time limit.

Quizzes in MindTap Videos (26)

The student will complete Quizzes in the MindTap platform based on the Learn material in each assigned module: week.

Quiz: HSER Internship Proposal Acknowledgement

This quiz will require an acknowledgement of the HSER Internship Process. The quiz will contain 1 multiple-choice question, have a time limit of 10 minutes, and have unlimited attempts.

This quiz will cover the Learn material for the assigned module: week. This quiz will contain 4 true/false questions and have no time limit.

This quiz will cover the Learn material for the assigned module: week. This quiz will be open-book/open-notes, contain 60 multiple-choice and true/false questions, and have a 2-hour time limit.