Social Work Certificate of Achievement

CatalogDescription

This course is designed to provide the student with fundamental skills regarding the importance of case management as a practice skill for social workers and other healthcare professionals. Students will gain knowledge on effective micro, mezzo, and macro systems service delivery. Students will use a strength-based, ecological model to a joint solution-oriented process and explore factors affecting case management today including federal and state legislation, technology, new service delivery models, and the resulting ethical and legal dilemmas. There will be a special emphasis on the development of cultural competence and equitable practices when engaging with diverse populations, and the impact of oppression and discrimination on case management services.

(B) Completer Projections

Based on enrollment data, the estimated enrollment completer projection of students to earn the award annually is 10 students.

Social work is an applied behavioral science that emphasizes understanding and critical analysis of individual and group behavior, social forces, and conditions experienced in diverse environments. As a profession, social work is designed to support individuals, communities, and institutions to function as effectively as possible and improve wellbeing by taking environmental and social resources into consideration. 

The Social Work program goals are to prepare graduates for competent entry-level practice grounded in knowledge, values, and skills of generalist Social Work practice, to enable students to further their education by transferring to four-year colleges, universities or other institutions and to provide students with knowledge of theories and techniques that are foundational to the practice of Social Work. 

Program Learning Outcomes

Students who complete the Cuyamaca College Social Work Certificate of Achievement will: 

·        Demonstrate skills in critical thinking applicable to case management, crisis intervention, and theory-based assessment to understand interactions between individuals and their environment. 

·        Knowledge of community resources, community linkages and government assistance programs which support social work practices in diverse environments. 

·        Develop an understanding and application of cultural competence when identifying barriers and issues faced by under-represented and vulnerable communities. 

·        Apply knowledge of biopsychosocial factors that affect human development and behavior across life span. 

·        Identify diverse roles of social workers in micro, mezzo and macro levels of practice and evaluate own’s professional identity and skills.  

Need

This proposal for the Certificate of Achievement is a major part of the Social Work Curriculum Alignment/Regional Equity Recovery Partnership Project funded by the regional SWP (1705-RSWP6-06). One of the primary purposes of this grant was to develop a regionally aligned certificate in social work. It is designed to be stackable to the existing Associate Degree in Social Work, which prepares our students to transfer into a baccalaureate program. While we are aware of the necessity of a baccalaureate degree to earn a high salary in this sector, we have placed many students into para-professional/supervisorial positions while they are still pursuing our currently available certificate/degree. This proposed certificate is one of many ways that Cuyamaca College  is responding to the call for action by the San Diego County Behavioral Workforce Report, which indicates that we need to promptly produce a behavioral health workforce to meet the expected demand in the region. 

As advised by County of San Diego Fourth District Supervisor Chair Nathan Fletcher, the San Diego Workforce Partnership (SDWP) is addressing the shortage of trained behavioral health workers in the San Diego region by building a better way to deliver services and transform our behavioral health system through recruiting, training, and retaining more mental health and addiction treatment professionals to work in San Diego County.

Based on the San Diego Behavioral Health Workforce Report, San Diego County is facing a significant behavioral health (BH) worker shortage. This report estimates 17,000 BH professionals were employed in 11 key occupations in 2022. This is 8,000 workers short of the 25,000 needed. These statewide projected shortages were all before the outbreak of the COVID-19 global pandemic. Since 2020, community need for behavioral health services, workforce shortages and wage competition from other industries have intensified, intensifying the long-standing workforce shortage to crisis levels.

Cuyamaca College is one of six colleges participating in the Southern Border Region counties to strengthen social work pipelines through strategic, collaborative, and innovative efforts focusing on targeted outreach, recruitment, and retention. As one of three colleges in the region offering asocial work program, Cuyamaca College is adding to the Associate of Arts Degree in Social Work (the combination of district general education courses) the one-year Certificate of Achievement in Social Work providing students skills for employment upon completion as well as the pathway towards an associate and bachelor’s degree.

The Certificate of Achievement in Social Work at Cuyamaca College is a new program that addresses the region’s goal to bolster the number of trained behavioral health workers.

Community Support

The following local organizations endorses the Social Work Certificate of Achievement at Cuyamaca College.

·        Interfaith Community Services

·        National Alliance on Mental Illness San Diego& Imperial Counties

·        PATH San Diego

·        San Diego Housing Commission

Please find the support letters advocating to move the recommendation of the new award at Cuyamaca College, affirming that there are jobs available for program completers within the local service area of the college.

Item3. Program Requirements

*Course offerings are subject to change. Refer to the Cuyamaca College class schedule for the most updated course offerings for the semester.

*Courses recommended for students planning to transfer to SDSU