Community Social Service Overview
Resources
Offered on North Mankato Campus
Admission Dates: Fall and Spring Semesters
Program Description
Through the certificate program students will acquire the knowledge and skills for performing duties as Direct Service Professionals in residential, vocational, recreation, health and education settings.
Through the diploma program students will, in addition to completing the certificate coursework, gain knowledge and skills in human behavior, communication, and medication areas. The diploma will provide the student supervisory skills with the ability to obtain Designated Coordinator status in addition to having 2 years of work experience. Upon completing the coursework from the certificate and diploma the student will also have the option to complete the A.A.S. degree, which includes 20 credits of transferable Liberal Arts & Sciences coursework.
The A.A.S. degree also entitles the student to the Designated Coordinator status and applies to supervisory and middle management positions in most human services settings. The A.A.S. degree offers the graduating student the option to continue their education at a four-year institution upon completion.
Students graduating from the Community Social Service Program (CSS) are eligible for positions in several areas in the health, human services, and education fields with children, adolescents, adults, and senior citizens. The graduating student may serve a variety of at-risk populations including people with disabilities, mental illness, substance abuse, poverty, and disadvantaged. Students who may be interested in Social Work, Sociology, Psychology, or other health related areas may want to consider the CSS program as a well-rounded educational base to support further development of generalist skills at a four-year institution.
Program Core Competencies
- Demonstrate professionalism through leadership performance.
- Recognize the need for skill development and demonstrate the ability to intervene and teach more appropriate performance skills to live an independent life style.
- Demonstrate knowledge of human behavior; identify deficits in behavioral choices, and intervene by identifying the most appropriate behavioral strategy to teach more appropriate alternatives.
- Make appropriate decisions based on knowledge of systems protocols, i.e. rules and regulations.
- Identify appropriate resources, supports, and services from all service settings in an effort to plan, develop, and implement the most appropriate and least restrictive strategies for an independent future.
- Demonstrate an understanding of concepts relevant to entry level, generalist social work practice in a wide range of settings i.e. values and ethics; diversity issues; social justice; cooperative learning; autonomy and self-determination; social service delivery systems.
Student Background Studies Minnesota law requires that any person who provides services that involve direct contact with patients and residents at a health care or child care facility licensed by the Minnesota Department of Health have a background study conducted by the state. An individual who is disqualified from having direct patient contact as a result of the background study, and whose disqualification is not set aside by the Commissioner of Health, will not be permitted to participate in a clinical placement in a Minnesota licensed health care or child care facility. Failure to participate in a clinical placement required by the academic program could result in ineligibility to qualify for a degree in that program.
Degrees and Diplomas
Community Social Service: A.A.S. Degree (70 Credits)
Community Social Service: Diploma (48 Credits)
Community Social Service: Certificate (17 Credits)