human services

About the Programs

Learn to help those who most need assistance. The Human Services Program is a career-oriented path that gives you a solid grounding in group counseling, conflict resolution, the psychology of addictive behavior, and the effects of drug abuse and substance abuse in families. Study post-traumatic stress disorder, coping strategies in crisis intervention and counseling ethics. Develop interpersonal skills and multicultural understanding. SFCC es un instituto sirviendo hispanos. “Si Se Habla Espanol”.

All students do an internship, providing work in the community while receiving academic credit. Graduates of this program often choose to pursue a bachelor’s degree in social work, human services, sociology or counseling, among others, in a field where there is always demand for quality professionals. Human Services graduates are employed in behavioral health and social services agencies as case managers, outreach specialists, caseworkers, intake, crisis, and program coordinators, job coaches, and client advocates. To learn more about the program, please contact Carlos Balladares.

What kinds of educational opportunities will I have with a degree in Human Services?

  • Internships in the human services program provide community work experience for academic credit. They offer students professional skills to become more competitive in the job market. Students have been offered paid internships or jobs after completing their internships.
  • Program concentrations give students an opportunity to specialize in a particular area of human services. Human services graduates often choose to continue their education pursuing a bachelor’s degree in social work, human services, counseling, family studies, community services, psychology, and/or sociology. Program concentrations also include traumatic stress studies, substance abuse prevention and bilingual studies in Spanish and American Sign Language.

If you are energized by helping people, the human services program may be for you! Human services workers enjoy working with people; they are energetic and compassionate; they care about social justice; they support diversity; and they want to make a difference in the lives of others and their communities.

Substance Abuse Prevention

Most people in the chemical dependency field accept that addiction is a life-threatening disease that affects family, emotional, employment, financial, legal, and spiritual health. If you want to help people and prevent future dependency, then a career in substance abuse prevention could be right for you.

This program prepares students to work in substance abuse prevention in their communities and will provide all the educational components to take the credentialing examination. Courses address community assessment, levels of risk and protective factors in the community, data collection and analysis, and target populations, as well as information about drugs, alcohol, dependence and addiction.

The core curriculum for this program is totally online and can be taken by anyone in any location in the state. You can complete the core requirements in only one year and earn CEUs to maintain your credentials once established. There are no prerequisites for the program.

LADAC — Licensed Alcohol and Drug Abuse Counselor

If you’re interested in becoming to becoming a licensed substance abuse counselor in the State of New Mexico, check out our online and campus based LADAC classes!

We offer 18.5 credits of coursework which provide all of the academic requirements to become a LADAC. Classes are designed for students who want state-of-the-art knowledge and hands-on learning.

Learn More.

Traumatic Stress Aide

This program provides an educational foundation for students and professionals working in the field of trauma treatment, counseling and social work. The program focuses on posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), including its diagnosis and treatment; on crisis intervention, coping strategies and client stabilization; and on compassion fatigue, the user-friendly term for secondary stress disorder, often experienced by crisis workers or witnesses of a traumatic event.

Some courses are eligible for Continuing Education Units (CEUs) awarded through the New Mexico Counseling and Therapy Practice Board.

View Human Services Student Testimonials!

Career Opportunities

SFCC Human Services graduates have completed their internships and/or found jobs at behavioral health and human services agencies such as medical facilities; youth and senior centers; public school mentoring programs; employment and vocational rehabilitation agencies; trauma treatment centers; financial assistance agencies; hospices, immigration assistance programs; Head Start; homeless shelters; Planned Parenthood and disability and disaster assistance organizations.

More career opportunites:

  • Case manager
  • Life skills counselor
  • Substance abuse counselor
  • Behavioral health aide
  • Program coordinator
  • Prevention specialist
  • Job coach
  • Community organizer
  • Gerontology aide
  • Community outreach worker
  • Intake coordinator
  • Client advocate

Skills

Through the Traumatic Stress Aide program, students will learn to:

  • Identify the diagnostic criteria for PTSD
  • Apply the ABC model of crisis intervention
  • Describe effective community disaster interventions
  • Identify prevention strategies for compassion fatigue
  • Synthesize the process of debriefing emergency workers