History:
Community colleges have always been sensitive to the needs of the community for the provision of educational services. A major organizational part of any dynamic institution is its effort to focus on market forces that impact their ability to develop, refine and respond, in a timely manner, with programs of study that prepare the workforce for changes in the job market.
The current Behavioral Health Human Services curriculum was initiated at Community College of Philadelphia in September of 1968. At that time it was known as the Mental Health curriculum. The Mental Health Worker (MHW) curriculum was one of six nationally funded demonstration projects of the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH). The purpose of the MHW curriculum was to establish an innovative program designed to prepare middle level, paraprofessional mental health workers to fill a serious mental health staffing shortage in the community mental health system. MHW students at Community College of Philadelphia participated in a mix of liberal arts courses and specialized mental health classes, which included supervised practice experience. At the end of the two-year grant, the MHW demonstration program was integrated into the Associate in Applied Sciences degree (AAS) at the College.
In 1970, partly based on the above NIMH experience, Community College of Philadelphia initiated a separate Social Service (SS) Curriculum. Its purpose was to provide a similar type of paraprofessional worker for employment in the social work field. The Social Service curriculum was much less career intensive, having more of an undergraduate social work transfer focus. Due to this focus it had fewer students. It should be noted that the same faculty staffed both programs.
During the 1973–74 academic year the MHW and the SS programs were merged into one integrated curriculum. This merging of curricula was reflective of what appeared to be occurring in the field of human services. For example, many of our graduates were assuming positions in a wide range of social service agencies. During the latter part of the 1970’s and the early 80’s the new Mental Health/ Social Service program (MH/SS), continued to maintain the college’s high recognition profile throughout the Philadelphia health care delivery system. More important than the name change was the merging of each program’s strengths. The social service program represented a broadly based more culturally sensitive, consumer orientation, which embraced the individual and group skills focus of the mental health field. The MHW program represented a superior interpersonal helpings skills orientation that continues to be the cornerstone of the BHHS curriculum.
Certificate Programs:
Between 1975 and 1996, the MH/SS curriculum developed three certificate programs to serve specialized needs in the community. The Social Gerontology certificate was implemented during the 1978-79 academic year, the Alcohol and Drug certificate (now Recovery and Transformation) became operational during the 1985-86 academic year and in 1996-97 academic year the Family Home Visiting certificate was made an integral part of the BHHS curriculum.
All of the certificates serve the BHHS student and the health care community in several ways: (1) the certificates were designed for individuals planning careers in their respective fields, (2) the certificates were a vehicle to upgrade individuals working in specialized settings that require new and/or updated information knowledge or specific skills and (3) the certificates were seen as a way of providing continuing education for professionals working in a variety of human service settings. Finally, all of the certificate programs are integrated into the BHHS degree program.
Managed Care and State Regulations:
A major shift in the program occurred between 1985 and the mid 1990’s when the MH/SS curriculum was faced with two major health care changes:
The impact of managed care on the delivery services and
The emerging state and national standards for Certified Addiction Counselors.
1. The managed care system has had a dramatic effect on the delivery of human services. The BHHS faculty, out of its concern for the preparation of its students in this changing job market, established a series of focus groups in the spring of 1996, with individuals representing both the health care delivery system and managed care. Out of these deliberations came a series of recommendations about how best to position our graduates in the evolving managed care job market.
2. During this same time period, The Pennsylvania Department of Health, Bureau of Alcohol and Drug Programs mandated a minimum of an associate’s degree in Human Services from an accredited college with a major in Chemical Dependency and two years of experience to be eligible for the position of Addiction Counselor. Beginning in January 1997 and culminating in March of 2000, the basic requirements for the Certified Addiction Counselor, as defined by the Pennsylvania Certification Board (PCB), were upgraded from a GED or high school diploma with two years’ experience to a bachelor’s degree in Human Services or a related field.
Pursuant to the above two concerns, the BHHS faculty implemented a series of changes, incorporating a new course on Brief Counseling, upgrading existing course content, review of transfer/articulation agreements and changing our name to be more in tune with emerging addiction and mental health managed care initiatives.
The new Behavioral Health Human Services curriculum (BHHS) was implemented in the fall of 1999. During the 1999-2000 academic year the Addiction (now Recovery and Transformation) and Gerontology Coordinators were involved in a Vocational-Educational Project to:
Meet with treatment and regulatory agencies regarding vocational readiness of certificate and BHHS degree graduates,
Review and begin updating evolving professional behavioral health educational requirements, and Finalize articulation agreements for baccalaureate transfer.
Through the BHHS faculty’s continued understanding of the behavioral health managed care system and its sensitivity to statutory regulations, Community College of Philadelphia was able to keep the BHHS educational program in the forefront of the training needs of counselors in the Behavioral Health field.
The articulation agreements, continuing professional education requirements, and the vocational readiness issues, along with our past experience with the focus groups, have led the BHHS faculty to a re-examination of required courses and a more serious deliberation on transfer concerns. Although the BHHS faculty discussed many issues, this document will focus on one aspect of the BHHS faculty’s deliberations, curriculum flexibility.
Curriculum Flexibility: BHHS Credits or Contacts:
During the Federal funding period 1968 to 1970, the program was heavily influenced by extensive support services to our students. The use of individual meetings and agency supervision helped establish the Mental Health Work (MHW) program as unique and innovative. Following the Federally funded period the college continued to provide extensive support services to both the MHW and SS degree student. To accommodate individual meetings with students the faculty agreed to work a sixteen-hour (16) contact load to support this model. Part of this support was reflective of the colleges open admission policy, which accepted many individuals with high school deficiencies, which had to be addressed by the College and some of the select curricula like the BHHS program.
Over the past forty six (46) years the mental health and addiction fields have changed and improved the quality of clinical supervision to a point where the BHHS faculty could maintain its high level of student support by utilizing a more traditional small group process with some individual office sessions to accomplish its educational objective of providing quality instruction in a supportive learning environment. The evolving changes in the behavioral health field were further enhanced by internal College support networks, which helped the student develop better conceptual and writing skills. The BHHS student must now be English 101 ready to enter the program therefore shifting some of the developmental burden to the general college community.
Since 2001 there has have been some changes to bring the BHHS degree and recovery initiatives into compliance with City, State and Federal transformation movement. For example, the infusion of trauma informed care and faith and spirituality issues into the behavioral health curriculum.
Faith and Spirituality Community:
The Philadelphia Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbilities Services (DBHIDS) in 2010 embarked on a quest to change the way behavioral health services are delivered to Philadelphia's men, women, children and families. DBHIDS’s integrated, holistic approach recognizes that faith and spiritual communities are powerful resources in promoting healing. Both the Philadelphia DBHID and Community College of Philadelphia’s BHHS program recognize that members of faith based and treatment communities need education that specifically addresses the role of faith and spirituality in the delivery of human services. In many quarters, there is particular interest in the potential role that faith and spirituality can play in helping people recover from addiction.
In 2011 DBHIDS formed a very important partnership with the CCP Behavioral Health and Human Services program and, together with input from the faith and treatment community, created a certificate in Faith and Spiritual-based Counseling. This 45-hour, non-credit certificate program is among the first of its kind. It focuses not on any one faith tradition, but is inclusive, welcoming and targeted to all. In 2012 the college offered a directed three credit elective in Faith and Spirituality to students pursuing the BHHS degree, and the Recovery and Transformation Academic Certificate.
Data from 2010 to 2013 indicates the BHHS program had 677 students currently enrolled in the program and during that time period 315 students (average 79 students per year) graduated with an Associate in Applied Sciences. The Recovery and Transformation Certificate (formally Addiction Studies) graduated 207 students (average 52 students). It should be noted that approximately 50% of the students had been incarcerated individuals now on parole.