Portland State University's Human Services program graduated its first cohort in June, and graduates have stepped into behavioral health roles across Oregon's social service agencies.
The fully online program was built for working adults already employed in the field and features maximum flexibility to enable students to complete coursework while balancing full-time jobs, parenting and, in some cases, running their own businesses.
The Human Services degree was part of a long-time collective vision between The Partnership @ PSU, the Higher Education Coordinating Commission and Child, Youth and Family Studies in the School of Social Work, said Tozi Gutierrez, Human Services coordinator and associate professor.
Launching the program came at a crucial time amid a continuing national shortage of behavioral health professionals.
“We knew we could help reduce that gap,” Gutierrez said. “We had experience with students who start college and have to stop because of finances, working full time, family obligations and other barriers.”
Designed to reduce those barriers, the online program offers intensive faculty support, a virtual practicum and credit for prior learning — a portfolio process that lets students demonstrate skills and learning outcomes from previous work experience for four or eight academic credits. The program was also developed using workforce surveys and employer input to build a curriculum tied to real-world demands.
The fully online format was essential for its first graduates, many of whom said a traditional, in-person degree path would have been impossible to complete.
This was the case for recent graduate Melissa Hill, a mother of three who co-owns a dual-diagnosis outpatient program in the Portland Metro area. She said the flexibility to complete coursework late at night was the only way she could finish a degree she'd left unfinished nearly two decades earlier at the University of Oregon.
"There are just too many demands currently on my time and schedule to be able to do anything without that kind of flexibility," Hill said.
The online format also incorporates virtual practicum courses, where trained actors portray simulated clients so students can practice their skills in realistic, high-stakes scenarios.
"The simulations were nerve-wracking,” said Jay Foster, another graduate. “No scripts or do overs to fall back on, just testing my skills in real time. It was more like an actual situation with real time pressure."
Since graduating, Foster has applied to work as a victim advocate with the Gresham Police Department.
"I want to be an advocate supporting families and creating spaces for people to feel seen, heard and valued," she said.
While the program is still new, it is being built in alignment with standards set by the National Organization for Human Services, with the goal of eventually offering graduates a nationally recognized credential.
As the first recent graduates step into their post-graduate careers, Gutierrez reflects on the first cohort of students.
“They truly helped us co-create a degree,” she said. “What we as faculty witnessed was confidence, growth and strength before our eyes. It was an incredible opportunity to be part of their journey.”