Community Health & Development

Certificate Program Director: Marc Pilisuk, Ph.D.

Communities from inner cities to rural farms are in crisis ... often fragmented along ethnic and political lines or buffeted by global economic forces. Learn how to intervene effectively through public health, community based organizations, and education.

Students focusing in the community health and development area will be prepared to seek work in the public health field, in community-based organizations, and in educational institutions. Additionally, this concentration is intended for students already employed in these areas who need additional skills in developing and obtaining the funds for community-based interventions. This specialization is also particularly germane for mental health practitioners who would like to connect "inner" mental health concerns to broader social levels such as violence, political marginalization and the transformation of organizations. Students with certification in Community Health and Development will be prepared to seek work in the public health field, in community-based organizations, and in educational institutions. This certificate is also intended for students already employed in these areas who need additional skills in developing and obtaining the funds for community-based interventions.

Finally, the certificate will culminate with a one-unit Certificate Integration course that will include a capstone paper integrating the work done for the certificate. This course is done with the current director of the certificate. Required Courses: STR 6505, STR 7100 or 7110, and two approved electives.

Practicum

The practicum provides students with an opportunity to apply the concepts and learnings from the course into a real-world setting. Each student is responsible for creating his or her practicum experience. A practicum can include any number of volunteer opportunities with community-based organizations that focus on community health and development (broadly defined). The student should propose the practicum setting to the certificate director for his or her approval.

Learning Objectives

Upon completion of this certificate each student will:

• Be familiar with his or her community and the community health and development initiatives currently under way;
• Be familiar with various approaches to community intervention;
• Be able to design a community intervention that addresses a particular concern of the student and his or her community;
• Be able to provide a critical analysis of community based concerns;
• Be aware of his or her role in his or her community;
• Be aware of future professional directions.

Learning/Teaching Approaches

The student may complete the Community Health and Development certificate in a cohort of learners who work together on the various aspects of the certificate (if there are several signing up for the certificate at the same time) or in an independent study format.

Cohort Format

Learners in the cohort format complete the first core courses together in a virtual classroom web-based approach. For each core course, this entails reading the assigned texts, spending an hour a week on line adding to the cohort conversation, and writing and posting a minimum of one paper for other cohort members to comment on.

Independent Study Format

In the independent study format, the director of the certificate will work with students to plan their courses and to help guide them in developing a professional practicum. For their courses, students will work one on one with instructors on a reading list and will write three essays for each course.

Learners then come together at a Saybrook Residential Conference to work in seminars applicable to the courses required for the certificate. As part of this Residential Conference, students meet in smaller groups with those faculty and students who share similar interests.

The next section of the certificate, the practicum, is planned with an advisor. The practicum is tailored to the professional needs of the student.

The final part of the certificate is an integrative paper. The purpose of the integrative paper is to give the learner an opportunity to draw together the most important aspects of the four courses and the practicum experience, to assess strengths and identify further learning needs, and to develop a specific plan for continuing personal and professional work.

Importance of the Community Health and Development Certificate

In a world struggling to build community, there is ample need for the type of teaching and learning which occurs in this certificate. As we experience our communities at home, we oftentimes see communities fragmented along race, class, political, age or gender lines, or communities of families alienated from one another or alienated from the larger socio-economic and socio-political structure of the United States. When we experience our work communities, we also oftentimes experience communities of individuals separated from one another by the real demands of work and by a system of competition which pits individual against individual and work-place against work-place. As we look out onto the world of developing and least developed countries, we see communities violently torn apart by endemic poverty and environmental degradation. Indeed, we can see such communities in our very own backyard.

We are a world struggling to find community and to build community. This certificate provides the learner with the tools both theoretical and practical, needed to help build healthy community in a world desperately in need of spiritual, economic, political and psychological frameworks which can bring out the strengths of individuals, groups and communities. The certificate provides the learner with the skills needed to build consensus about the goals and processes of building healthy communities. Finally, the certificate provides the student with the professional advising needed to find his or her optimum place as community activist, scholar and practitioner.