This one-year certificate program is designed for students who express an interest in working with individuals with mental retardation/developmental disabilities. The major goal is to educate students to provide direct support services in agencies that services individuals with mental retardation/developmental disabilities. The curriculum content includes human service core courses and a course which focuses on understanding disabilities. It is integrated with the National Community Support Skill Standards. All 22 credits, required for the certificate, can be applied to the Associate Degree in Human Services.

Additional Admissions Criteria:

All courses with an “HUS” prefix, other than the introductory course HUS101, are restricted to students enrolled in the Alcohol/Drug Abuse Counseling Certificate, the Community Support Human Service Practitioner Certificate, the Direct Support Certificate or the Human Service Associates Degree. Any requests for exceptions to this policy need to be addressed to the course instructor or Program Coordinator.

Students must earn a grade of C- or better in all HUS courses in order to graduate.

Enrollment Services will provide additional admissions criteria for this program. All admission criteria is available on the NECC website at http://www.necc.mass.edu/forms/#human_services.

CORI/CHRI/SORI:

Students interested in participation in this academic program may be required to undergo a Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) check, a Criminal Records Central Repository (CHRI) check and/or a Sex Offender Registry Information (SORI) check. For more information, visit http://www.necc.mass.edu/cori-sori/.

Northern Essex Community College is committed to the success of every student. Students with legal issues in their background will meet with a committee as part of the CORI/CHRI/SORI process and will receive guidance and counseling throughout the review of their records. NECC personnel make every effort to help students prepare for their careers in their chosen field. Students are encouraged to seek assistance and support.