Calhoun Community College offering Social Work degree program this fall

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WAFF) - Students at Calhoun Community College head back to the classrooms next week.

Many students will be taking classes for a new degree program that is being offered at the college this fall.

Students at Calhoun Community College will be able to earn a two-year degree in Applied Science with a focus on Social Work Technology.

This degree will enable students to enter the field immediately after graduation.

“We had had some interest from our students in social work,” said Calhoun’s dean of Humanities and Social Sciences, Donna Estill. “So we started thinking about how we could bring this together in a way that would help them and help the community.”

Estill said that they were inspired to start a degree program for social work after speaking to many local agencies about the need for more social workers in the community.

Florence Doughty, a social work instructor at Calhoun, said that fewer people are staying in the field because social work can be very emotionally draining for workers.

“In those positions, I think, because they’re not prepared for what they are getting into, they feel a little overwhelmed, so they retreat,” said Doughty. ”And so what we strive to do here is to help them be prepared.”

Doughty said that she will be teaching her students how to manage stress in the field.

A big goal for this program is to provide students with internship experience while earning their degree.

“They get to work in the field and see whether this is a field that they want to do,” said Estill. ”It’s not an easy field, but it’s very rewarding. It is very challenging because there are a lot of issues in our community.

Doughty said that Wellstone is willing to train and certify those students if they come to work for them after they graduate.

The Department of Human Resources is also offering a program where some graduates can work in case management.

“Students can step right into those jobs and be able to help people,” said Estill. ” They’ll know what resources are available. They’ll be ready to handle the emotional impact of the job almost from the get-go. And that helps the community a lot.”

The college has about 50 students enrolled in the program right now.

Students will also have the option to get a degree in general studies with a concentration in social work to transfer to a university.

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