The Human Services concentration is for students who plan to work directly with people in need. This concentration includes an internship. An application to the concentration is required fall quarter junior year.
Click here to read a complete overview of the Human Services Concentration aim, requirements, and application procedures.
Human Services Concentration Purpose
The Human Services Concentration for psychology majors offers students theoretical and applied preparation for careers in the helping professions. In addition to coursework centered on professional development, understanding individuals in context, and contemporary issues in clinical psychology and related fields, the concentration offers an integral internship component. For the internship year, students earn course credit for fieldwork conducted outside the classroom and gain practical experience in the helping professions.
Upon graduation, psychology majors will generally enter a highly competitive job market or apply to graduate school. This concentration is one way of promoting students’ competitiveness by offering training in specific skills by way of coursework in Applied Psychology I and II (PSY-357 & PSY-358) and a year of part-time internship (PSY-395).
Human Services Concentration Goals
The goals of this concentration are to:
- Promote students’ ability to understand individuals in their ecological context with particular attention to diversity.
- Provide foundational knowledge and applied experience with ethical and legal issues relevant to the helping professions.
- Add an experiential dimension to the academic program by providing an opportunity to apply concepts and ideas learned in the classroom to a work setting.
- Provide supervision to students to promote their problem-solving skills in a professional environment.
- Assist students in developing self-reflection and self-care skills.
- Strengthen students’ confidence in their ability to function effectively in a professional setting.
- Provide information on careers and academic programs in the helping professions.
- Provide students with an opportunity to explore career possibilities in the mental health field on a first-hand basis.
- Enhance students’ employability in their chosen human services field by providing them with work experience in that field.
Internship Component
Students engage in a year-long internship in a human services setting during their senior year. A wide range of internships are available for work with persons of different age groups and culturally diverse backgrounds in an array of settings, including schools, rehabilitation centers, community-based organizations, jails/prisons, hospitals, residential mental health facilities, and criminal justice systems. Students interested in research-oriented graduate programs may also wish to intern with a research lab addressing health, mental health, or community-level issues. Students may select their internship based upon their individual learning goals.
How to Apply
Applications to the Human Services Concentration are due November 1st (fall quarter) of the applicant’s junior year.
Applications are reviewed if the following materials are submitted by the deadline:
- A complete application submitted online, and
- One Recommendation Form submitted online by a professional reference. Recommendations completed by DePaul University instructors or research supervisors are strongly encouraged, but those from employers or supervisors of volunteer activities are also accepted. Applicants are responsible for providing the link to the Recommendation Form to their recommenders in advance of the application deadline.
Links to the application materials are available here:
Coordinators:
Molly Brown, PhD
Byrne 556
Phone: (773) 325-7148
Susan Tran, PhD
Byrne 505
Phone: (773) 325-4096
Course Requirements
Course List | Course | Title | Quarter Hours |
| PSY 333 | CHILD PSYCHOLOGY | 4 |
| PSY 347 | SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY | 4 |
| PSY 353 | INTRODUCTION TO PSYCHOPATHOLOGY AND CLINICAL SCIENCE | 4 |
| PSY 357 | APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY I (winter quarter/junior year) | 4 |
| PSY 358 | APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY II (spring quarter/junior year) | 4 |
| PSY 395 | FIELD WORK/INTERNSHIP (taken three times in the student’s senior year ) | 12 |
Open Electives
Open elective credit also is required to meet the minimum graduation requirement of 192 hours.
Applications
Applications to the human services concentration are due November 1st (autumn quarter) of the applicant's junior year.
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