Structurally Responsive Mental Health Care Certificate

The Undergraduate Certificate in Structurally Re­sponsive Mental Health Care provides students with introductory applied mental health-centric helping skills training designed to assist students in further developing their interpersonal soft skills (e.g., interpersonal communication, problem solv­ing, listening, empathy, cultural intelligence) at a level of complexity appropriate to the education­al/developmental level of undergraduate students.

This certificate training includes introductory knowledge acquisition and skill development in the areas of helping techniques (EDP 305 ), help­ing theory (EDP 306) , culturally responsive help­ing (EDP 307 ), and social justice psychology (EDP 304 ), in addition to complementary interdis­ciplinary knowledge acquisition grounded in the insights of allied mental health professions (e.g., counseling). Collectively, this knowledge and skills will enhance students’ ability to build ef­fective helping relationships with diverse people, which will (a) enhance students’ ability to build rapport with diverse people in their future work setting and, when relevant and appropriate in their future work setting, help these people make be­havioral changes that will improve their well-be­ing and (b) increase students’ attractiveness to fu­ture employers looking for candidates who are able to build effective working relationships with diverse colleagues and clients. The “culturally re­sponsive” and “social justice” components denote an emphasis on learning to build these relation­ships in a manner that (1) respects the cultural ex­periences and preferences of diverse people and (2) attends to the role of, not only individual-lev­el factors (e.g., cultural background, personali­ty, readiness for change) but also, systematic fac­tors (e.g., equitable access to education, work, and healthcare services).

In addition, the certificate can deepen UK stu­dents’ mastery of the soft skills (e.g., interperson­al communication, problem solving, listening, em­pathy, cultural intelligence) increasingly request­ed by employers in industries within and beyond health/helping settings.

Any undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, or non-degree seeking student at UK or other ac­credited college or university may apply to this certificate.

The Undergraduate Certificate in Structurally Re­sponsive Mental Health Care requires 15 credits as follows: