Lesson 3: Is KVCC's Mental Health Program the right path for me? Attention Click HERE to visit the KVCC website for the Mental Health Programs! We currently have two programs: Mental Health Rehabilitation Technician in the Community Certification (MHRT/C) Associates Degree in Applied Science in Mental Health (which includes the MHRT/C) Learning Outcomes Upon completion of this lesson's material, students will be able to:
Teaching Orientation to the Mental Health Program Since you are taking this course it may be assumed that you already know a lot about the Mental Health Program, but it is always good to make sure that we are all on the same page! History of the Mental Health Program (MHT)
Programs of Study at KVCC KVCC offers to different programs of study:
Click HERE to visit the KVCC website that describes these two options. Course Offerings In order to help you get your certifications and complete your degree in a timely fashion, KVCC offers all of the MHRT/C courses in both Face-to-Face and Online modalities. All of the classes are offered Online in BOTH the Fall and Spring semesters (with SOME offerings in the Summer). For Summer 2018, we will be offering MHT112 Crisis Intervention and MHT218 Substance Abuse Counseling. Both will only be offered online. Each course at KVCC has a code and each part of it has meaning: For example this course is labeled either MHT101-OLA or MHT101-OLB. The MHT stands for courses offered by the Mental Health Program. The 101 indicates the course number. Classes labeled in the 100's are considered be appropropriate for college level freshman, a person's first year of college. Classes labeled in the 200's tend to indicate those courses are more appropriate for second year college students, college sophomore. If you were attending a 4 year college, instead of a two year college, you would also see classes labeled 300's and 400's. Graduate schools (master's degree programs) have classes labeled 500's and 600's. For our program all of the 100-level courses (those needed for the Provisional MHRT/C) are offered Face-to-Face in the FALL semester. All of the 200-level courses (those needed for the Full MHRT/C) are offered Face-to-Face in the SPRING semester. Even though half of our classes are labeled 200's there is no designated sequence for these courses in our program. A student could begin with our highest numbered 200 level course, MHT226, and that would be fine to take during one's first semester with us. We use the 100 and 200 labels to designated the courses required for the provisional vs. the courses required for the full certification. MHRT/C Certification We might assume that most of you know what the MHRT/C is, but let's be sure! MHRT/C stands for "Mental Health Rehabilitation Technician in the Community", and the "Community" part means that this is a certification for the professional work that is done in the community, not in the hospitals or institutions, with individuals who have severe and persistent mental illness. At this point, prior to the roll out of the new curriculum, the MHRT/C is obtained when students demonstrate competency in 10 areas/domains. These 10 domains are represented by the 10 three credit classes in the KVCC program. The Muskie Center for Learning is the organization who oversees the Mental Health Rehabilitation Technician in the Community (MHRT/C) Certification process for the State of Maine. They are in the process of revising many of the components associated with the certification. The information below summarizes some of the current processes and areas where there will be changes. MHRT/C Course Requirements and Curriculum Changes Currently, as of Spring 2018, a student needs to take, and pass with a grade of C or better, a series of ten designated courses (each labeled with MHT) to receive their MHRT/C. Once a student has completed the first five classes (designated by course codes that begin with 100 and noted with an * below) then they can apply for a provisional certification that allows them to work for two years in the mental health field as an MHRT/C while they are completing their remaining five courses. Once a student has completed all ten of these classes they can apply for their full MHRT/C Certification through the Muskie Center for Learning. If a student is in the MHRT/C certificate program and has compled all 11 MHT classes then they are eligible for their MHRT/C from the Muskie Center for Learning and are eligible to graduate from KVCC at the completion of their certificate. If a student is an Associate's Degree in Applied Science (AAS) student, then the student is eligible to apply for their full MHRT/C certification after completion of the 10 required MHT classes. They will then be eligible for graduation with their diploma once all of the MHT and General Educaiton courses are completed. The current MHT Program curriculum from Spring 2018 through Summer 2019: MHT104: Community Mental Health * MHT 214: Incest, Sexual Abuse, and Trauma (*courses designated with * indicate the 5 required courses for the MHRT/C Provisional Certification) If a student has not completed all of the required courses above by the end of summer semester 2019 then that student will need to work one on one with their Faculty Advisor to make a plan to complete the required courses as soon as possible. The courses listed above will be available online from Fall 2019 through Summer 2020 then they begin to be phased out. Students need to be monitoring their progress through the Mental Health Certificate or Associates Degree Program so they can be proactive with their Advisor regarding these timelines. Starting Fall 2019, all new students will need to take a series of eight courses (called competency domains by the Muskie Center for Learning) to complete their MHRT/C. For a provisional certification, a student will need to take the required three courses and then one more course of their choice from the remaining five. Once the three required courses and one more are completed then the student can request a provisional certification through the Muskie Center for Learning. The three required courses are designated with a * below. The MHT Program curriculum beginning in September 2019: MHT105: Behavioral, Psychological, and Rehabilitation Interventions* MHT214: Trauma and Resiliency Once a student has completed all eight of these classes they can apply for their full MHRT/C Certification through the Muskie Center for Learning. MHRT/C Provisional or Full Certification Application Process Once a student has completed their MHRT/C courses this is the process they need to take to request a Provisional MHRT/C Certificate or a Full MHRT/C Certificate:
MHRT/C Certification Renewal Proces Starting in January 2018 all MHRT/C Certificates will be valid for two years. The certificate will have an issue date and an expiration date two years from date of issue. During that two-year period, the certificate holder is expected to participate in trainings, called continuing education, to stay current with the trends in the field. They need to participate in 18 hours of continuing education in those 24 months. Four of the 18 required continuing education hours need to be a training on ethics. At the time of renewal, you will need to validate that you have completed the required 4 hours of ethics training and 16 hours of training related to the eight competency domains (Behavioral, Psychological, and Rehabilitation Interventions; Community Integration and Inclusion; Ethics and Professional Conduct; Trauma and Resiliency; Cultural Competency; Policy Knowledge; Mind-Body Connection; Vocational Support). Continuing education can be validated by keeping a folder of the certificates you receive at the end of each training. You can then make copies of these to validate your completion of the required continuing education. If a student comes to KVCC with significant experience in the mental health field in one or more of the domain areas, then the student should talk with their Faculty Advisor to determine if their experience could be assessed under our Prior Learning Assessment (PLA) process. A student could be issued college credit for a specific domain area instead of needing to take the class/course. If a student enters our program with their Mental Health Rehabilitation Certificate – Level 1 (MHRT-1) then that student could be eligible for up to three college credits based on the trainings they have already completed. If a student enters our program with one or more of the MHRT/C courses completed, many years of experience in the mental health field, their Provisional MHRT/C or their Full MHRT/C then that student could be eligible for anywhere from 3 to 30 credits depending on the courses already completed or the experience they have. This process is done on an individual basis between the student and their Advisor and needs to be requested by the student. Mental Health, Learning and Technology Across the Department of Social Sciences, of which the Mental Health Program is a part, there is a deep integration of technology into the classroom. All the courses in the Department utilize our Learning Management System (Blackboard) to support their classes, Face-to-Face and Online. Research by the Mental Health Faculty has revealed that the Mental Health workplace is becoming increasingly dependent on Mobile Technology. Our work is more often done in the "field" (in people's homes, on the street, etc.). To best prepare our students for this mobile workplace, we have instituted the m-Learning Initiative. The M stands for mobile so it is the Mobile Learning Initiative. m-Learning in Mental Health The m-Learning Initiative began in the Spring of 2016. Essentially, we have modified our course materials, teaching methods, and student expectations to incorporate the use of mobile technology in all aspects of the program. The projected outcomes of this initiative are three-fold:
Click HERE to visit the KVCC website page on this innovative program. Assessment Lesson 3 Quiz Please answer all of the questions in this quiz. They relate to the Lesson and any links within the Lesson. This quiz will allow you two tries. If you do not like your grade from attempt one you can go in and take it again. Review MHRT/C curriculum changes explained in this lesson. Post and discuss any questions you might have about these changes and consider how these changes may affect you and the implications regarding your targeted graduate date. This is also a great opportunity to ask questions of your instructor and your peers about these changes. Lesson 3 Discussion B Review the m-Learning related material in this lesson. Post and discuss any questions you might have about the initiative. This is a great opportunity to ask about the details of this initiative. Lesson 3 Assignment Mental Health Understanding and Commitment Survey This is a survey that we have created outside of this course to gather data from each of you on your understanding of the expectations of our program. The results of this survey can be accessed by your Academic Advisors for review. You are required to participate in this survey as a function of this Lesson. Once we have verified your completion of this survey, your instructor will issue you a grade of 100 on this assignment.
|