Jan. 25—Calhoun Community College added an associate degree in social work this spring semester because college officials said there is a shortage of social workers in the region.

“There’s always openings for social workers, so there’s definitely a need in the community for us to train more and for them to be trained well,” Calhoun Community College social work instructor Florence Doughty said. “That’s what we’re trying to do here.”

Donna Estill, Calhoun dean of Humanities & Social Science, said while the social work program is new this semester, they have offered social work classes off and on over the years.

“We have a lot of students who are interested, and we have a lot of places in the north Alabama region where we need social workers,” she said. “We’ve kind of looked at that need and the interest and said, ‘OK, we need to have us a program.'”

Doughty said Calhoun has partnered with Alabama A&M University to offer an associate of science in general studies with a concentration in social work degree from Calhoun.

“They can take the first two years of classes here at Calhoun and Alabama A&M will also offer some of their course work here at Calhoun campus at both Decatur and Huntsville and we’re offering them online as well,” she said. “They can transfer to (Alabama) A&M, or they can transfer to other schools, too, … to complete their bachelor’s. If they maintain a 3.0 GPA, they’re able to get their master’s in just two more semesters.”

There are 24 students enrolled in the program this semester, Doughty said.

“Given that this is our first semester, we’re really excited about that. That’s a large number for a first-semester program,” Estill said. “If it’s like typical programs, I would say it would go up by 10% by fall and then kind of at that rate over time. It’s hard to judge on any program, but we do have a lot of interest in social work.”

Besides general education courses such as science, math and English, students will also take courses geared toward their degree, Doughty said.

“We are actually offering Social Work 301 which (focuses on) human behavior and social environment,” she said. “They’ll take a general psychology class, they’re going to take a sociology class, and then they’re going to take a macroeconomics class, as related to that.”

Doughty said students will take 66 credit hours at Calhoun. Part of the program, she said, requires each student to do 50 hours of community volunteer service with a social work focus.

“They may help us do registration for a food bank where they’re getting familiarity with social services and how they’re administered. Some of those community hours may be developing a resource list that can be distributed to other students on campus who may have social service needs,” she said. “We’ll work hard to make sure that it’s applicable to their field and what they’re doing so they’re expanding their knowledge of what it’s going to be like when their boots hit the ground in social work.”

Doughty said Calhoun is also working on offering an associate degree for a social work technician.

“Students can graduate from Calhoun and work as behavioral health technicians, and in-patient facilities, too, where they’re not a full-fledged therapist, but they’re the person who is there helping them day-to-day when they’re not in session,” Doughty said. “They can work also in facilities like Bradford Health (Services) where maybe they can work on the in-patient units, as a counseling assistant, things like that.”

Estill said Calhoun hopes to be able to offer the new degree by spring 2025.

Before the social work degree program started, Calhoun hired Doughty as a social worker for the school in September.

“It’s kind of connecting students to resources so they can have their needs met so they can focus on school and being successful,” Doughty said, and “still reach their goals and their dreams that they have for themselves.”

—erica.smith@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2460.