The Certificate in Trauma-Informed Care will expose graduate students in several helping professions to the theory and practice of trauma-related service delivery. This is a multidisciplinary program that integrates knowledge from the social, behavioral, and health sciences. The primary goal of the program is to train graduate students from the helping professions in specialized knowledge and skills related to psychological trauma.
Admission Requirements
Application Deadlines
Application deadlines vary by program, please review the application deadline chart for specific programs. Other important dates and deadlines can be found by using the One Stop calendars.
Application
- Students wishing to obtain this certificate must declare their intention by applying to the program office or director.
- All graduate certificate applicants—even those already enrolled in a UWM graduate program—must apply to the Graduate School through the Panthera Admission Application.
- Graduate degree and previously admitted graduate non-degree students who decide to pursue a certificate program must submit the Panthera application before completing 6 credits in the certificate sequence.
- Applicants must possess a baccalaureate degree and have a minimum 2.75 cumulative undergraduate grade point average to be admitted into a certificate program.
Admission
Students in good standing currently in a graduate program or those who have already completed a graduate degree are eligible for the certificate.
Credits and Courses
All students participating in the certificate program will complete 15 academic credits related to trauma theory and practice.
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| Core | ||
| SOC WRK/COUNS/NURS/OCCTHPY 774 | Trauma Counseling I: Theory and Research | 3 |
| SOC WRK/COUNS/NURS/OCCTHPY 775 | Trauma Counseling II: Diagnosis and Treatment | 3 |
| Electives | ||
| Select 9 elective credits (see Potential Electives and Recommended Field Work lists below) | 9 | |
| Recommended Field Work | ||
| Select 3-6 credits from the following: 1 | ||
| Field Instruction I | ||
| Field Instruction II | ||
| Field Instruction III | ||
| Field Instruction IV | ||
| Field Instruction V | ||
| Supervised Practicum 1 in School Counseling | ||
| Supervised Practicum 1 in Clinical Mental Health Counseling | ||
| Practicum in Nursing Research | ||
| Occupational Therapy Field Service I | ||
| Occupational Therapy Field Service II | ||
| Total Credits | 15 | |
- 1
Students also have an opportunity to complete anywhere from 3 to 6 additional qualifying program credits through participation in in trauma-informed practice field settings, contingent on the respective department’s field credit policy. Four departments are participating in this interdisciplinary certificate program—Social Work, Educational Psychology, Nursing, and Rehabilitation Sciences & Technology—and accordingly, the program curriculum will consist of courses offered via multiple campus departments.
Potential Electives
| Code | Title | Credits |
|---|---|---|
| SOC WRK/CRM JST 497 | Study Abroad: (Bristol or South Africa or Austria) | 1-6 |
| SOC WRK 680G | Death and Dying | 3 |
| SOC WRK 690G | Mindfulness and Community Building | 3 |
| SOC WRK 753 | Adult Psychopathology | 3 |
| SOC WRK 754 | Child and Adolescent Psychopathology | 3 |
| SOC WRK 791 | Current Topics in Social Work: (subtopic: Technology in Social Work Practice) | 3 |
| SOC WRK 818 | Treatment of Co-Occurring Disorders | 3 |
| SOC WRK 820 | Seminar in Social Work Practice: (Qualifying topics: Violent & Traumatized Families; Motivational Interviewing; or Interventions for Substance Misuse and Screening Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment for Substance Misuse) | 3 |
| PSYCH 711 | Current Topics in Psychology: (Qualifying topics: Functional Assessment and Intervention or Neurobiology of Learning & Memory) | 1-4 |
| PSYCH 727 | Cognitive Neuroscience | 3 |
| MSP 770 | Preparing for Sustainable Peacebuilding and Social Change | 3 |
| COUNS 704 & COUNS 705 | Multicultural Mental Health Guidelines and Ethics Overview and Multicultural Practice: Awareness and Knowledge of Others 1 | 6 |
| COUNS 715 | Multicultural Counseling | 3 |
| COUNS 744 | Multicultural Mental Health Guidelines, Working with First Nations Persons | 3 |
| COUNS 812 | Clinical Studies in Counseling | 3 |
| COUNS 816 | Counseling Children and Adolescents | 3 |
| COUNS 820 | Counseling Appraisal and Clinical Decision-Making | 3 |
| COUNS 904 | Family Systems Theory, Research, and Practice | 3 |
| OCCTHPY 519 | Therapeutic Communication | 3 |
| OCCTHPY 719 | Occupational Therapy in Psychosocial Practice | 3 |
| CRM JST 830 | Intervention Strategies for Correctional Clients | 3 |
| CRM JST 970 | Readings in Criminal Justice Research: (Quaifying topics: Victimology; Women and the Criminal Justice System) | 3 |
Additional Requirements
Transfer Credit
No more than 20% of the required credits may be taken at an institution other than UWM. These courses are subject to Graduate School transfer policy and must be approved by the director of the certificate program.
Grade Point Average Requirement
A minimum cumulative 3.00 grade point average in certificate courses taken at UWM is required.
Articulation with Degree Programs
- Credits and courses required for a certificate may double count toward meeting UWM graduate degree requirements subject to the following restrictions:
- Degree programs must approve the courses from certificates that can double count toward the degree.
- All credits taken in completion of certificate requirements may count towards a UWM graduate degree as long as they do not contribute more than 90% of the total credits needed to obtain the degree. (Note: Students in PhD programs must still complete the minimum residency requirements)
- Certificate courses used toward meeting degree requirements must be completed within the time limit for transfer credit.
- Courses completed for a degree may be counted toward a subsequent certificate, subject to all certificate policy requirements.
- A course may count toward no more than one certificate and one degree.
- Students may not earn a certificate subsequent to a concentration in the same area.
Time Limit
Certificate program time limits shall be established as follows:
- 18 or fewer credits/Three years from initial enrollment in the certificate sequence.
- 19 or more credits/Four years from initial enrollment in the certificate sequence.
For certificates that are designed as add-ons to degree programs and are awarded concurrent with the degree, the time limit shall be the same as that of the degree program.