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.
• Graduate degree and previously admitted graduate non-degree students who decide to pursue a certificate program must submit the 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. 

Applicants are required to complete a Reason Statement when applying for the Trauma-Informed Care Graduate Certificate in the Graduate School Admission Application.

Credits and Courses

All students participating in the certificate program will complete 15 academic credits related to trauma theory and practice.

Course List

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
SOC WRK 721	Field Instruction I
SOC WRK 722	Field Instruction II
SOC WRK 821	Field Instruction III
SOC WRK 822	Field Instruction IV
SOC WRK 921	Field Instruction V
COUNS 764	Supervised Practicum 1 in School Counseling
COUNS 765	Supervised Practicum 1 in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
NURS 899	Practicum in Nursing:
OCCTHPY 725	Occupational Therapy Field Service I
OCCTHPY 735	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

Course List

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	Conflict Analysis and Restorative Practices	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

¹

COUNS 704 and COUNS 705 must be taken together to fulfill this requirement.

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

1. 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.
2. Courses completed for a degree may be counted toward a subsequent certificate, subject to all certificate policy requirements.
3. A course may count toward no more than one certificate and one degree.
4. 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.