Are you looking for a way to gain the necessary skills to be a capable and confident social services professional working in New Zealand? Want to become a counsellor, career practitioner or work in the social services, disability or mental health sectors Embrace the opportunity to meet the professional competency standards that are increasingly essential in social services roles during this applied degree programme. Choose from a wide range of social services careers and focus on helping people improve their quality of life. The demand for qualified individuals in the community services industries will remain strong as the world faces a growing and ageing population, and a general increase in social problems. Consider employment as a community/social services worker, disability support advocate/worker, mental health advocate/support worker, counsellor or career practitioner. Alternatively, you could continue with further study. We offer a one-year graduate diploma (Level 7) endorsed in three of the specialties - Career Practice, Disability or Mental Health - which provides the opportunity to gain a second specialty, increasing your career opportunities. During this degree programme, you will gain a solid foundation in various aspects of the field during year one before choosing to specialise in career practice, counselling, disability or mental health. You must indicate which specialty area(s) you are most interested in at the time of application, but you will not be required to formally choose your specialty until the end of your first year. Years two and three build on the concepts and knowledge acquired in the foundation courses, enabling you to develop a sound knowledge base before undertaking valuable work placements. Working with clients is a core component of this programme and will give you the opportunity to gain mastery in professional practice and theory and increase your work-readiness. Benefit from the chance to network with other services and to forge important industry contacts and relationships. Skills required Objectivity, responsibility, positivity and approachability Excellent communication skills Patience and a calm manner A genuine interest in helping people Ability to be responsive to clients. You will study The Bachelor of Social Services degree is made up of 20 courses in career practice, counselling, mental health and disability studies for each major completed over three years of full-time study (or up to six years of part-time study). Each year of the degree is made up of courses worth 120 credits. During year one, the required foundations across all major subject areas are laid down. You will choose one area of specialisation from counselling, career practice, disability or mental health at the end of your first year. Your chosen area of specialisation is designed to build on the concepts and knowledge developed in the core courses during year one and to re-focus your learning into that area of specialisation. This enables you to develop a sound knowledge base before applying that knowledge in the workplace. Your workload A full-time programme consists of eight 15-credit papers per year; each paper equates to 150 hours of work. This is spread across 32 weeks which works out at an average of 37.5 hours per week. Further study options: Our Graduate Diploma in Social Services pathway enables you to gain a further specialty with one year's additional study. Increase your career prospects with postgraduate study at Waikato, Massey or Auckland universities.