Clearlake >> Doug and Sissa Harris are an instructional team at Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College. They are passionate about improving lives in Lake County by professionalizing the helping field. Both teach classes in human services at the college in Clearlake.
Doug Harris has been teaching since 1998 and Sissa Harris began her work in the program in 2007. Both have experience in the human service field.
“I think it is essential for anyone teaching human services to have worked in a variety of settings, as there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach to this career field,” Sissa Harris said.
Doug Harris has worked with a variety of agencies — from managing a foster family agency, serving as a social worker in an intensive outpatient center for people returning to the community after institutionalization, assisting with appeals of Supplemental Security Income and Social Security disability claims, managing a two-county Area Agency on Aging and working as a disability rights advocate for people with developmental disabilities.
Sissa Harris began her career at the Department of Social Services, going on to serve in child care resource and referral, child abuse prevention and intervention, juvenile justice intervention, domestic violence response and in the Extended Opportunity Program and Services (EOP&S) at the Lake County Campus.
“There are two distinct strands in our curriculum,” Sissa Harris said, “Doug teaches primarily in the program that leads to employment in the chemical dependency counseling field. I teach classes that can work for that field, but also work for students who wish to work as case managers, or income maintenance specialists.”
Both bring their experience in the field to their teaching, and provide real world scenarios for students who are beginning their careers.
Human services is a field that aids in meeting human needs with the goal of the quality of life for individuals and communities.
“What you find is that 80 percent of those who take these classes have already been in the position of those they want to help. It’s is common that students received help at some point in getting back on their feet, and now they want to give back to the community,” Doug Harris said.
The chemical dependency program offers all of the classes that lead to state certification, ranging from case management; law and ethics; family treatment approaches, chemical dependency prevention in schools; addiction and domestic violence.
Students who want to become chemical dependency counselors must complete 255 hours of field work in a treatment program. The hours are separated into 12 specific categories of core functions so that students obtain a well-rounded experience of the field.
Due to the needs of local agencies such as Department of Social Services, behavioral health, Lake Family Resource Center, and alcohol and drug treatment programs, students who complete the human service degree and certificate programs often start work right away, according to Bruno Sabatier, outreach specialist.
“If a community college is to provide for the needs of a community, then this program fits right into that mission,” Doug Harris said. “Society constantly changes, and this program is central to responding to community needs.”
If you’re interested in a human services degree, registration for fall classes is still open.
To apply to Lake County Campus of Woodland Community College, visit the campus at 15880 Dam Road Extension in Clearlake or call (707) 995-7900 to make an appointment with a counselor. For more information, visit https://lcc.yccd.edu/.
