Peer Health Educator Certificate of Achievement

The Peer Health Educator Certificate is designed for students who are interested in entering the health field and supporting the health of their communities. The coursework includes health topics that most impact young people today, including personal wellness, harm reduction and drug use, and sexual and reproductive health. The certificate also provides skills in leadership development, facilitation and conflict resolution. The certificate is based on public health principles from an equity perspective to support students in working within their own diverse communities. 

Since this is a new certificate program, it’s difficult to project the number of annual certificate earners. San Francisco Unified School District approached the Health Education Department to create this degree for current high school students so that they could earn this certificate as dual enrolled students. Because all of the classes in the certificate already exist and are part of general education requirements and other certificate programs, individual course enrollment will be strengthened by this certificate. As the program is launched and grows, we anticipate 25-45 annual graduates.

The goal of the program is to train students to become peer health educators through achieving the following objectives:

•        Integrate public health and equity principles and perspectives to support the health of diverse communities.

•        Develop and facilitate health education presentations that address relevant issues in diverse communities.

•        Assess and integrate professional.skills necessary for entry level employment in health-related fields.

Students can complete the certificate in two semesters. We recommend taking the internship placement class, HLTH 300, in the final semester of study.

Class	Title	Units
HLTH 33	Introduction to Health and Wellness	2
HLTH 30	Drugs, Health and Society	3
HLTH 64	Health Education Training: Skills and Practice	3
HLTH 65	Youth Development and Leadership	3
HLTH 90B	Harm Reduction and Health	.5
HLTH 116	Conflict Resolution Skills in Health	1
WGST 55	Ending Sexual Violence: Peer Education	3
HLTH 300	Work Experience in Health and Social Services	1
	Total Units	16.5

 

Course	Title	Units	Year/Semester (Y1 or S1)
HLTH 30	Drugs, Health and Society	3	S1
HLTH 33	Introduction to Health and Wellness	2	S1
HLTH 65	Youth Development and Leadership	3	S1
HLTH 90B	Harm Reduction and Health	.5	S1
WGST 55	Ending Sexual Violence: Peer Education	3	S2
HLTH 64	Health Education Training: Skills and Practice	3	S2
HLTH 116	Conflict Resolution Skills in Health	1	S2
HLTH 300	Work Experience in Health and Social Services	1	S2

This program provides an entry-level health education certificate to students wanting to work in the field. Most of the other Health Education Department certificates assume a level of life experience and maturity. Younger students who are current or recent high school graduates may not be ready for these more intense certificates. The Peer Health Educator Certificate rounds out the Health Education Department’s certificate offerings by providing a certificate for novices to the discipline. The college offers a Sexual Health Educator Certificate based in the Women and Gender Studies Department. Although this is also a peer health education certificate, its main focus is on healthy relationships and to a lesser degree, sexual wellness. In order to not duplicate efforts and include healthy relationships as part of the curriculum of the Peer Health Educator certificate, we have included the Sexual Health Educator’s Peer Education class in this certificate (WGST 55).

In the Bay Area, most peer health education training programs are based in Wellness Centers of four-year universities such as San Jose State University and San Francisco State University. An internet search revealed mental health peer educators at the College of San Mateo, but these students don’t receive transcriptable credit.