Share, Explore, Engage, Discover (SEED) Mini-course

Only incoming MSW students enroll in this mini course. Integrated Health Scholars should enroll in this section. Others will need to submit a Course Enrollment Petition via the School of Social Work web site. Mini-course Description: In the current healthcare system, it is all too common for consumers to face problems accessing care in artificially separate physical, mental, and behavioral health care systems, and to experience difficulty obtaining care that is collaborative, culturally appropriate, and responsive to their complex health care needs. Evidence demonstrates that separated, unresponsive, and fragmented health care is ineffective, costly, and unsustainable. For example, patients with severe mental illness have been shown to die an average of 25 years sooner than matched patients without severe mental illness, due to poor management of chronic disease and lack of routine primary care. Conversely, mounting evidence shows that costs may be reduced, quality improved, and fragmentation of care minimized when behavioral health providers work as integrated members of health care teams.

As healthcare requires an ever more collaborative, social workers are in a strategic position to redefine their place in healthcare and address emerging workforce needs as integrated behavioral health care leaders and providers.

This mini course will consist of a variety of collaborative learning methods, including interactive lectures with active student participation, in-class application exercises and videos. The course will provide an overview of the following topics with a focus on gaining knowledge and awareness of integrated health care and its impact on clients:
Role of Social Work in Integrated Health Care and Opportunities for Leadership Introduction to Integrated Health Care Common Chronic Diseases/Conditions Social Epidemiology/Social Determinants of Health Health Indicators and Risk Factors; Distribution of Health and Illness Implicit Bias in Health Care