Class Descriptions

Theories and Practices of Infant Mental Health

SW724

Credits:	1
Prerequisites:	None

Pathway Associations

Community Change
Global
Interpersonal Practice
Mgmt & Leadership
Policy & Political
Program Evaluation
Older Adults
Children & Families	Elective (Host)

Course Description

This is an introductory course on the relationship between theory and practice in infant mental health. It is intended for graduate students in Social Work, Education, Nursing and Psychology. Its purpose is to furnish a conceptual framework, based upon attachment theory, for understanding how the emotional qualities of the infant-parent dyads influence the infant's development, the parent's capacity to give care, and finally the professional's state of mind regarding the family. Emphasis is given to how the experiences of early childhood persist over time, and how they are summoned up again by the presence of a baby. This understanding becomes in turn the basis for learning how to plan a treatment approach that takes into account the family's capacities for change. This course meets several educational components for students interested in post-graduate endorsement in infant-family practice.

Objectives

The students will learn:
1. Theories of the relationship between early parent-infant interaction and subsequent development.
2. Consequences of failures or disruptions of the attachment process for both parent and child.
3. Strategies for effective intervention to strengthen early attachment.
4. Transference and countertransference issues pertinent to infant mental health work.

Design

Designed as an integrative seminar, this course will involve extensive participation on the part of the students. To promote clinical skills including critical thinking, emotional attunement and thoughtfully derived interventions, this course will employ a variety of pedagogical strategies, including experiential exercises, small and large group discussion, didactic lectures, videos, and reflective writing.

Intensive Focus on Privilege, Oppression, Diversity and Social Justice (PODS)

This course integrates PODS content and skills with a special emphasis on the identification of theories, practice and/or policies that promote social justice, illuminate injustices and are consistent with scientific and professional knowledge. Through the use of a variety of instructional methods, this course will support students developing a vision of social justice, learn to recognize and reduce mechanisms that support oppression and injustice, work toward social justice processes, apply intersectionality and intercultural frameworks and strengthen critical consciousness, self-knowledge and self-awareness to facilitate PODS learning.