| Credits: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | Transitional age youth, defined as the transition period from adolescence to young adulthood, represents a developmental periods characterized by, among other things, increased risk taking and vulnerability for behavioral and mental health conditions. Yet the social work theoretical, empirical and practice literature remain underdeveloped, particularly for transitional age youth with behavioral health and mental health conditions. Social work practitioners and researchers alike play an essential role in ameliorating behavioral health conditions among transitional age youth. This course focuses on the state of the science when working with transitional age youth with behavioral health conditions. Students in this course will acquire a general understanding of (1) the prevalence and variations of behavioral health conditions among this overlooked and vulnerable population, (2) etiological factors associated with behavioral health conditions, (3) theoretical frameworks to inform practice with transitional age youth, and (4) best programs and practices when working with transitional age youth. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse (Host), Welfare of Children & Families |
|---|
| Credits: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This course will prepare students at the advanced level of social work practice to identify and resolve ethical dilemmas with children and families. Ethics is addressed in all areas of social work education and practice; therefore, this course will provide the theory and framework for making ethical decisions across all levels of practice. Ethical issues include, but are not limited to protection of life, autonomy and freedom, least harm, full disclosure, racial bias and predictive analytics (e.g., disproportionality and disparities), child removal, the termination of parental rights, and privacy. This course begins with an overview of the mission and values of social work practice, utilizing the NASW Code of Ethics as the primary framework for ethical-decision making. Students will learn the difference between a value conflict and an ethical dilemma, how to apply theory, and models for mediating ethical dilemmas in your work with individuals, families, and groups. Theories (e.g. deontological, utilitarian, and moral) will be the basis for ethical decision-making in this course and justification models will be introduced through the use of concrete issues and case examples. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
|---|
| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This course will provide an opportunity to understand the unique developmental needs of infants and young children (0 to 5) and their caregivers. It will examine theories and techniques for observing and understanding infants and young children and their caregivers' behavior and interactions. This course will emphasize evidence-based tools for observation of interactions that address diverse groups of infants and young children in their primary environments (e.g., family and alternative caregiving contexts). Special attention will be given to diversity issues related to understanding the nature of interactions and developing anti-racist practice skills. The course will be divided into classroom and community-based learning opportunities. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse, Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
|---|
| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This course will provide fundamental knowledge and skills for leadership and management of organizational work with children, youth, and families whether it be preventive, protective, rehabilitative, therapeutic, or advocacy based services. Students will learn practices to manage human service workers effectively within the competing tensions of child welfare and juvenile justice work such as increasing need and limited resources, high staff-turnover, policy changes, and emotionally taxing work. Students will gain skills in supervisory management for effective team building, organizational innovation, group decision making, and conflict mediation; concepts and skills for reflective supervision; practices to develop supervisory leadership; consider outcomes and measurements for program effectiveness; and principles of fiscal management and grant writing. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
|---|
| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This course will examine the correlates and consequences of child maltreatment, as well as the social, environmental, and cultural buffers and mitigating factors that lessen risk and promote protection/ resilience in maltreated children and adolescents. Students will learn about the public health model of child abuse prevention and examine a range of strategies that extend from this model. Throughout the course, students will critically review programs and practices in primary and secondary prevention and consider how they align with core values of the social work profession. Students will also consider how social workers can become more integrally involved in advancing local, national, and international efforts to promote the well-being of maltreated children across the lifecourse. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Global Social Work Practice, Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
|---|
| Credits: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| 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. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
|---|
| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This course critically examines juvenile delinquency and the adult correctional system in the United States. Students will be exposed to the theories that help professionals understand the development of delinquency and crime within the context of individuals, families and communities. Understanding the mechanisms that contribute to offending is important for social work professionals, as this understanding should directly guide the policies and practices of the justice system. This course will focus on some of the most pressing issues that face the justice system and the social work professionals that work within this system. Such issues include adolescent brain development, poverty, child maltreatment, substance abuse, mental health, disproportionate minority contact (DMC), incarceration, peer relationships, the school to prison pipeline, evidence based interventions and the role of ideology in juvenile justice policy. The course is designed for social work students interested in working in justice settings (micro or macro) or students interested in working with youth populations that may experience contact with the justice system. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
|---|
| Credits: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This course will introduce and address issues of concern to social work practice youth that identify as Transgender, Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Queer or questioning, focusing on the basic knowledge, practice and advocacy skills it takes to become increasingly competent in providing social work practice and advocacy for people who are in these marginalize, yet highly resilient, groups. From a strength-based perspective, this course will focus on basic social work knowledge and understanding of youth that identify as TBLGQ including the social injustice and stigma facing these groups. Related to TBLGQ youth, key areas of focus include how to advocate, affirm, engage, assess and effectively practice in a culturally responsive manner, while exploring risk and protective factors within the contexts of school, home, health care, and communities. This course will also address self-exploration and ethical dilemmas for social work providers with TBLGQ youth. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
|---|
| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This course examines families as a primary context for understanding health and health-related behaviors. Major topics include: 1) substantive and ethical overview of families and health, 2) historical perspectives on the family, 3) demographic trends in family structure, 4) family diversity with respect to social class, race/ethnicity and culture, and sexual orientation and their implications for understanding health phenomena and family models and theories, 5) families as the context for socialization to health beliefs and practices, 6) the provision of family-based care, 7) health profiles of family members and family roles, and 8) family-based skills, programs, and practice concepts. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse (Host), Welfare of Children & Families |
|---|
| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This course introduces the fundamental knowledge and concepts for working with victims of all types of family violence. Students will learn about the factors that contribute to child abuse, teen dating violence, intimate partner violence, and elder abuse; the long term consequences family violence, and common treatment approaches. Interconnections between the forms of violence will be explored. Most family violence organizations work on multiple levels, such as macro, mezzo, and micro levels, and they frequently come into contact with a variety of fields of service, primarily the legal, health and mental health, housing, public assistance, and child welfare systems. Therefore, models of inter-system and interprofessional coordination will be presented. Federal and state policies related to family violence will be explored, and opportunities for advocacy will be highlighted. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse, Social Work Practice with Older Adults and Families from a Lifespan Perspective, Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
|---|
| Credits: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | Suicide is a leading cause of preventable death in the United States. Suicide risk assessment, risk formulation, and treatment are consistently difficult in practice and greater attention to this public health issue and prevention efforts are needed, especially so, by social workers who provide the majority of mental health services in the U.S. This one-credit course is designed for MSW students who are focused on interpersonal practice and will cover the following topics: the critical issue of suicide (prevalence), suicide-risk assessment (risk and protective factors, warning signs, components of the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale scale), formulating suicide risk (determining a level of suicide risk for subsequent alignment with appropriate action), and prevention approaches including evidence-informed interventions (including multi-level prevention at the universal, institutional, and individual levels). Students will have the opportunity to apply knowledge and practice skills with use of case vignettes, roleplays, and simulations. Learning Objectives: 1. Differentiate between suicide risk factors, protective factors, and warning signs. 2. Facilitate suicide risk assessment using evidence-informed screening and assessment tools. 3. Formulate a case conceptualization to determine suicide risk level. 3. Develop an intervention plan based upon suicide assessment and case conceptualization. 4. Explain and implement evidence-informed suicide prevention strategies. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse (Host), Social Work Practice with Older Adults and Families from a Lifespan Perspective, Welfare of Children & Families |
|---|
| Credits: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This one credit course will focus on the use of an experiential and adventure practice approach (theories, models, tools and techniques) for therapeutic purposes with individuals, groups and families. Students are expected to come with a foundational understanding of clinical work (in particular, some knowledge of clinical group facilitation), and experiential learning. Theoretical models of clinical experiential and adventure practice will be offered and discussed in tandem with clinical social work theories and models of practice. Evidence-based literature will be reviewed that promote nature-based, experiential and adventure interventions that build on strengths and resources of individuals and their families, and that integrate components of other evidence-based practices into the experiential and adventure methodologies. Inclusive and accessible practices will be discussed and demonstrated, especially due to the outdoor and natural setting involved and the physicality of many of the tools used in the approach. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse (Host), Welfare of Children & Families |
|---|
| Credits: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | Understanding the implications of childhood relationships on adult functioning can provide a powerful framework for creating goals and intervention in adult psychotherapy. Using attachment theory as the foundation, this course will address relationship-based intervention with adults. Students will learn the role of attachment in the development and maintenance of strategies that adults use to manage needs for autonomy and connection, in social, family and romantic relationships. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse (Host), Social Work Practice with Older Adults and Families from a Lifespan Perspective, Welfare of Children & Families |
|---|
| Credits: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | Students will learn about comprehensive assessment and evidence based interventions with pre-school children (ages 3-5). This course aims to increase developmentally relevant and effective practice with preschool children and their families. A particular lens will be assessment and intervention in the context of school, however, assessment and intervention strategies within other settings will also be discussed. Special attention will be paid to the needs of preschool children most likely to be under-served by, or expelled from, preschool (e.g. children with behavior problems, children of color, children impacted by trauma, and children with developmental delays.) |
| Pathway Elective For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse, Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
|---|
| Credits: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This is an advanced methods mini-course focused on forensic interviewing of children. The mini-course is particularly relevant to interviewing children alleged to have been sexually abused, but also relevant to gathering information from children about a spectrum of traumatic maltreatment experiences. This mini-course will provide a critical review of the research evidence that is relied upon in forensic interviewing of children, and will provide information about best practice. The course takes child-centered, social justice, and culturally responsive approaches that is inclusive of the child’s needs, developmental stage, and level of cognitive – emotional functioning, throughout the forensic interview process. Documenting the child’s disclosure about the specifics of the allegations will also be discussed. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
|---|
| Credits: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This course focuses on a specific parenting issue - the use of discipline and punishment in child-rearing. This course examines research on the effectiveness of wide range of parental disciplinary approaches, and introduce numerous evidence-based parenting interventions, and their recommendations and approaches to child discipline. The course content will be embedded within a child development framework that considers the child’s age and development stage, in conjunction with family and community-level factors. We will discuss how cultural norms and beliefs may influence parents’ discipline choices and how social workers can best dialogue with parents help them achieve their parenting aims. This one credit course addresses micro- and macro- social work issues. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
|---|
| Credits: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This course provides an experiential opportunity for students to explore an array of animal assisted therapeutic activities specifically designed to further a wide range of therapeutic goals with children, adolescents, families and adult clients. Like play therapy and art therapy, animal assisted interventions, when integrated with evidence-based methods including (but not limited to) CBT and mindfulness, trauma recovery, family systems, cultural-relational and psychodynamic approaches, offer opportunities for people to work through a variety of issues and insecurities related to attachment, trauma, self-esteem and identity concerns, dysregulation, behavioral difficulties, mental illness, developmental disabilities, and family and relational problems. With selected animals as therapy partners, the therapeutic team helps people of all ages and positions foster new alliances, understand more fully existing problems and build practical life-skills to enhance confidence, effectiveness and joy. Presently, animal assisted therapy is gaining acclaim in the field of mental health intervention and there is a growing body of evidence supporting its efficacy to be explored. This course specifically teaches the theoretical foundations, standards, ethics, evidence, certifications, integration of methods, case examples, evaluation and practical skills involved in partnering with a variety of animals – dogs, cats, goats, pigs, horses and chickens (yes, chickens!)- to provide engaging and effective interventions. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse, Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
|---|
University of Michigan
School of Social Work
1080 South University Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106