| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | Permission of Instructor |
| Pathway Elective For: | Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
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| Credits: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This course is currently taught as SW 540, which is a workshop-based inter-professional education course offered by UM School of Social Work in partnership with the School of Nursing and School of Education. It is the first course in a 3-course sequence in Trauma-Informed Practice (TIP). SW 541 and SW 542 are also included as electives in the WCF pathway. Completion of all 3 courses fulfills the requirement of a trauma certificate. This first course will provide basic, foundational knowledge about the cognitive, social-emotional, behavioral, and health-related outcomes of trauma in children. A key focus of the course will be on enhancing awareness of trauma in children; assessing and responding to the needs of children who encounter trauma; and changing systems to become more responsive to vulnerable children and their families. Exploration of factors known to promote resilience and well-being will be emphasized and examined throughout the course. The course will examine principles of interprofessional education, which focuses on helping students in the professions of social work, nursing, and education work collaboratively in generalist and specialty practice roles. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse, Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
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| Credits: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | SW 540 |
| Course Description: | This course will provide foundational knowledge about trauma-informed practice. A primary goal is preparing students for interprofessional approaches to trauma-informed prevention and intervention. A key focus will be on teachers, social workers, and nurses collaborating to use specific trauma-informed practices for addressing young people's academic, social-emotional, behavioral, and health needs. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
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| Credits: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | SW 540 |
| Course Description: | This course will provide foundational knowledge about developing and sustaining a school or organizational culture that is trauma-informed. The course will incorporate principles of interprofessional education, which focuses on helping students in the professions work collaboratively in generalist and specialty practice roles. A primary goal of the course is to prepare students to use interprofessional and team-based strategies to achieve organizational change. A key focus will be on teachers, social workers, and nurses going beyond their practice role to collaborate on organizational work. Examples including educating colleagues, planning for a long-term project, evaluating programs, and obtaining resources to sustain collaborative models and programs to address trauma in schools. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
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| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | Foundation Essentials Required |
| Course Description: | This course will survey the distribution, determinants, and biomedical, psychological and behavioral aspects of health inclusive of physical, mental and behavioral health and disease across the life span from pre-birth to death. Social, economic, environmental, structural and cultural variations in and determinants of health, disease, and quality of life will be addressed, including the influence of factors such as race, gender, sexual orientation, geography, ability, biological, genetic and epigenetic factors. Barriers to access and utilization, geopolitical influences, environmental justice, social injustice, oppression and racism, historical trends, and future directions will be reviewed. Health beliefs and models of health behavior (e.g. Health Belief Model, Theory of Planned Behavior,) and structural determinants of health (e.g. Minority Stress Theory) will be presented, including help-seeking and utilization of health services. Stress, allostatic load, coping and social support, adaptation to chronic illness, the influences of privilege, stigma and discrimination, quality of life, and death and dying will also be covered. |
| Pathway Requirement For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse (Host) |
|---|---|
| Pathway Elective For: | Social Work Practice with Older Adults and Families from a Lifespan Perspective, Welfare of Children & Families |
| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | SW506 & SW601 (concurrent enrollment in SW601 permitted if necessary) |
| Course Description: | This course will build on intervention approaches introduced in the essential courses and will promote more advanced engagement, assessment, intervention and evaluation skills in work with children, youth, transitional age youth, and families. Special attention will be given to issues of diversity as it relates to building therapeutic relationships and intervening with children, youth, transitional age youth, and their families. This course focuses on advanced skill building regarding core practice interventions (e.g. engagement, contracting, problem-solving, emotional regulation, behavioral activation, cognitive restructuring, etc.) using specific brief, evidence-based and/or evidence-informed interventions including prevention, treatment and recovery as well as longer-term treatment and support for these children and youth as appropriate. Examples of practice interventions may include: behavioral/cognitive interventions, motivational interventions; resiliency based interventions, brief treatments for mental health and substance use problems, crisis intervention, parent management interventions, and group interventions. Intervention strategies will be analyzed in the context of delivering trauma-informed culturally responsive interventions. |
| Pathway Requirement For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse (Host) |
|---|---|
| Pathway Elective For: | Welfare of Children & Families |
| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | SW506 & SW601 (concurrent enrollment in SW601 permitted if necessary) |
| Course Description: | This advanced practice course builds on content from the previous foundational course(s) and focuses on family functioning within diverse client populations. The focus of this course is on the development and utilization of family-focused skills and interventions with diverse families in the context of a variety of practice settings such as healthcare, mental health, and other community-based settings. To inform practice interventions, this course will be grounded in the integration of various current family theories (i.e. attachment theory, general systems theory, communication theory, social construction theory and developmental theory, etc) as well as an overarching neurological perspective. Broad definitions of "family" will be used, including extended families, unmarried couples, single parent families, couples across gender identity and sexual orientation spectrums, adult siblings, "fictive kin," and other inclusive definitions. The development of clinical skills for engaging, assessing, and intervening with families will be the primary focus of this course. Focused attention on primary models of family theory and practice will inform intervention techniques and skills taught in the course (i.e. Bowen Family Systems Theory, Satir Transformational Systemic Therapy and addition approach(s) informed by identified theories). This course will address stages of the helping process with families (i.e. engagement, assessment, planning, evaluation, intervention, and termination). During these stages, client-worker differences will be taken into account including a range of diversity dimensions such as ability, age, class, color, culture, ethnicity, family structure, immigration status, gender (including gender identity and gender expression), marital status, national origin, race, religion or spirituality and sexual orientation. Various theoretical approaches will be presented in order to help students understand family structure, communication patterns, and behavioral and coping repertoires. The family will also be studied as part of larger social systems, as having its own life cycles, and as influencing multiple generations. |
| Pathway Requirement For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse (Host) |
|---|---|
| Pathway Elective For: | Social Work Practice with Older Adults and Families from a Lifespan Perspective, Welfare of Children & Families |
| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant social issue in the U.S., which has persisted despite extensive efforts to eradicate it through numerous policy and practice interventions. In this course, learners will be introduced to key concepts, definitions, and theories of IPV. Learners will also receive applied opportunities to implement best practices for identifying, screening, and responding to IPV in health, mental health and substance abuse practice settings. Issues related to those who experience and witness IPV as well as those who use violence will be discussed, including social and cultural factors (e.g., age, gender and gender identity, race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and sexual orientation) associated with IPV exposure. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse (Host), Welfare of Children & Families |
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| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This course is open to student learners in the health science areas including social work, nursing, pharmacy, and dentistry. This course will present state-of-the-art knowledge and research of mental disorders of children and youth, as well as factors that promote mental health, and prevent mental disorders and substance related problems. Using a clinical case discussion format, this class will highlight mental health diagnoses, comorbidity, and team collaboration across health professions. Social determinants of health/mental health will be used as an organizing framework for discussing the impact of factors associated with health and mental health across diverse cultures, groups and populations. Classification systems of child and youth functioning and disorders will be presented, such as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth Edition (DSM-5), Diagnostic Classification of Mental Health and Developmental Disorders of Infancy and Early Childhood: DC: 0-5, and the Individuals with Disability Education Act (IDEA). Students will be taught to critically understand both the strengths and limitations of these classification systems and how to use these systems in practice. Competencies related to teamwork and collaboration, values and ethics, and communication will be addressed. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse (Host), Welfare of Children & Families |
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| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This course will focus on experiential and adventure practice (theories, models, tools and techniques) that social workers may use in their work with individuals, groups, families, organizations and communities. Some particular focus will be given to their use in social work with groups. Students will be introduced to experiential and adventure practice through readings, discussions, guest speakers and experiences. This course is designed to provide the student with a theoretical, philosophical and experiential understanding of experiential/adventure practice (E/A Practice) approach and its application to Social Work Practice. Theoretical models of practice arising out of the adventure and experiential fields will be offered and discussed in tandem with current social work theories and models of practice. Evidence-based literature will be reviewed to promote experiential interventions that build on strengths and resources of individuals and their families, and that integrate components of other evidence-based practices into the experiential methodologies. Ethical, 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. This course will address how adventure/experiential practice attends to critical diversity dimensions (including ability, age, class, color, culture, ethnicity, family structure, gender (including gender identity and gender expression), marital status, national origin, race, religion or spirituality, sex, and sexual orientation) as it relates to individuals and their families. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse (Host), Welfare of Children & Families |
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| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This course will address the theoretical framework of human loss and grief from a culturally and philosophically diverse perspective. Students will be provided with information about why and how humans grieve and how grieving is affected by type of loss, socioeconomic and cultural factors, individual personality and family functioning. Attention will be focused on life span development and the meaning of death and loss at different ages. Various types of loss will be discussed from an individual, family, and socio/cultural/ecological perspective. The importance of understanding trauma and its relationship to grief and loss will also be addressed. Coping and resiliency in loss will be explored, emphasizing the diversity of human response and focusing on the significance of social groups in integrating loss. The formation and practice of rituals, and diversity in religious and spiritual experience as a component of coping with loss will be discussed. |
| 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 |
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| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | Substance abuse represents a major public health concern facing American’s youth. Although all adolescents are directly or indirectly impacted by substance abuse, racial and ethnic minority youth are disproportionately impacted. Social workers play a key role in health promotion and disease prevention, including prevention, intervention and rehabilitation of substance abuse among racial and ethnic minority adolescents in urban settings. This course will draw from multiple disciplines, including social work, epidemiology, public health, psychology, policy and couple and family therapy, to introduce students to theory and knowledge on substance abuse to inform social work practice with racial and ethnic minority adolescents in urban settings. This course will be guided by models, and the theoretical frameworks which inform them, that have been shown to be efficacious or effective in prevention, intervention, and rehabilitation of substance abuse in adolescents. Therefore, students will be introduced to research-informed substance abuse practices among racial and ethnic minority urban adolescents. For the purposes of this course, substance abuse will include both licit and illicit substances. Students will be asked to demonstrate the ways in which to apply research-informed theory and knowledge in practice settings with racial and ethnic minority urban adolescents. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse (Host), Welfare of Children & Families |
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| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | SW506 |
| Course Description: | This course is intended to develop knowledge and skills for practice with children, youth and families, with special attention to assessment. Students learn about varying approaches to assessment, the various contexts in which assessment takes place, and the assessment skills used with children, youth, and families. Students will be familiar with both strengths and limitations of assessments, and how assessments are used (e.g., in school, juvenile justice, and child welfare forensic assessment) including assessments for intervention recommendations. Students will learn how to evaluate overall functioning, conduct developmental assessments, and make a determination about child, youth and family service needs. Students will learn different models of assessment and the role of interdisciplinary assessments (e.g., medical examinations and psychological testing) in the overall assessment process. Students will also become acquainted with widely used assessment practices with children, youth and families in terms of initial screening, risk assessment, and structured decision making. Existing evidence for their utility will be explored. Students will also be sensitized to their personal reaction to child and youth demonstrations of trauma and crises. They will be appraised of professional expectations, such as mandatory reporting of child maltreatment, and will learn about the general structure of service delivery to child and youth clients. Sensitization to the roles of power and privilege of professionals as they relate to both children and their parents is an integral part of the course. In addition, the course will address the sometimes conflicting needs of children and families and child-serving systems (e.g., legal system; school) impacting assessment outcomes and recommendations. The diversity of children, youth and families, in terms of race, ethnicity, culture, class, sexual orientation, religion, ability, and other social identities will be explored. Of particular focus is the over-representation of children of color and the differential response of various child and youth serving systems based upon social identity differences. Students will gain insights about how differences between themselves and client systems affect assessment process including outcomes and recommendations. |
| Pathway Requirement For: | Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
|---|---|
| Pathway Elective For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse |
| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | SW506 and SW601 or SW621 (concurrent enrollment in SW601 or SW621 permitted if necessary) |
| Course Description: | CSWE Competencies ● Intervention: Social workers a) Initiate actions to achieve organizational goals; b) Help clients resolve problems; c) Negotiate, mediate, and advocate for clients; and d) Facilitate transitions and endings. ● Evaluation: Social workers a) critically analyze, monitor, and evaluate interventions This course will present prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation practice theories and techniques emphasizing culturally responsive and evidence-informed interventions that address diverse groups of infants, children, and youth within their social contexts.(e.g., peer group, school, family, neighborhood, and communities). A variety of evidence-based interventions for engaging children, youth, and families (or other caretaking adults such as foster parents) will be presented. Particular attention will be paid to cultural, social, and economic factors that influence client functioning or the worker’s ability to accurately implement interventions that enhance client capacities. A range of evidence-based intervention approaches will be presented such as cognitive behavioral therapy, psychoeducation, behavioral therapy, parent management training and multi-tiered school based interventions. Promising practices for children and adolescents across child serving settings will also be reviewed. The use of play therapy in working with young children and children who have been traumatized will be explored. Content will focus on the early phases of intervention, including barriers to engagement that may result from client-worker differences, involuntary participation on the part of the child, youth, or family, and factors external to the client-worker relationship, such as policy or institutional decisions that may influence or shape intervention. Since work with children and youth almost always requires multiple intervention modalities, attention will be given to creating effective intervention plans through the integration of different modalities. Those intervention methods that have been empirically demonstrated to be effective will be given particular emphasis. Methods for monitoring and evaluating interventions are discussed and demonstrated in this course. Intervention strategies taught in this course rely significantly on the social worker as a critical component of the change process, thus attention will be paid to the understanding of self as an instrument in the change process. |
| Pathway Requirement For: | Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
|---|---|
| Pathway Elective For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse |
| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | SW508 |
| Course Description: | This course will provide a macro lens to assess and engage with various social services, policies, and programs that provide developmental, preventive, protective, and rehabilitative services for children, youth, and families. Students will be introduced to major policies and macro-level issues within the education, child welfare, and juvenile justice systems. The racial and economic achievement and discipline gaps will be explored within the context of schools. Students will examine historical child welfare policy development, explore strengths, limitations, and outcomes, paying particular attention to systemic gaps in service delivery, the over-representation of children of color, the differential response of family serving systems based upon social identify differences, the structural exclusion of the voice of marginalized communities, and deficits of cultural and linguistic competence. The course will develop socially just and culturally-competent policies and practices by delving into the competing tensions of child-protection/family-preservation and quality/quantity of services, and analyze evidence-based change interventions that build on strengths and resources of children and their families at all levels of intervention while considering the diversity of families including race, ethnicity, culture, class, sexual orientation, gender expression, religion, ability and other social identities. Students will learn about disproportionate minority contact and the impact of incarceration on youth as well as interconnections between the three systems. This course will also examine efforts to engage communities in the policy and service delivery process through a variety of mechanisms including community partnerships, coalitions, and systems of care. Students will be sensitized to the roles of power and privilege of professionals, and gain insights about how similarities and differences between themselves and client communities affect mezzo and macro policy development and implementation for children, youth, and families. |
| Pathway Requirement For: | Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
|---|---|
| Pathway Elective For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse, Policy & Political Social Work |
| Credits: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This is a methods course intended to develop skills for child welfare practice, with special attention to child maltreatment. Students learn about the various contexts in which child welfare practice takes place and the skills and modalities that are used with children, youth, and families who are the focus of child welfare intervention. This course will prepare students to work with diverse client populations and will help them appreciate the imbalance of power between client and professional. Understanding the needs and responses of involuntary clients is an integral part of the course. Relevant evidence-based practices are taught and child welfare policies and practices are subjected to critical review. The first term will focus on assessment and the second on treatment. This course will cover the following areas: 1) personal, professional, and societal responses to children at risk for maltreatment, 2) diversity in the child welfare population and skills for working with diverse client populations, 3) client issues and responses to child welfare intervention, including power differentials and involuntariness, 4) theories that explain child maltreatment and their social construction, 5) assessment strategies to be used with children and adults with child welfare issues, 6) interventions employed in the child welfare system and the evidence or lack thereof to support them, and 7) evidence-based treatment strategies used with traumatized children. This course will focus upon practice issues, especially poverty and parental problems in families in the United States, Canada, and Western Europe. Students will be sensitized to their personal reaction to child maltreatment. They will be apprised of professional expectations, such as mandatory reporting of child maltreatment, and will learn about the general structure of service delivery to child welfare clients, which constitutes the context within which they will provide services to clients. Sensitization to the roles of power and privilege of professionals as they relate to both children and their parents is an integral part of the course. In addition, the course will address the sometimes conflicting needs of children and families and legal system impact on child welfare practice, as assessment and the various methods of treatment are taught. The diversity of child welfare populations, in terms of race, ethnicity, culture, class, and sexual orientation will be covered. Of particular focus is the over-representation of children of color and the differential response of the child welfare system based upon class. Students will be made aware of how differences between themselves and clients of child welfare services affect service delivery. These differences will include race, developmental status, economic status, education, gender, and physical well-being. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse, Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
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| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This course will examine practice theories and techniques for working directly with children ages eighteen months to nine years, and their caregivers, via play therapy. This course will emphasize evidence-based play therapies that address diverse groups of young children. Special attention will be given to the meaning of play across cultures, as well as the role of play in the healthy development of children. The interaction between environmental risk factors, protective factors, promotive and developmental factors as they contribute to coping, resiliency, and disorder will also be covered. Primary emphasis will be given to Child Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) and Child Centered Play Therapy (CCPT). |
| Pathway Elective For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse, Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
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| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This course will present knowledge and critical skills to prepare for social work practice in school settings. The five topical areas will include: 1) an brief overview of educational programs and legislation in the United States for individuals of all ages and their families; 2) school social worker assessment tools and services for educational institutions at the pre-K elementary, and secondary levels. 3) assessing and responding to issues of economic and social discrimination in ways that center justice and educational access 4) laws, policies, and practices related to determination of qualification under special education rules within multi-disciplinary teams and response to intervention, multi-tied models 5) advocating for the right to education of oppressed and special populations (including children and youth with mental, physical, and emotional disabilities, TLBGQ youth, economic and geographic disadvantages, and diverse racial, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds). Students will learn comprehensive, multi-tiered and culturally relevant assessment protocols and techniques relevant to school based social work practice. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
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| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This course will focus on the evolution and development of child protection in the United States. The goal of the course is to provide students with an understanding of how state governments think about the adequacy/appropriateness of parenting, the safety of children, when and how child protection agencies get involved with families and what the evidence says about such involvement. We will discuss the origins and implementation of major child welfare policies and we will review practice innovations and some of the most pressing challenges facing child welfare systems today. A common theme throughout the course will be the intersection of child welfare and poverty, race, gender, identity and trauma. The course will cover policies and practices from both micro and macro perspectives and students will learn how child welfare systems collaborate (or at times fail to collaborate) with other allied systems of care (e.g. community mental health, juvenile justice, substance abuse). |
| Pathway Elective For: | Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
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| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This course presents advanced knowledge and skills essential to providing effective school social work interventions. Students will learn to identify, select and apply evidence-based prevention and intervention methods for use with individuals, groups, families, school personnel, and communities to enhance student learning, development, and school success. Student learning will include practice skills that advance social justice and educational access, trauma informed practice models, positive behavior supports for school wide programs and individuals, crisis prevention, planning, and intervention, behavior intervention planning; mediation, conflict resolution, and collaborative problem-solving methods. Specific interventions to support students with Autism Spectrum Disorder, Emotional Impairments; and other disabilities covered under the Individuals with Disability Education Act will be incorporated. Ways to promote family engagement and collaboration will be explored/ Skills to enhance collaboration and consultation between teachers, families, and other school personnel will be addressed. School social worker intervention methodologies will include ways to promote human rights and educational access, fostering school climates that are inviting, supportive, and inclusive of diversity. Students will acquire the skills needed to effectively practice as a school social worker to enhance student learnings and achievement. Content in this course includes multi tiered practice methodologies that promote socio-emotional and academic success. Inter-disciplinary approaches designed to strengthen individuals, groups, and families within larger social contexts such as the school and community will be presented. Methods that increase student and family access to education and educational resources will be explored. School wide interventions such as the implementation of positive behavioral supports, restorative practices, family engagement, inter-group dialogue, positive conflict resolution skills, and coordination and collaboration with youth serving agencies in the community will be discussed. Effective classroom wide, small group, and individual interventions will be practiced. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
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| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | Foundation Essentials Required |
| Course Description: | This course will examine the development of life course in stages, from conception to early childhood (0-6), middle childhood (7-12), adolescence (13-18), and emerging adulthood (18+). Students will explore how development unfolds, with a particular emphasis on how adversity shapes the experiences of children from a young age. Key theories used to understand human development and behavior include those focused on attachment, trauma, and resilience. Special attention will be given to the relationships between critical life conditions, (i.e., race, ethnicity, gender, socio-economic class, sexual orientation), life events (i.e., separation, loss, illness, transition to school, transition to adulthood) and psychological and physical functioning. Course material on identity will address the topics of self-esteem, self-concept, and the development of gender, race, and ethnic identity. |
| Pathway Requirement For: | Welfare of Children & Families (Host) |
|---|---|
| Pathway Elective For: | Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse |
| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | SW508 |
| Course Description: | In this course, students will be exposed to various theoretical frameworks informing policy development and gain an understanding of basic economic principles frequently employed in policy debates and discussions. With this knowledge, students will be able to identify, in a more sophisticated and nuanced way, policies that promote social justice and those that do not; understand how certain theoretical frameworks and ideas have been used to oppress and empower different groups, and identify points of interventions within existing institutions. One part of the course will cover different concepts of justice, fairness, and equity as they apply to public policy. Students will also interrogate ideas about neoliberalism, capitalism, globalization, and financialization and their influence on policies. Students will be introduced to concepts from economic theory that often used to promote or thwart the development of certain policies. This includes the concepts of supply and demand; market failure; and public goods. |
| Pathway Requirement For: | Policy & Political Social Work (Host) |
|---|---|
| Pathway Elective For: | Management & Leadership, Program Evaluation and Applied Research, Welfare of Children & Families |
| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | None |
| Course Description: | This course examines strategies for engaging and empowering young people, with emphasis on approaches in racially segregated and economically disinvested areas. It considers core concepts of youth empowerment at the individual, organizational, and community levels; models and methods of practice; age-appropriate and culturally-responsive approaches; roles of young people and adult allies; and perspectives on practice in a diverse democracy. The course will draw upon best practices from grassroots organizing, civic engagement, youth development, and child welfare. |
| Pathway Elective For: | Community Change (Host), Welfare of Children & Families |
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| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | Foundation Essentials required |
| Course Description: | This course will provide an overview of traditional and contemporary organizational theories and strategic frameworks relevant to understanding social impact organizations. A wide range of topics will be covered including but not limited to: organizational survival and adaptation to environmental changes, power asymmetry/dynamics between service providers and clients, staff and client diversity and inclusion, and informal strategies that providers develop to legitimize their practices while satisfying multiple stakeholders’ expectations. Using multiple theories and perspectives, students will develop a conceptual framework for recognizing how various environmental-, organizational-, and individual-level attributes shape social impact organizational behaviors and service provider’s practices. The framework will help students to reflect on organizational experiences and critically analyze institutionalized assumptions and beliefs that reside within social impact organizations. Using the conceptual basis acquired from this course, students will be asked to analyze a social impact organization and recommend strategies to improve organizational functioning. |
| Pathway Requirement For: | Management & Leadership (Host) |
|---|---|
| Pathway Elective For: | Community Change, Global Social Work Practice, Policy & Political Social Work, Program Evaluation and Applied Research, Social Work Practice with Older Adults and Families from a Lifespan Perspective, Welfare of Children & Families |
| Credits: | 3 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisites: | Foundation Essentials Required |
| Course Description: | This course will examine the attributes, skills, behaviors, problems, and issues associated with leadership in social impact organizations, both in the public and private sectors. Students will explore multiple styles of leadership, as well as the application of those styles in various settings. Some emphasis will be placed on the basic rudiments of executive positions and roles in relation to decision-making and facilitation, organizational governance, and relationships with boards of directors and external stakeholders. Issues pertaining to intersectional dimensions of identity (ability, age, class, color, culture, ethnicity, family structure, gender, gender identity and gender expression, marital status, national origin, race, religion, spirituality, sex, sexual orientation) will be given special attention, particularly as students develop their own identity as leaders and manage relationships and conflict in the workplace. Leadership will also be analyzed in relation to the stages of organizational development. Concomitant with the above executive roles and skills, this course will address strategies for organizational development that are directed toward advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion, as well as enhancing adaptability, effectiveness, and efficiency to serving populations that have traditionally experienced marginalization. |
| Pathway Requirement For: | Management & Leadership (Host) |
|---|---|
| Pathway Elective For: | Policy & Political Social Work, Welfare of Children & Families |
University of Michigan
School of Social Work
1080 South University Avenue
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1106