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December 2, 2021 - 12:00pm to 1:30pm

The Social Work Anti-Racist Design Challenge is a school-wide initiative giving groups the opportunity, the tools, the people and the room to take on the world’s most pressing problems. This challenge follows Innovation in Action's model for socially engaged design. This semester, Michigan Social Work students have used design-thinking processes to create and refine innovative ideas about anti-racism in our school, our community and the world. Join us online to see what they've been working on.

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December 2, 2021 - 1:00pm to 2:00pm

Dr. Sharpe is a community-based researcher who is passionately committed to the development of innovative approaches and sustainable opportunities allowing Black communities to thrive in the face of homicide violence. Her research examines sociocultural factors that influence the coping strategies of Black family members and friends of homicide victims. She has developed culturally appropriate interventions and best practices designed to assist African-American survivors of homicide victims in the management of their grief and bereavement. Her comprehensive Model of Coping for African-American Survivors of Homicide Victims (MCAASHV) (Sharpe, 2015) has informed the development of a psychosocial educational intervention (Sharpe, Iwamoto, Massey & Michalopoulos, 2018), and a tool of measurement designed to assess the needs and coping strategies of African-American survivors of homicide victims.

Click here to learn more about Dr. Sharpe and her work.

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December 2, 2021 - 6:00pm to 7:00pm

This online session is for students who have been admitted for the Winter 2022 Online MSW program. Students will learn more about the MSW curriculum, field placement process, tuition & financial aid information, student services, and more! Attendees are encouraged to send in questions during the session.

The session will be recorded for those who cannot attend live. Be sure to RSVP for the session to attend live or receive a copy of the recording.

View Session Slides »

December 3, 2021 - 9:00am to 4:00pm

This virtual training will focus on relationship-focused play therapy with children and their caregivers. We will review the primacy of play in children's overall development as well as the developmental stages of play in order to provide a framework for understanding our observations of children's play and help inform our assessments of areas of strength and challenge. We will consider how critical it is to be mindful of how our own personal experiences of play color our observations, as well as how gender and racial biases can distort how we see the play of children, particularly black children.

We will review the tenets of non-directive play therapy, how play therapy impacts the brain, and how to integrate our understanding of attachment, neuroscience, and play therapy within the context of relationships.

Registration for this course is closed. Visit the CE Course Catalog for more offerings.

December 3, 2021 - 12:00pm to 2:00pm

This is a highly interactive in-service training for social service providers that will use breakout rooms and discussion with fatherhood experts to illustrate effective strategies to increase father engagement in social service settings, especially focused on maternal child health, home visitation, and early childhood education settings. Participants will be expected to have their cameras on during this virtual Zoom training.

In this webinar, Dr. Shawna J. Lee will describe the importance of working with fathers and engaging them in community based practice settings. We will discuss how to engage fathers within community based settings such as Healthy Start home visitation programs. Shon Hart will discuss barriers to father engagement. Shawna Lee, Shon Hart, and two fatherhood community health workers (Terrance Blanchard and Derek Miller) will lead breakout room discussions about effective strategies to engage fathers.

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Describe the importance of father involvement.

Describe the benefits of father involvement in their children's lives.

Describe the Healthy Start father engagement home visitation program intervention components.

Identify barriers to father involvement.

Identify barriers to engaging fathers in community based practice settings.

Identify effective strategies for engaging fathers in home visitation.

12:00 - 12:30pm | An introduction to the importance of father involvement

12:30 - 1:00pm | Barriers to effective father engagement

1:00 - 1:30pm | Strategies to engage fathers in home visitation and other social service practice settings

1:30 - 2:00pm | Problem solving and discussion for strategies to engage fathers in community-based practice settings

The University of Michigan School of Social Work, provider #1212, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. The University of Michigan School of Social Work maintains responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: 5/15/2020-5/15/2023. Social workers participating in this course will receive 2 synchronous online continuing education contact hours.

Please see the CE Policies page for more information about continuing education.

December 7, 2021 - 3:00pm to 5:00pm

As part of the Michigan Social Work Centennial, we are delighted to feature cutting edge, contemporary innovations in social work practice that are being created by Michigan faculty members. This series will consist of three sessions showcasing mental health intervention research happening at the University of Michigan School of Social Work.

December 8, 2021 - 5:30pm to 7:00pm

In the U.S., political determinants of health include voting, government and policy. But national healthcare policies have not been reflective of our changing population, and elected leadership and policy lack real diversity. To address this, social work and healthcare professionals have joined forces to promote the importance of civic health engagement through voter registration - deemed a social determinant of health. Encouraging and engaging individuals to get involved and make their voices heard in the decision-making behind healthcare policies will lead to healthier communities nationwide. If we are to help create health equity for all, we also need to galvanize social workers and healthcare professionals to explore how they can impact healthcare policy. This event is a forum to help us achieve that goal.

1.5 free CE credits will be available to social workers licensed in the U.S.

Register here »

December 9, 2021 - 12:00pm to 1:00pm

Want to know what it’s like to work in Community Mental Health?  Curious to know the benefits of working for a CMH provider agency? Join us for a zoom conversation with representatives from the Detroit Wayne Integrated Health Network about working in Community Mental Health and what they found rewarding about this career path as well as hear actual experiences of those who received services through the CMH system. Both macro and micro job options will be discussed.

Marika Orme, MS LLP (Special Project Specialist- Children’s Initiatives), Dan West, LMSW (Director of Crisis Services), Bianca Miles, LLMSW (Youth Involvement Specialist) and Janan Al-Hachami (Youth Advocate- The Children’s Center) will partner to provide an exclusive look into what working in the field of Community Mental Health is all about.

Email micwoods@umich.edu for zoom link and questions.

December 9, 2021 - 12:00pm to 2:00pm

Undoing Racism is a community collective of students, staff, and faculty in the School of Social Work dedicated to fighting white supremacy at the individual, school, and structural levels.

This workgroup was established in 2019 after students, staff, and faculty took part in the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond Undoing Racism© workshops. Since then, the Undoing Racism workgroup has been working to implement the People’s Institute anti-racist community organizing model – recognizing that community organizing within our school is critical to move toward an anti-racist and anti-oppressive program to bring along all members of the community.

The Undoing Racism workgroup also emphasizes the role that white members of our community must take on to dismantle and undo white supremacist structures that benefit and maintain power for white people. Our work has largely been focused on building collective community – a fundamental step in the People’s Institute organizing model. Our dialogue and strategic planning to advance towards an anti-racist and anti-oppressive program and school community must begin with building relationships and strengthening community bonds to engage in internal and external anti-racism work.

Meetings are held on the last Thursday of every month from 12-2pm (with some exceptions). All members of our school community are invited to attend.

A Zoom link will be sent out the day of the event to all those who RSVP.

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December 10, 2021

December 10, 2021 to December 12, 2021

As racial tensions rise on and off campus, three School of Social Work students overcome their differences as the School rallies itself for change in the face of the Great Depression.

This play, commissioned for the University of Michigan, School of Social Work Centennial (1921-2021), in collaboration with the Residential College Drama Program, focuses on the early history of the School and on the students and faculty who worked to create meaningful change in the world. This early period begins at the end of a global Spanish Flu pandemic and World War I and ends during the height of the Great Depression. This period saw the first undergraduate social work curriculum launched on the Ann Arbor campus and ends as the program moves to Detroit where the social work program remained until 1950.

Among the major themes is the struggle for racial justice, including challenging segregation on the University of Michigan campus. Early social work students were involved in an inter-racial alliance group, the Negro-Caucasian Club, that started in 1925 and the efforts of those students are depicted in the play.

This production is Directed by Aria Davis. Produced by Rich Tolman (SSW) and Kate Mendeloff (RC Drama). The cast includes faculty and students from the School of Social Work community.

December 11, 2021

December 13, 2021 - 5:00pm

December 13, 2021 - 5:00pm

December 14, 2021 - 1:00pm to 2:00pm

Learn more about the Coursera-based Social Work: Practice, Policy, and Research MasterTrack™ Certificate and how this certificate can be applied to the University of Michigan's MSW program. During this session we will discuss the structure of the MasterTrack certificate, the full MSW degree program, and the application process for students interested in earning their Master of Social Work degree online or on-campus through the University of Michigan. Prof. Mary Ruffolo will discuss how the Essentials for Interpersonal Practice course relates to current events.

*Please note: This session is informational only and does not provide a certificate of completion.

Click here to view recording »

December 14, 2021 - 3:00pm to 4:00pm

This online session will provide the opportunity to learn more about the University of Michigan School of Social Work MSW program. Topics covered will include: Online Program, On-Campus Program, Curriculum Options, Application Process, Financial Aid, and more!

Click here to view recording »

December 14, 2021 - 6:00pm to 7:00pm

What's the program really like? Where is your field placement? What do social work students do for fun? Join an MSW student as well as other prospective MSW students for a live webchat about the School of Social Work.  Our MSW students are excited to answer any questions that you have and share their feedback about the program. 

Click here to RSVP »

December 16, 2021 - 12:00pm to 2:00pm

This is only for MSW students who are starting their field placement in Winter 2022.

December 17, 2021

December 17, 2021 - 5:00pm

December 19, 2021

The University of Michigan will hold a campus level commencement on Sunday, December 19, 2021 (2pm) at Crisler Arena. The School of Social Work Commencement will be completed by approximately 11:30 am. MSW graduates are welcome to attend this event as well.

More information can be found at: https://commencement.umich.edu/

December 19, 2021 - 10:00am

The School of Social Work Centennial Commencement for Master of Social Work students will be held in-person. No tickets are required to attend commencement. A reception will be held at the School of Social Work immediately following commencement.

December 20, 2021