Interpersonal Practice in Integrated Health, Mental Health, and Substance Abuse

Through a team-based, experiential, and interdisciplinary learning model, small groups of U-M graduate and professional students work with faculty to explore and offer solutions to emerging, complex problems. This course is offered through the Law School’s Problem Solving Initiative and the topics vary by semester.

Microaggressions are the everyday verbal, nonverbal, and environmental slights, snubs, or insults, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative messages toward marginalized groups and minorities, including but not limited to race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender. This course will examine racial microaggressions and their impact on the delivery of human services with a focus on prevention and intervention strategies. Participants will define and identify racial microaggressions and their impact on client systems and on the

The criminalization of substance use disorders is perhaps one of the most urgent racial and social justice issues of social work today. Understanding the neuroscience behind substance use disorders is one of the most impactful strategies for social workers to employ when advocating for clients at interdisciplinary tables. This course will provide an introduction to the neuroscience of substance use disorders with emphasis on both science and social justice. Topics covered include basics of cellular communication and neurotransmission, different types of neuroimaging techniques and the

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

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

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

This minicourse, offered over two days, has two major foci. One involves a focus on competency (= knowledge + skill in implementation) in the area of Managerial Supervision. It discusses the 5 main types of supervision: Professional Supervision, Managerial Supervision, Supportive Supervision, Developmental/Career Supervision, and Reflective Supervision. The second focus is on you as a supervisor and supervisee. In about year 3 +/- after graduation, and often sooner, you will be asked to “supervise” others. There is a conflated understanding about what that means, and agencies will say they

This course was designed to increase the knowledge base and competency level of social workers who plan to work with (or are interested in) military service members, veterans, and their families. This will be accomplished by introducing students to basic military background and structure, the common problem-areas experienced by this community, and the diverse subgroups that exist within this unique population.

This course will teach social work students to achieve positive client outcomes through interdisciplinary teamwork and interprofessional communication while utilizing social work values, methods, and skills at a multi-disciplinary student-run health clinic that includes student-practitioners from schools of medicine, nursing, pharmacology, dentistry, and social work. The course will help students understand the roles and responsibilities of each discipline on the healthcare team, the importance of effective communication, and the role of team collaboration in clinical decision making. Students

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