Children, Youth & Families

This is 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

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

This course will present knowledge and critical skills to prepare for social work practice in school settings. The topical areas will include: a brief overview of educational programs and legislation in the United States for individuals of all ages and their families; school social worker assessment tools and services for educational institutions at the pre-K elementary, and secondary levels; assessing and responding to issues of economic and social discrimination in ways that center justice and educational access; laws, policies, and practices related to determination of qualification under

This course will present knowledge and critical skills to prepare for social work practice in school settings. The topical areas will include: a brief overview of educational programs and legislation in the United States for individuals of all ages and their families; school social worker assessment tools and services for educational institutions at the pre-K elementary, and secondary levels; assessing and responding to issues of economic and social discrimination in ways that center justice and educational access; laws, policies, and practices related to determination of qualification under

This course develops advanced knowledge and skills for effective school social work practice. Students learn to identify, select, and apply evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies with individuals, groups, families, and school personnel to enhance student learning, development, and school success. Course content emphasizes practice skills advancing social justice and educational access, including trauma-informed models, positive behavioral supports, crisis prevention and response, behavior intervention planning, mediation, conflict resolution, and collaborative problem-solving

This course develops advanced knowledge and skills for effective school social work practice. Students learn to identify, select, and apply evidence-based prevention and intervention strategies with individuals, groups, families, and school personnel to enhance student learning, development, and school success. Course content emphasizes practice skills advancing social justice and educational access, including trauma-informed models, positive behavioral supports, crisis prevention and response, behavior intervention planning, mediation, conflict resolution, and collaborative problem-solving

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

Transitional age youth, defined as the transition period from adolescence to young adulthood, represents a developmental period 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

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

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