Children, Youth & Families

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

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 a 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

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

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 range of evidence-based intervention approaches will be presented such as cognitive behavioral therapy, psychoeducation, parent-child relationship and behavioral therapy, parent management training, multi-tiered school based interventions as well as bottom-up, sensori

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

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

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

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

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

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