Social Work Practice Sequence
Kenta Asakura (Chair)
This sequence teaches generic skills of social work practice and specialized skills of clinical social work. It prepares students to practice in a range of settings, with different size client systems, and diverse presenting problems, from a range of practice theories and models, according to the ethical precepts and knowledge base of the profession.
The practice sequence ensures that students consider the cultural and social forces that impact on clients' lives and opportunities, as well as the internal and subjective meanings of clients' experience in order to work sensitively within an integrative framework.
Practice courses integrate and apply knowledge from all of the curriculum's content areas. The case study serves as the primary vehicle for accomplishing this goal, where the "case" is focused on individual, family, group, organization or community problems or needs. Since case studies and vignettes are used in all of the practice courses, it is at this level that the psychological and the social meet.
Elective Courses
The course numbers listed are effective beginning Summer 2019. Former course number equivalencies can be found here.
Quarter Hours: 2
Coordinating Sequence: Practice
Fulfills: Practice Elective
Eligibility: Second or Third Year Summer
Students will be introduced to contemporary theories and models for clinical practice with couples. Primary focus will be placed on the evidenced-based model of Susan Johnson: Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy and, secondarily, the model developed by John and Julie Gottman. It is through the lens of these models that we will explore myriad challenges and triumphs in intimate partnership.
Taking the perspective that the clinical social worker’s role is to facilitate the couples’ process, the course will support students in acquiring a beginning knowledge base and skills for assessment and treatment. Issues of intersectionality and diversity in couple’s treatment will be included for discussion. Although the course will primarily address factors common to working with all couples, we will consider the particular elements involved in working with infidelity, illness, divorce and trauma.
Coordinating Sequence: Practice
Fulfills: Practice Elective
Eligibility: Second or Third Year Summer
Develops a working theoretical base for group psychotherapy, drawing from the Interpersonal, Psychodynamic, and Group-As-Whole perspectives. The emphasis will be on long-term group psychotherapy principles, which can serve as the basis for understanding phenomena that occur in all types of groups. To a limited extent, we will consider the applicability of these theories to short-term groups. Particular attention will be paid to: group dynamics, member selection and preparation, group formation, group development, and leadership techniques. We will also examine the role and impact of projective processes in group psychotherapy and consider the influence of diversity on group dynamics.
Coordinating Sequence: Practice
Fulfills: Practice Elective
Eligibility: Second or Third Year Summer
Focuses on cognitive behavioral practice as related to evidence based practice. The material covered will include an introduction to and critical analysis of the family of theories which fit into the cognitive behavioral rubric including social learning theory, behavioral theories and cognitive theories of inter- and intrapersonal functioning. Theories will be examined from their genesis to their clinical applications with a goal of assessment of each for fit with particular client problems, therapeutic relationships, situations and contexts based upon empirical research. Theories will also be assessed for racist, sexist, ageist and other oppressive and unjust assumptions and uses. The seminar process will be focused upon the learning of cognitive behavioral methods including cognitive restructuring, contracting, Socratic questioning, thought stopping, motivational interviewing and behavioral reward systems. Use of self and relationship as well as models of integration across theories and methods will also be emphasized throughout the seminar.
Coordinating Sequence: Practice
Fulfills: Practice Elective
Eligibility: Second or Third Year Summer
Provides a comprehensive introduction to the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics (NMT™) developed by Dr. Bruce Perry. The NMT™ is a “biologically respectful” approach to understanding the neuro-developmental impact of childhood trauma on Sensory Processing, Self Regulation, Relational and Cognitive functioning of children who have experienced neglect and abuse in a variety of settings and forms. Often children and families involved in foster care, adoption, juvenile justice and residential treatment settings are blamed for their behavior by larger systems around them. This is particularly problematic for youth of color and LGBT youth who are pushed deeper into systems of control rather than receiving attuned and appropriate support and treatment for their experiences of trauma. This course will provide an in depth understanding and framework for working with the neuro-developmental impact of child trauma with an emphasis on identifying and prioritizing which types of treatment will be most effective and in what order - and helping larger systems shift their view of traumatized youth and families from “what’s wrong with them” to “what happened to them.”
Coordinating Sequence: Practice
Fulfills: Practice Elective
Eligibility: Second or Third Year Summer
Addresses theme-centered psycho-educational groups, as well as time-limited and long-term activity-interview, and play therapy groups. The therapist's role in different models of group treatment will be considered, with particular emphasis on group structure, composition, modes of communication, limit-setting, transference, countertransference, creating a therapeutic group culture, and stages of group development. Students will be encouraged to share their experiences in working with child and adolescent groups and to participate in role playing designed to address problematic group process issues.
Coordinating Sequence: Practice
Fulfills: Practice Elective
Eligibility: Second or Third Year Summer
Draws from research and conceptual data that explore the effects of deployment and combat stressors on the physical and mental health of active duty US service members and their families. Attention is also paid to the impact of trauma and collective violence on individuals and communities, both nationally and globally, and the intergenerational transmission of trauma. Cultural influences are addressed that shape responses to traumatic events, a “fear-based social learning” or “moral injury” explanation of trauma-related effects, and engagement with healing and treatment approaches. Clinical social work treatment interventions are grounded in a synthesis of trauma, relational psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, attachment, somatic and social theories that inform a multi-modality clinical social work practice plan. Modalities include: individual, couple/family, group and community. An overview of specific trauma treatment approaches is addressed, harmonizing a psychodynamic foundation with empirically-supported treatment approaches (e.g. cognitive-processing treatment (CPT), psychodynamic (PT), cognitive-behavioral (CBT), and EMDR). Settings include behavioral health programs in the community, Department of Defense (DoD) and Veterans Administration Medical Centers (VAMC), federal and local prisons and jails and community-based Veteran-led peace-keeping projects. Attention to intersecting social identities and the use of professional self will be included in all class discussions. We will also focus on the effects of working with these clients as developing clinical social workers, with ongoing attention to secondary trauma and transference/countertransference processes. Priority is given to students who have worked with and who anticipate working with service members, veterans and their families and communities affected by armed conflict and collective trauma.
Coordinating Sequence: Practice
Fulfills: Practice Elective
Eligibility: Second or Third Year Summer
Examines clinical approaches for working with trans and gender non-conforming persons. The term "trans" serves to encompass those who identify as differing from the historic cisnormative binary of gender. Together we will examine the gender identity distinctions, intersections, and the related clinical implications - including those related to transference and countertransference. We will study a variety of clinical intervention approaches that are, and include, the following: psychodynamic and attachment theory related, trauma-informed, EMDR therapeutic, social neuroscience based, sex positive, anti-oppressive, and responsive to the social realities experienced by members of gender expansive communities. In regard to the lives of trans persons and the professional roles of social work, we will dissect and examine bigotry, prejudice, misogyny, heteronormativity, cisnormativity, transphobia, racism, stigma, and shame. Relevant issues will be explored - including depression, suicide, accessibility, and social injustice - in relation to clinical assessment, diagnoses, treatment planning, and evaluation. Diverse, interactive, and dynamic teaching methods will be used to reflect real-life experiences of gender diverse clients and clinicians, and these teaching methods also will capitalize on the expertise of global leaders and the classroom of students.
Coordinating Sequence: Practice
Fulfills: Practice Elective
Eligibility: Second or Third Year Summer
Uses Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction as a framework for introducing students to mindfulness as a foundation for professional self-care, and as a vehicle for cultivating some of the key therapeutic factors that can help you be a more effective clinician such as: presence, attentional control, self-regulation, empathy, compassion, and cognitive flexibility. Because you can't grasp mindfulness through concepts alone, this course is highly experiential in nature. Students are introduced to mindfulness through participating in guided meditation practices, and are invited to experiment with these practices on a daily basis for homework. Class discussion and assignments provide students with an opportunity to reflect on their experience of the practice, and to share both successes and challenges in applying mindfulness in their daily lives and work. Course readings review current research and theory on mindfulness as a framework for fostering personal and professional resilience and clinical skill development. This course focuses on fostering the clinician's own personal exploration of mindfulness, which serves as a first step towards developing competence in delivering mindfulness-informed interventions. Please be aware that in order to allow us to explore the full potential of the Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction Model, this course involves a distinct class schedule.
Coordinating Sequence: Practice
Fulfills: Practice Elective
Eligibility: Second or Third Year Summer
Knowing, not knowing, and muddling through will each be valued as essential and normative experiences as we encounter the inevitable therapeutic impasses, intense emotions, and unconscious processes inherent to the dynamic understanding of ourselves, others, and the clinical relationship. All clinical social workers experience positive and negative reactions toward their clients, and these reactions must be curiously examined to facilitate ethical and compassionate clinical care that fosters growth. A commitment toward an anti-racist and anti-oppressive lens, which values diversity and facilitates open dialogue, is expected, as well as a beginning understanding and appreciation of one’s own social identities and their effects on clinical relationships and interventions. The course will draw on a range of theoretical and clinical perspectives, including but not limited to psychodynamic (Relational/Intersubjective), contemplative, and CBT models. However, class members will be encouraged to conceptualize clinical material within whatever theoretical framework seems most useful to them and the clinical material at hand. Class time will include clinical presentations, discussion, and lecture.
Coordinating Sequence: Practice
Fulfills: Practice Elective
Eligibility: Second or Third Year Summer
Develops clinically meaningful understandings of working with people with disabilities. Through a psychodynamic lens, we will examine the ways in which systems of oppression/ableism impact intrapsychic resources, definitions of health, meanings of physical and cognitive variance, and strategies for healing. We will identify the trajectory of disability as an identity category from illness to disability pride. We will use the framework of Self Psychology to examine the impact of ableism on identity, development, attachment and resiliency. We will then develop strategies for increasing social and emotional resources toward an empowered sense of self.
Quarter Hours: 2
Coordinating Sequence: Practice
Fulfills: Practice Elective
Eligibility: Second or Third Year Summer
Adapt your practice to meet the unique and complex challenges that arise in college counseling settings. Together, we will examine some of the current issues that face college counseling centers and explore the pros and cons of contemporary models of service delivery. Learn about common mental health challenges such as suicidality, anxiety, and depression as well as developmental issues specific to the traditional college age population including identity and career exploration and the transition towards independence. Identify how to match treatment options to the needs of the student and draw on social work skills to provide a range of interventions including: risk assessment and crisis intervention; groups and workshops; and individual therapy in a brief/time-limited treatment setting. Practice learning/adapting a variety of theories to interventions in this setting including: crisis theory, relational psychodynamic theory, cognitive-behavioral theory and group theory. Consider the intersectionality of clinician and client as a central dynamic of treatment and explore readings that reflect the diverse identities of the populations served including the dimensions of race, ethnicity, gender, ability, military status, international status, first-generation college students, non-traditionally aged students and graduate students. Experiential exercises, case examples, small group discussions, and in-class activities will enable you to apply developing knowledge and build practical skills to provide comprehensive mental health treatment in a college counseling setting.
Coordinating Sequence: Practice
Fulfills: Practice Elective
Eligibility: Third Year Summer
Develops a working theoretical base for group psychotherapy, drawing from the Interpersonal, Psychodynamic, and Group-As-Whole perspectives. The emphasis will be on long-term group psychotherapy principles, which can serve as the basis for understanding phenomena that occur in all types of groups. To a limited extent, we will consider the applicability of these theories to short-term groups. Particular attention will be paid to: group dynamics, member selection and preparation, group formation, group development, and leadership techniques. We will also examine the role and impact of projective processes in group psychotherapy and consider the influence of diversity on group dynamics.
Coordinating Sequence: Practice
Fulfills: Practice Elective
Eligibility: Third Year Summer
Focuses on theory and practice of brief dynamic psychotherapy (BDP) with adult individuals. It is based on psychodynamic and developmental theories of personality organization, as well as on theories about the impact of time and time limits on the process of therapy. Topics to be covered include the evolution of brief therapy, the work of major contributors to the field, and consideration of treatment issues such as selection criteria, use of a dynamic focus, and use of transference and confrontation. Other topics include short-term work with more disturbed clients, and cross-cultural issues in brief treatment. Prior course work and clinical experience in longer-term therapy, specifically knowledge about the differential use of self in the treatment relationship and skills in psychosocial assessment, provide the foundation from which we examine the technical shifts that occur when treatment is time-limited.
Coordinating Sequence: Practice
Fulfills: Practice Elective
Eligibility: Second or Third Year Summer
Topics not included in the regular curriculum, but within the practice sequence. Specific title and description information will be posted in the registration portal for the term offered.
Coordinating Sequence: Practice
Fulfills: Practice Elective
Eligibility: Third Year Summer
Topics not included in the regular curriculum, but within the practice sequence. Specific title and description information will be posted in the registration portal for the term offered.