Electives (MSWEL-GS)
MSWEL-GS 2003 Social Work & The Law (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course familiarizes social work students with the justice systems
that govern the lives of many of our clients, specifically the child
welfare, juvenile justice, and criminal justice systems - with flexibility
based on the interests of the students. The intent of this course is to
help social workers understand the law and legal systems in order to be
more effective practitioners, clinicians and advocates. It will provide
students with information on the legal rights of individuals,
confidentiality, pertinent laws, and legal processes, as now more than
ever, social workers are needed to help improve our justice systems. Social
justice learning and growth will play a role throughout each class, and
students will gain both practical and clinical skills to enhance their
ability to support and to advocate for their future clients, including
legal writing, forensic interviewing, assessments, advocacy, and
testifying. Through role plays, group activities, case discussions, and a
mock trial, students will understand the professional dynamic between
lawyers and social workers, including their differing views and ethical
systems, as well as how to collaborate to ensure best outcomes for clients
in court.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2010 Clinical Practice With Children (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course helps students to develop the knowledge and skills essential to working with children in a variety of settings. Drawing on contemporary theories of child development and research, the course focuses on assessment; goal setting; the use of individual, family, and group modalities; interventive principles and techniques; advocacy; and mobilization of resources. The impact of poverty and oppression is emphasized. Special consideration is given to students' case presentations and child welfare case vignettes.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2023 Independent Study (1 Credit)
Typically offered occasionally
Students may engage in individual study in selected curriculum areas under special circumstances. The independent work is approved if the student furnishes evidence of mastery of the basic content in the social work area selected. The work done by the student in this course is carried out with the guidance of a member of the full-time faculty.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes
MSWEL-GS 2024 Independent Study (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
Students may engage in individual study in selected curriculum areas under special circumstances. The independent work is approved if the student furnishes evidence of mastery of the basic content in the social work area selected. The work done by the student in this course is carried out with the guidance of a member of the full-time faculty.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: Yes
MSWEL-GS 2028 Clinical Practice With Substance Users & Their Families (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course focuses on assessment of and intervention with substance abusers and their families. It prepares students with the skills essential to a range of social work roles and practice modalities that can be used with this population. Stereotyped attitudes toward substance abusers are discussed. Special issues related to women, youth, the homeless, and dually diagnosed mentally ill/substance abusing populations are explored. Selected social policy and service delivery issues and research findings are considered.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2046 Social Work Practice in Child Welfare (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course provides students with the specialized knowledge and skills needed for practice in the field of child welfare. Course content includes an overview of relevant historical, legal, developmental, research, and policy issues. Within this framework, a range of social work services to children and families is examined from a practice perspective.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2049 Clin Prac With Couples (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course examines the principles and techniques of couple intervention from a variety of theoretical frameworks. Intervention with traditional and nontraditional forms of couple relationships is considered in the light of the differing nature of clients' presenting problems, diversity, and the agency setting. The interventive process is examined in depth.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2051 Object Relations (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
The works of several theorists from both the object relations and ego psychology schools are studied. Theorists such as Jacobson, Hartmann, Klein, Fairbairn, Guntrip, and Winnicott are covered.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2053 Cognitive & Behavioral Intervention (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course considers the value base and theoretical and research underpinnings of cognitive and behavior intervention and the use and integration of these models within a biopsychosocial perspective. Practice principles and techniques that can be used in work with a variety of client problems are examined along with ethical issues.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2055 Social Work Practice with Traumatized Children and Adolescents (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This elective course offers students the opportunity to deepen their
knowledge about traumatic events and life stressors that impact
children/adolescents and their families. A bio-psycho-social perspective
with emphasis on attachment and emotional regulation is used to prepare
students to work with trauma in the context of their family, school, social
and support systems Children’s/adolescent’s coping mechanisms and
resiliency are examined, particularly related to children exposed to
multiple and severe life stressors. Evidence-based models of treatment and
prevention involving the child, family and community will be discussed.
Trauma scenarios studied will include but are not limited to: community and
family violence and neglect and stressors such as poverty, interpersonal
violence, bullying, systemic and historical trauma, illness and loss.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2059 Clin Prac W/Adult Surv Sexual Abuse & Violence (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
after considering the role of societal attitudes that are crucial in understanding the prevalence of sexual abuse, the course focuses on helping students to understand the special needs of both female and male adult survivors of sexual abuse and violence. It explores the stigma attached to victims of incest and rape. It prepares students to recognize the presence and to explore the history of sexual abuse, and it equips them with the skills essential to the use of the individual, family, and group intervention with this population. Current controversies (e.g., regarding the law, the press, and sexism) are addressed.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2063 Social Work & Family Violence (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
In the U.S., a woman is battered by her partner, lover, or husband every
nine seconds. Yet, clinicians and advocates are often unprepared for the
unique challenges posed by working with survivors of intimate abuse.
Drawing on clinical and policy traditions, this course will teach you the
skills you need to address the complex practice and legal issues these
clients face. You will learn how victims of domestic violence survive the
trauma experience and how your clinical and advocacy work with battered
women can be used to change how the legal system responds to them. The
course content focuses on the needs, interests, clinical, and policy
concerns of survivors of intimate abuse, batterers, children who witness
domestic violence, and on communities of color.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2064 Social Work Practice with Adolescents in Schools (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course is a practice elective which focuses on social work practice
within secondary schools (junior and senior high schools) as well as the
normative developmental tasks and concerns/problems of early, middle, and
late adolescents within school settings. The course will provide an
overview of a wide range of social work roles, program models, modalities,
and interventive strategies within schools. Attention will be given to a
variety of social work roles including, clinical practice with adolescents,
parents, families, and groups; consultation and collaboration with
interdisciplinary staff within schools and neighboring communities; as well
as prevention, program development, and organizational/systems work within
schools. Specific areas of focus will include: academic and learning
problems, special education, depression and suicidality, acting-out
behaviors, issues related to health and sexuality, bullying, violence
prevention/intervention, and substance use/abuse.advocacy, and mediation are emphasized. The course addresses current urban issues that influence school practice such as violence, homelessness, AIDS, substance abuse, physical and sexual abuse, diversity, and cross-cultural communication.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2082 An Intro to Conflict Mediation (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course is an introduction to the theory and practice of conflict resolution with an emphasis on social work applications. Students will learn the communication skills necessary for conflict resolution processes. Topics covered will include neutrality skills, causes of conflict, intervention strategies, differential use of the conflict resolution process. Practical skills in mediation, negotiation and conciliation will be covered. Multi-party conflict resolution and application of conflict resolution skills to organizational practice will be touched on. Uses of mediation in divorce and custody cases will be reviewed.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2086 Clinical Practice With Families (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course will offer students an introduction to social work practice with children and their families and will acquaint students with the diversity of family composition, family rules and family roles in the 2000's. Students will learn about conventional nuclear family composition, the single-parent home, foster and adoptive homes, homes where children and parents are cross-racial dyads and triads, and homes where lesbian or gay partners are engaged in rearing a natural-born and/or an adopted child. Engaging such families from diverse racial, ethnic, economic, religious and cultural backgrounds will be a major focus in this course, in order to promote students? Current Issues in Contemporary Family Life.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2087 Grief, Loss and Bereavement (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course will introduce the student to the signs and affects related to grief, loss and bereavement. Each will be defined, described, and presented in how it appears in latent or manifest form. The overall objective of this course is to help students understand acknowledged and unacknowledged grief and/or depression and the effects of significant losses in life. The process of mourning will be illustrated with case vignettes and presented with focus on the life cycle and examined in accord with particular developmental issues per age and stage of life.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2088 Theories of Attachment in Early Development (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
The overall objective of this course is to look at attachment in infancy and early childhood in a contemporary cultural context. Various theories and relevant research are reviewed from a critical perspective. The dialectic between attachment and separation will be explored. Attachment is viewed in the context of an expanding environment with consideration of multiple caretakers, multiple social roles, and diversity of family life and parenting roles.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2095 Sexual and Gender Minorities: Past, Present, Future (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
FORMERLY TITLED CONTEMPORARY GLBT ISSUES. This course aims to prepare students for competency in micro and macro practice with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people by providing a deeper understanding of the history and construction of sexual and gender minority identities and communities around the world. It will also examine the experience of minority stress by members of these populations, including sources of stress as well as sources of support in families and communities.
Intersectionality, social and economic justice, and a global perspective
will provide a framework for understanding these issues.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2096 Cult.Competent Pract/W Urban Youth/Families (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course provides students with an opportunity to develop engagement, assessment and intervention skills in individual, family, and group work with urban youth (aged 11-21). TThis course provides students with an opportunity to develop engagement, assessment and intervention skills in individual, family, and group work with urban youth (aged 11-21). The course will focus on practice within a wide range of government and agency-based settings, including: prevention, school, mental health, foster care, criminal justice and residential programs. Attention will be given to the development of skills that foster interdisciplinary collaboration within and between urban systems of care. There will be a focus on understanding the ways in which racism and other forms of oppression can impact both adolescent development and social service delivery systems.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2101 Forensic Justice and Problem-Solving Courts (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
Social work clinicians play a key role in a new approach to criminal justice: therapeutic jurisprudence. Students will become familiar with traditional court approaches in a variety of cases and how the presence of the social work professional in the courtroom results in case resolutions that are more meaningful for the court, for the community and for the defendant. Participants will become familiar with court papers and presenting clinical recommendations in court. The goals of the judge, the prosecution and the defense in both the traditional and therapeutic/problem-solving courts will be discussed. The course concludes with an overview of therapeutic courts nationally and internationally.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2102 Introduction to Art Therapy (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
Fundamental principles of art therapy practice will be presented through
discussions and case presentations. Students learn the historical
development of the profession, its distinction from other disciplines and
its commonalities to social sciences. Basic pictorial analyses examine
artistic processes and products. Students study the artistic expression
across the developmental span. Clinical applications for populations
struggling with varied psychological and physiological issues are offered.
Each class includes experiential art making to demonstrate interventions.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2104 Evidence Based Practice (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course is aimed at developing the knowledge and skills necessary for working with individuals with a diagnosis of serious mental illness using recovery-oriented, evidence-based practices. It is designed for MSW students and MSW mental health practitioners. Students will become familiar with evidence-based practices, within a recovery-oriented paradigm, as a general approach to practice as well as specific evidence-based interventions to use for individuals with a diagnosis of serious mental illness. It is assumed that students will have a basic knowledge of serious mental illness as a pre- or co-requisite, however a review will be provided. Students will learn to examine research literature to determine the various levels of support for specific interventions and essential principles for translating research into practice. In addition, they will identify the appropriate treatment outcomes that reflect effective, quality mental health practice. Each evidence-based practice presented will also be examined for its utility with diverse groups. Providing assessment and treatment to a diverse group of individuals with a diagnosis of serious mental illness is the focus of this course and will be discussed in detail.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2115 Social Work Practice with Immigrants/Refugees (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This practice elective is designed to help students address the special
needs and problems faced by immigrant and refugee clients and communities,
and to develop culturally competent knowledge, skills, and values that will
improve delivery of culturally sensitive and culturally responsive services
for refugees and displaced persons, both domestically and internationally.
This course will examine social work practice in relation to major themes,
including the refugee experience; the impact of relocation on individuals,
families and communities; and the psychological ramifications of war
trauma. This practice elective is designed to help students address the
special needs and problems faced by immigrant and refugee clients and
communities, and to develop culturally competent knowledge, skills, and
values that will improve delivery of culturally sensitive and culturally
responsive services for refugees and displaced persons, both domestically
and internationally. This course will examine social work practice in
relation to major themes, including the refugee experience; the impact of
relocation on individuals, families and communities; the psychological
ramifications of war trauma and torture; and the phenomenon of human
trafficking. Interventions with individuals, families, and communities will
be explored across cultures with particularly vulnerable populations. The
course will provide an overview of such issues as loss and mourning for
homeland; adaptation and coping with a new culture; cross-cultural and
inter-ethnic group conflicts; resettlement and family reunification issues;
and a range of world view perspectives including acculturation and
assimilation, biculturalism, marginality, and traditional ethnic
identities. The course will emphasize the advocacy and empowerment roles of
social workers when addressing U.S. social policies towards immigrants in
the wake of 9/11, and in fighting against anti-immigrant policies,
sanctions, and discriminatory practices.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2116 Research Project Sem II (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
Course description coming soon.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2117 Clinical Practice With Aging Populations (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course provides an introduction to theoretical frameworks and practice of clinical social work interventions with older adults and their families. It is designed to familiarize students with the biological, psychological and social aspects of the aging process. Emphasis is placed on understanding late-life problems and mental disorders, on developing skills in diagnostic assessment, and on formulating and implementing treatment plans. Students are expected to develop proficiency with the core competencies in geriatric social work, including the provision of comprehensive assessment and intervention skills.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2120 Creative Arts Therapy in Clinical Social Work (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course will cover the application of creative arts therapy theory and practice within a social work framework. The class will focus primarily on the field of art therapy, but will also include some exposure, through guest lecturers, to other non-verbal creative arts modalities such as: music therapy, drama therapy, and movement/dance therapy. The class is designed to include a substantial amount of hands-on artmaking and role-play to provide students with practical tools for incorporating the arts into practice with a variety of populations. The course will utilize case material from students’ field work when appropriate to illustrate how to design effective art therapy interventions. The following populations and topics will be covered as they relate to art and therapy interventions: client engagement; treatment planning; developmental stages of drawing, work with children, adolescents, adults and families; trauma; relational abuse; cultural sensitivity, and the unique counter-transference issues of non-verbal therapies.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2127 Community Organization (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
Community organizing and community social work have historically been and
continue to be an essential part of social work. Community organizing is
rooted in the values of the social work profession and provides a practical
framework for movements toward social and economic justice at a community
level. Community organizing can be seen as one tool to redress imbalances
between individual and communities experiencing oppression, and structures,
institutions and people administering power over them. Essential to the
success of community organizing is an understanding and ongoing practice of
intersectionality, self reflection, and authentic listening - all of which
will be central themes of this course. This elective will offer the student
an overview of how methods of community organizing accomplish goals that
are relevant to social workers, how to develop a personal narrative and
practice for community work, as well as opportunities to practice the
skills and strategies of community organizing in the real world. The course
is divided into four sections: (1) History: Movements, Power, and
Organizing; (2) Self: Personal Narrative, Reflection, & Organizing
Practice; (3) Community: Social Services & Community Organizing; (4)
Practice: Organizing in Action.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2129 Clinical Practice With Children & Their Families (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course will introduce students to the foundations of clinical work with children focusing on the history and development of child therapy, including working with parents, therapy techniques and the therapeutic process. The course will heighten the student's sensitivity to the experiential world of the child.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2131 Critical Analysis Psychotherapy Theories (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course will take a critical-analysis approach to considering the
contributions and often excessive claims of selected theories of
psychotherapy, with a focus on evidence-based theories. We will rely
heavily on microanalysis of videoed clinical interviews as well as readings
in the research and scholarly literature to evaluate each theory. By
considering how the client’s problem, which is addressed in a video from
one theoretical framework, can be approached through a multi-theoretical
lens, we will work towards achieving an integrative clinical perspective.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2132 Depression: Conceptual Issues & Clinical Perspe (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This intensive course will critically examine selected recent developments
and controversies over how depressive disorder and pathological grief are
defined, diagnosed, and treated. The emphasis will be on evidence-based
practice. Videos will be used wherever possible to learn and critique
specific clinical approaches. We will also examine the changes to the
diagnosis of mood disorders and grief disorders in DSM-5 and the upcoming
DSM-5-TR, and the intense debates that swirled around these diagnostic
changes. Readings will draw on both the empirical-research and
conceptual-theoretical literatures. Theories to be considered tentatively
include Interpersonal Psychotherapy, Evolutionary Psychological Approaches,
Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy, Behavioral Analysis, Acceptance and
Commitment/Mindfulness Therapy, Brief Psychodynamic Therapy, and
Complicated Grief Treatment. The format is combined lecture/seminar.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2136 Inequalities in Globalization (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
How are globalization processes affecting the lives of people in the world? The course examines the movement of people, commodities, and capital and the ways in which these processes are changing economies and cultures. The course will cover aspects of transnationalism and migration, production, distribution and consumption practices in global perspective, the formation of new identities and the construction of minorities, gender dynamics and the pursuit of human rights. We will adopt a multidisciplinary perspective to examine the relations between economy, society and culture. The focus will be on understanding the generation of inequalities (poverty, wealth, luxury, and marginalization) in globalization.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2146 Management and Organizational Practice for 21st Century Social Work (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
The demands and opportunities for social workers today require that they be knowledgeable about management practice and organizational issues whether in a solo practice, in a supervisory position, as a direct line service provider, or as a social entrepreneur. The interrelated aims of this course are to: 1) survey selected management and organization theories and approaches; 2) demonstrate how clinical knowledge and skills can be adapted for management and organizational practice; 3) demonstrate how social media can be effectively used to advance organizational goals; 4) demonstrate the ways that anthropological, sociological, and humanistic mind-sets and methods apply to understanding organizations; 5) introduce learners to key organizational factors such as organizational culture, mission, ethics, employee relations, financing, innovation, accountability, and fund raising. In addition to the opportunity to develop a social media project for an organization, the course offers the opportunity to engage in a hands-on class project similar to what consultants might do.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2152 Practice with Families: Comparative Approaches (Paris) (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This intensive "advanced topics" course, to be given at the NYU Paris site in June 2012, will critically examine selected recent controversies over the boundary between normality and mental disorder in the areas of depression, bereavement, and sexuality, with attention to international perspectives. Readings will draw on both the empirical-research and conceptual literatures. Guest lecturers may include French theorists and clinicians. We will also consider evidence-based approaches to treatment of depression. Emphasis will be on issues that are part of the debate over how diagnosis should be revised in DSM-5. The format is combined lecture/seminar. Reading and other assignments will be provided before the first class so that students can read ahead, due to the intensive nature of the course. Assignments include a reading log and final paper due after the course is over. The course will be graded pass/fail.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2154 Women's Health & Community Well-Being: A Collaborative Ethnography in Del Carmen, Philippines (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
In this course, students will be an active part of an ongoing research
study that includes implementing interactive workshops and leading focus
and discussion groups on women's health and resilience, reproductive
health, domestic violence, and community economic development, among other
issues. Students will be trained to work with local residents, conduct
qualitative interviews, collect data, lead discussion groups using a
curriculum, and fully engage with the community. Students will acquire
basic knowledge and skills for conducting community evaluations and
community needs assessments using community-based participatory action and
collaborative ethnographic techniques. The first two weeks of the course
will be classroom-based and dedicated to learning a curriculum focused on
qualitative data collection in multiple forms, facilitation, and community
engagement. Then the class will travel to the Philippines, where they will
be grouped into teams with locals, using a participant-observer strategy to
gain intimate familiarity with people in their natural environment. The
final sessions will include students and community members in an analysis
and goal priority setting process. Other strategies involved will be
writing field notes, conducting one-on-one interviews, and qualitative data
analysis.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2161 Mindfulness and Social Work Practice (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course examines historical and contemporary understanding of contemplative practices and potential effectiveness with social work students, clinicians, and their respective client populations. Students will explore, compare and contrast Eastern and Western worldviews to gain a better understanding of the impact of mindfulness practices. The outcomes of neurological and psychophysiological studies demonstrate the relationship of mind-body connection. These empirical findings show mindfulness based practices increase level of self-awareness, clinical attunement and level of self-care to cope with emotional exhaustion, vicarious trauma and burn out. This class includes an integration of western empirical knowledge and practice wisdom of the east (i.e., breathing exercises, meditation, body scan, and eastern meridian and Qi Gong exercises). Course only offered to 2nd year students.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2173 Core Concepts in Child and Adolescent Trauma (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
Description: This course will prepare MSW students for trauma-informed
evidence-based practice by enhancing students' empathic understanding of
trauma from the child's perspective and how trauma influences the child's
life. The course focus is on the impact of trauma on the child and family
provides a foundation for assessment, crisis intervention, and
intervention. The curriculum is based on twelve guiding core concepts
developed about trauma and utilizes a problem-based learning approach, in
which in-depth case studies about the impact of trauma are presented so
that students experience "real" cases as they actually unfold in practice. The
cases focus on children and adolescents, aged 18 months to 17 years, from a
variety of ethnic and racial groups representing urban, suburban and rural
environments and illustrate a number of different trauma types, including
interpersonal trauma such as physical, emotional and sexual abuse, and
witness to both stranger and domestic violence. The Problem-Based Learning
approach used in this course involves students in active, collaborative,
team-oriented self-directed learning.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2174 The transition to adulthood among historically marginalized groups: Research, practice, and policy (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course integrates up-to-date research, practice, and policy knowledge on individuals transitioning to adulthood from historically marginalized groups (e.g., LGBTQ+ youth, racial and ethnic minority youth, immigrant and refugee youth). The course will include class sessions on both research and evidence-based practice approaches to work effectively with youth in transition to improve their overall health and well being, while also discussing the policy landscape related to current issues facing these young people. Specific topics that will be addressed include a) understanding and critiquing theories of young adult development, b) strategies for engaging young adults in mental health and social services, c) social work practice approaches with specific populations of youth and young adults including those in out-of-home care, LGBTQ+ youth and young adults, and immigrant and refugee youth, and d) the impact of various social policies on young adult access to and use of services, and overall development.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2175 Homelessness in Perspective (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This course introduces students to the history and current
status of homelessness in the U.S. and abroad focusing on research,
practice and policy implications. The course will address the following
topics: 1) history and causes of the homeless ‘epidemic’; 2) the homeless
‘industry’ as understood through the lens of organizational and
institutional theories; 3) the rise of Housing First as paradigm shift and
the systems changes that have ensued; 3) specific populations including
homeless families, youths, and the chronic homeless; 4) best practices in
outreach and engagement with homeless persons; 5) homeless policies and
drivers of change (legal, advocacy, research); 6) research on homelessness
and homeless services in the U.S. and other countries.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2189 Anthropological Perspectives in Global Health (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
As the profession of social work expands globally, its role in health and
social welfare can be informed by the contributions of anthropology.
Medical anthropology in particular highlights the importance of cultural,
social and structural factors in health and illness. The field embraces
micro-perspectives relevant to social work practice (patient explanatory
models, structural competence, bio-cultural and intersectional identities
in gender, race, sexuality). It also includes structural critiques relevant
to global health and social policy (social suffering, bio-power, structural
violence and capabilities theory). This course will introduce students to
anthropological perspectives and their application to global problems such
as human trafficking, HIV/AIDS, mass violence and mental disorders.
Emphasis will be placed on the synergy between global social work and
medical anthropology.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2190 Clinical Social Work with Military Service Members and Veterans (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
This elective course is intended to provide social work graduate students
with specialized knowledge to deliver informed, culturally competent, and
ethical clinical social work services to current U.S. military service
members and Veterans. This course will help student intervene to meet the
mental health and psychosocial needs of this growing population. The
course utilizes research data, case examples, and Veteran first-hand
accounts such as documentary film and fiction, to illustrate the range of
experiences and psychosocial reactions to war-zone deployment, homecoming,
and military sexual trauma. Emphasis is given primarily to Iraq and
Afghanistan Veterans, but the course also attends to diverse populations
and Veterans from other war eras and peacetime. Focus is paid to the role
military culture can play as protective and risk factors, and to the
clinical implications of service members’ concerns about stigma. The
course highlights ethics and ethical dilemmas of providing social work
within the military sector.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2191 Mass Incarceration: Implications for Social Work (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
There are more the 2 million people incarcerated today in the United
States, and there are over 7 million people under the surveillance
mechanisms of parole, probation, and other forms of community supervision.
Women are the fastest growing prison population, and over 2 million
children have a parent in prison. Some have aptly titled the constellation
of problems associated with this period “mass incarceration,” a period
which has also greatly exacerbated the challenges facing social workers in
their pursuit of social justice. This course provides a critical historical
analysis of the criminal justice system in the United States. It examines
the implications of varying criminal justice and social policies such as
the Rockefeller Drug Laws, 3-Strike Legislation, and Mandatory Minimums and
their legacy vis a vis the current state of incarceration, as well as the
phenomenon of “recidivism.” The course is intended to facilitate a more
informed/holistic practice for MSW students working directly or indirectly
within the varying intersections of criminal justice and social work
practice and, by extension, advocacy and policy.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2194 Clinical Practice with Trauma Survivors (3 Credits)
Typically offered occasionally
A high percentage of clients in outpatient treatment and a higher
percentage of patients of inpatient hospitals report histories of trauma
including neglect, abuse and/or attachment failure. In addition to being
diagnosed with PTSD, this client population often presents as affectively
dysregulated, chronically depressed, exhibiting symptoms of bipolar
disorder, anxiety disorder or personality disorders. This course will help
the students understand the symptoms, issues and neurological basis of
traumatization and how to work with patients in an effective way. This
course will introduce students to a wide variety of modalities to trauma
treatment and interventions including safely exploring trauma- related
somatic activation, mindfulness for symptom reduction, emotional
processing, body- oriented therapy, cognitive behavior therapy (including
cognitive restructuring), and art and creative therapies.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2195 Exercising Leadership in the Non-Profit and Public Sectors (3 Credits)
A key premise of the course is that leadership requires
helping communities and organizations make the adaptations needed to thrive
and survive in rapidly changing contexts. Effective management must be
deployed to preserve successful institutional behaviors whereas leadership
is needed to ensure that practices no longer serving organizational or
community interests are discarded and that new innovations are pursued to
generate greater impact. However, such adaptive work can be extremely
challenging when longstanding practices are hardwired into the DNA of
organizations through years and even decades of practice. In this context,
the work of leadership is about accompanying people through the realities
and losses of necessary change while opening them up to the promise of the
future. The course will introduce students to a set of tools and strategies
for effectively bringing about that change within organizations and
communities, without getting sidelined in the process.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2197 Advocacy and Social Justice in Social Work Practice (3 Credits)
Advocacy and the pursuit of social justice have long been core values of
the social work profession. The NASW's Code of Ethics stipulates that
social workers challenge social injustice as one of its six Ethical
Principles. Advocacy, as a set of actions taken to achieve social justice
for individuals, communities or systems, is a professional mandate and the
cornerstone upon which social work is built. This course seeks to prepare
students to engage in advocacy practice oriented towards social justice.
Students will receive an overview of the historical roots of advocacy in
the social work profession and the role of structural racism, oppression,
and marginalization in contemporary social injustices. Students will also
learn how to apply Hoefer's (2016) Unified Model of Advocacy Practice in
their work with clients or communities.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2198 Comparative Mental Health Policy and Practice in the United Kingdom and the US (3 Credits)
This elective course will be taught at the University of Strathclyde in
Glasgow, Scotland. The course takes a cross-cultural and cross-national
approach to mental health, mental health services, and policy in the United
Kingdom and the United States. Informed by the social determinants of
health framework, the course will focus on how mental health relates to
issues of social and economic justice. The first part of the course will
compare and contrast the approach to social welfare in these two countries
with a particular focus on the differing health care systems. Differences
and similarities with regard to government role, funding and role of social
workers will be explored. The second part of the course will present
understandings of mental health within the global context, the social
determinants of mental health, and mental health reform in the UK and the
US. We will focus on the promotion of integrated health care and mental
health recovery in the two countries and their influence on practice and
policy. The course will conclude with a discussion of social inclusion,
comparing its meaning in US and the UK, and presenting innovative
developments in the field aimed at including people with lived experience
of mental illnesses in all aspects of society.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2199 Theories and Issues of Aging (3 Credits)
This course examines a broad range of theories and contemporary issues in
aging that relate to social work practice with older adults and their
families. Domains of inquiry include biological, psychological, and
sociological perspectives of aging and older adults. There is a critical
examination of the social constructions of old age, social work values and
ethics, and social work practice within an aging society at the individual,
community, and institutional level. Specific consideration is given to
heterogeneity of the older adult and aging population in the areas of age,
gender, race and ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, religious, physical
or mental disability, and national origin. Additionally, the diversity of
experiences, activities, roles, and responsibilities of older adults are
evaluated as they related to aging theories and issues such as productive
aging, intergenerational relationships, and cultural norms. Social and
economic justice, evidence-based practice, and capacity building are
highlighted throughout the course. Students will participate in
community/applied learning projects as an integral part of this course.
Professional communication skills will be practiced. Throughout the course,
we will discuss how to apply the tenants of evidence-based practice and
prevention to the theories and issues that impact aging.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2200 Clinical Practice with Chronic and Life-Limiting Illness (3 Credits)
This course focuses on preparation for working with those who
have chronic and life-limiting illnesses as well as their families and
support systems. Students will examine the nature of what it means to live
with or care for someone with a chronic or life-limiting illness; learn
about major theories of chronic illness experience and caregiving; and
acquire understanding about the impact of multiple illness and disease
trajectories on clinical practice. They will gain confidence and skills in
assessment and intervention across a variety of conditions and settings,
and in critically analyzing their own experience with illness and suffering
as it relates to what feeds and informs their work.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2202 Evidence-based Practice Models for Trauma (3 Credits)
This course will focus on clients who have been affected by a wide scope
of traumatic events, ranging from interpersonal violence and sexual abuse
to single event individual, family, group and community traumas such as
school and workplace violence to national and international disasters.
Students will learn evidenced-based practice models of trauma as will as
issues related to secondary and shared trauma experienced by service
providers.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2203 Advanced Diversity, Racism, Oppression, and Privilege for Social Work Practice (3 Credits)
The Advanced Diversity, Racism, Oppression, and Privilege for Social Work
Practice elective aims to shift the clinical focus away from dominant
mental health paradigms and toward a multicultural praxis base that is
inclusive and reflective of the diversity of valued health and well-being
outcomes across cultures, peoples and communities. The curriculum is
informed by a multi-disciplinary foundation of critical theories, an
understanding of the significance of intersectionality and identity in
context, integration of systems and strengths perspectives, and active
anti-oppressive practice. Opportunities to integrate learning into
practice will include case presentations, practice reflections, and peer
collaboration.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2204 Critical Digital Practices for Social Justice Advocacy (3 Credits)
This course provides an overview and critical perspectives on
digital practices for social justice advocacy, and hands-on experience with
a variety of modes, methods, and applications. The course itself is
designed with principles of digital pedagogies so that students have the
opportunity to learn by using many of the tools now available that have
potential for advocacy practice. The emphasis is social justice advocacy,
community support and development, group building, communication, and
client support. The course is informed by a critical perspective on digital
platforms, which means that both the affordances and constraints of the
platforms will be under observation. In addition two learning to recognize
fake news and conspiracy mongering sites, student teams will be assigned to
investigate the auspices and business models of the platforms we use and
consult.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2205 Human Services and Social Work in China (3 Credits)
Social work profession and practice have presented a significant progress
in China in the last decade. China has adopted social work as a means of
sustaining economic development and actualizing a “harmonious society.”
Given that social work practice skills (clinical and community) have been
used in a different context, the focus of the course is to learn the
different practice models, approaches and perspectives in China, and
investigate how local practice can help promote human well-being and social
development. It is expected that students would be able to develop a
critical and analytical understanding of cross-cultural practice.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2206 The Role of Emotions in Clinical Social Work (3 Credits)
This course aims to provide a basic understanding of the complexity of
research on emotions since Darwin's seminal work, and to provide practical
and clinical knowledge and experience in two prevalent and different
therapy techniques that focus on emotions. Theory, study and experience of
emotions will first be examined generally and then through the clinical and
theoretical underpinnings of Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Therapy
(AEDP) and Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT). The course will provide an
overview of these therapy techniques specifically concentrating on the way
they view and utilize emotions in the work with clients. In class we will
ask and try to answer: What are emotions? Are there basic and universal
emotions? Why and how are emotions wired into our mind and body? What is
the connection between emotions and attachment? What happens when we don't
allow our emotions to be felt? What are pathologies that are connected with
emotion suppression and regulation/dysregulation, and how do DBT and AEDP
suggest to treat them? This class will also have an experiential component
allowing students to practice skills teaching and watching videos of real
sessions utilizing these techniques.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2207 The Human-Animal Bond (3 Credits)
This three-credit elective examines the Human-Animal Bond (HAB) and its
importance to client and community health. HAB is a dynamic and mutually
beneficial relationship between people and animals that is influenced by
behaviors that are essential to the health and well-being of both. This
includes, but is not limited to, emotional, psychological, and physical
interactions of people, animals and the environment. Veterinary Social
Work is an area of social work practice that attends to the human needs
that arise in the intersection of veterinary medicine and social work.
Current issues in Veterinary Social Work will be discussed, including HAB
in disaster relief, homelessness, and domestic violence, animal-assisted
therapy, and grief counseling for pet Loss. Attention will be given to the
importance of advocacy and promoting change in existing policies to
incorporate the human-animal bond.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2208 Introduction to Mental Health in Athletes and Clinical Social Work (3 Credits)
This course introduces students to theories, assessments and interventions
specific to working with athletes on and off the playing field. The course
examines the roles and functions of sport clinical social workers with
athletes in areas of mental health and well- being, advocacy, and
interdisciplinary consultation through the lens of intersectionality and
anti-oppression perspectives. Diversity and social justice issues such as
racism, sexism, ableism, classism, exploitation, and equity are explored.
Students will examine current research and best practices including
biopsychosocial factors, risks, and barriers that athletes face for overall
mental health and well-being. Case examples, group discussion, interactive
role play, and lecture methods are utilized to enhance student learning.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2210 Core Components and Skills for Trauma-Informed Practice (3 Credits)
This course facilitates students' acquisition of the knowledge, skills, and
attitudes necessary to effectively use 12 common trauma-informed practice
elements in interventions for and the treatment of traumatized children and their families. The course conceptualizes a trajectory of intervention that considers the impact of trauma, intervention objectives, and the practice elements needed to facilitate the intervention objectives. This course is taught using an inquiry-based learning (IBL) pedagogy to enhance students' engagement and learning using full-length cases to exemplify a range of different clients a clinician might encounter. The course uses discussion and active participation in examining the cases.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2211 The Role of School Social Workers in the Micro, Meso, and Macro Relationships of the Depart of Educ (3 Credits)
This elective will focus on the micro, meso, and macro issues in the New
York City School System. School social workers bear witness and address
multi disparities that students in our system experience, including, but
not limited to, housing and food insecurity, rise in suicidal ideation,
violence with the NYPD, interactions with ICE and family member
deportations, poverty, and daily trauma. Schools are closely linked and
required to partner with many other systems in our city, including
hospitals, mental health organizations, NYPD, and ACS. This course will
first address the challenges we see within the school system and the
partnership with school social workers and then address the systemic
changes we can make in the required outside partnerships, including, but
not limited to, mental health resources, NYPD, and ACS. Finally, this class
will closely address the segregation and racism in the NYC School System
and strategies to create systemic change.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2212 Ethical Dilemmas and Solutions to Achieve Social Justice (3 Credits)
This course is an introductory survey of the principles and practice of
social ethics. Students will first learn the foundations of ethical theory
(normative ethics and some metaethics). The bulk of the class will be spent
in applying these theoretical frameworks to a range of social problems -
affirmative action, abortion, substance use, and migration, among others -
using cases and current news articles. Students will disseminate these
applications through an ethics blog, and learn to participate in the
marketplace of ideas in a reasoned way.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2213 Social Work Practice & Interventions in Urban School Settings (3 Credits)
This practice elective is focused on the development of expertise in social
work practice and interventions within school settings. The focus is on
developing knowledge, values, and skills applicable to social work practice
within schools (elementary, junior high, and high schools) addressing the
needs of diverse populations. The course provides an overview of a wide
range of social work roles, evidenced-based program models, modalities, and
interventive strategies for practice in school settings including, public
and charter schools, school-based health clinics, agency-school
collaborations, and/or after-school programs. Attention will be given to
anti-oppressive and culturally responsive clinical practice with students,
parents, families, and groups; advocacy, consultation, and collaboration
with interdisciplinary staff within schools and neighboring communities;
crisis intervention and prevention, program development, and
organizational/systems work within schools.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2214 Summer Experiential Seminar (3 Credits)
This course examines a broad range of theories and contemporary issues,
including COVID-19, that relate to social work practice across various
populations. Domains of inquiry include biological, psychological,
economic, and sociological perspectives to identity, health, and
development. There is a critical examination of the social constructions of
age, social work values and ethics, and social work practice at the
individual, community, and institutional levels. Specific consideration is
given to heterogeneity of the populations in the areas of age, gender, race
and ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, religious, physical or mental
disability, and national origin. Additionally, the diversity of
experiences, activities, roles, and responsibilities of clients as they
relate to cultural and institutional norms. Social and economic justice,
evidence-based practice, and capacity building are highlighted throughout
the seminar.
Students will participate in community/applied learning projects as an
integral part of this course. Professional communication skills will be
practiced. Throughout the course, we will discuss how to apply the tenets
of evidence-based practice to the theories and issues that develop.
Discussion of relevant theories and evidence of COVID-19 will be a theme
throughout the semester. This course aims to have students critically
integrate academic concepts into their paid summer internship experience.
Prerequisites: 1) It is expected that students would have already
identified a paid internship, preferably in their substantive area of
interest, before registering for the course. 2) Students must receive
approval by their academic advisor prior to registering for the course.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2215 Migration, Intersectionality, Human Rights (3 Credits)
According to the United Nations, the global number of forcibly displaced
people worldwide surpassed 100 million, breaking all previous records. This
number continues to increase due to ongoing political unrest, violence, and
climate crisis. Despite the increase in global displacement numbers, it is
vital to acknowledge the heightened xenophobia and racism experienced by
immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers across the globe. It is equally
important to consider how political discourse on who is deserving of
resettlement is shaped by legacies of colonialism, racism, and imperialism.
This course will explore global migration through an intersectional human
rights framework that allows students to critically examine forced
displacement through holistic anti-oppressive and anti-racist perspectives.
In doing so, we will cover a wide range of issues facing displaced
populations including refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented minors, and
stateless people. Students will also learn about how responses from
policymakers including governments, UN agencies, and NGOs shape and impact
the lives of displaced people.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2216 Philanthropy and Strategic Resource Mobilization (3 Credits)
All social work activity, organizations, and initiatives require resources
to carry out their aims. This course provides an overview of resource
mobilization and the world of philanthropy and fundraising and places such
in the context of leadership for the field. Thinking and acting
strategically and reflectively as leaders, and then aligning and mobilizing
resources to advance social work aims is a core theme of the course, which
will include: 1) a conceptual examination of the notions of "resources" and
"philanthropy", 2) a consideration of the interplay between leadership and
resource mobilization, and 3) a specific focus on philanthropic strategies,
tactics and skills.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2217 Anti-Oppressive Policy and Practice in a Global Context (3 Credits)
This course aims to provide students an opportunity to learn, compare, and
discuss anti-oppressive global policy and practice with an immersive/service learning component beginning in Washington Square before traveling internationally.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 2300 Seminar on Preparation for Social Work in the United States (0 Credits)
The purpose of this Seminar is to prepare international students for
professional development, Field education in the MSW Program, and social
work practice in the United States. The Seminar will meet five times and
will be taught online. The sessions will focus on an integrative approach
to social work practice in the United States, Field education and agency
practice, communication skills, and professional development skills.
Students will participate in reflective and interactive exercises and
discussions on readings that will help them develop an understanding of
agency social work practice in the United States. Seminar instructors will
guide their discussions through a diversity, equity, inclusion lens and
also will promote discussions around anti-racist practice.
Grading: Non-Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3001 Grief, Loss and Bereavement (1 Credit)
Typically offered occasionally
This course will focus on expanding our understanding of the many aspects of bereavement using a developmental, cultural and a situational perspective. Highlighted in this course will be the issues and concerns of the disenfranchised, the adolescent and those bereaved due to suicide, homicide or intentional human acts. Through lecture, discussion and role-play we will explore various counseling techniques with a focus on bereavement groups. Finally, we will explore how the social worker’s loss history can affect the nature of the work with a bereaved individual or a group.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3002 Current Approaches to Trauma (1 Credit)
Typically offered occasionally
This course will be an introduction to the assessment and diagnosis of psychological trauma, with an emphasis on its physiology. It will provide an overview of the history of psychology's understanding of traumatic experience and how that has shifted over time. Dissociative disorders, as traumatic sequelae, will be discussed. New diagnostic categories of Complex PTSD and DESNOS, Disorders of Extreme Stress Not Otherwise Specified, will be explained. Then, an in-depth exploration will highlight cutting edge research into current treatment modalities, including body-oriented psychotherapies and EMDR. Vivid clinical case material will be presented and films will be used to illustrate phase-oriented treatment of trauma.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3005 Psychopharmacology (1 Credit)
Typically offered occasionally
This mini-course will review diagnostic categories and symptoms of the major mental illnesses. Appropriate medications for particular conditions will be described along with potential side effects. Clinical issues around social work with clients on medication, such as taking or not taking meds, will be discussed. Issues that arise in collaborative work with interdisciplinary teams will be described.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3007 Disaster, Trauma and Loss (1 Credit)
Typically offered occasionally
This course will introduce a cohesive perspective from which to consider
immediate, emerging, and long-term community engagement and clinical
practice in the aftermath of disaster. Considering collective and
individual impact, as well as resourcefulness, as disasters evolve,
discussion will include dimensions of distress, trauma, loss, and traumatic
loss, within a cultural frame. Providing a global and historical context,
the class will consider a variety of disasters, and the social realities of
inequity and violation often accompanying them. Cumulative police
shootings/choking within a context of race, no indictments, collective
grief, and community protest; the Sydney, Australia hostage situation
accompanied by #illridewithyou hashtag in solidarity; the recent Philippine
typhoon, so soon after last year’s typhoon devastation as many still mourn
and recover; the epidemic of Ebola in West Africa, as here in the city
diaspora families mourn for loved ones and experience others’ animosity and
suspicion, and as health workers plead for respect, and the city community
grapples with fear; unaccompanied children from Central America fleeing
violence and violation; the context of humanitarian catastrophe across the
Middle East; the continuing impact of the Newtown, Connecticut, school
shooting, and the context of other school and community shootings; the
unprecedented devastation of Superstorm Sandy, with long-extended regional
and local impact, still; the East Harlem building explosion and collapse;
and the Boston marathon bombing, are only some. In addition, the Japan
earthquake/tsunami/nuclear power plant disaster, amid uncertainty and
worry; the Haiti earthquake, with attendant health and infrastructure
problems; the Gulf Coast region hurricanes of Katrina and Rita, amidst
issues of race and class; the Indian Ocean region tsunami in the context of
civil war; and the aftermath of September 11, 2001, framed by a context of
bias, also offer context and will be viewed within a long-term perspective.
The course will identify the diversity of social work roles and practice
with individuals, groups, and communities having distinctly unique
situations, and will look at the significant roles of community, support
networks, and cultural foundations. The inevitable impact on clinicians of
providing community engagement and clinical practice across the long-term
continuum of unfolding disaster, along with their own resourcefulness and
resilience, will be addressed, highlighting the importance of reflective
self-care for student and social worker, on-going support, continued
learning, and active social engagement.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3012 Interpersonal Psychotherapy: Principles and Practice (1 Credit)
Typically offered occasionally
The Interpersonal matrix is at the heart of clinical work and human development. This mini course will review Interpersonal theory perspectives from Sullivan, Bowlby and Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) research to provide a basic framework for understanding human relations. In addition to the theoretical perspective, a practical integrative skills methodology incorporating Interpersonal/Cognitive Behavioral principals will be reviewed and applied to case examples. This course offers a practical skills approach for students to utilize in clinical settings.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3016 Social Work with Adolescents in Schools (1 Credit)
Typically offered occasionally
This course examines the challenges and opportunities of social work
practice in educational settings. It addresses roles and functions of
social workers within a complex ecological system of home/school/community.
Development of assessment, engagement, and intervention skills in crisis
intervention, consultation, group work, advocacy, and mediation are
emphasized. The course addresses current urban issues that influence school
practice such as violence, homelessness, AIDS, substance abuse, physical
and sexual abuse, diversity, and cross-cultural communication.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3017 Cognitive and Behavioral Intervention (1 Credit)
Typically offered occasionally
The purpose of this course is to provide the student with an introduction
to the principles and theory of cognitive behavioral therapy. A primary
goal of this course is to demonstrate specific therapeutic techniques and
interventions in order to provide the student with a firm grounding in the
clinical application of the theory.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3024 Eating Disorders: Diagnosis and Clinical Treatment Issues (1 Credit)
This intensive class will explore eating disorders as a metaphor for
relationship. The etiology, assessment, types of eating disorders, signs
and symptoms, co-morbidity, and differential treatment and levels of care
will all be addressed. Lecture, video and case vignettes will be used to
illustrate course content.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3025 Severe Mental IIlness: Contemporary Neuroscience & Psychosocial Perspectives (1 Credit)
This 10-hour course will address current neuroscience and
psychopharmacological research in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder as
well as the significant contributions of psychosocial research and
intervention. The latter will include, but not be limited to, the
following: group and individual psychotherapy, need-adapted treatment,
psycho education, multiple family groups, cognitive-behavioral approaches,
case management, therapeutic communities, etc.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3026 Dialectical Behavior Therapy (1 Credit)
Individuals diagnosed with borderline personality disorder are considered
among the most difficult to treat in psychotherapy. They frequently engage
in high risk behaviors such as suicidality and self injury which result in
risk management challenges. In addition, these patients' unstable affects
and relationships jeopardize social and occupational functioning and
therapeutic alliances. This course introduces students to theoretical
perspectives and treatment interventions of DBT, an empirically validated
psychotherapy designed by Marsha Linehan, PhD, for the treatment of
individuals diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. The course
utilizes case material to illustrate key issues in assessment, diagnosis,
engagement and treatment planning.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3027 Substance Abuse Among Women Through the Life Cycle (1 Credit)
Recent studies show that women's use and abuse of alcohol and other drugs
not only differs from that of men, but varies over their life cycle. In
order to provide appropriate treatment, it is critical that the nature of
substances used and abused by women be examined in light of women's
lifespan - from adolescence to late life.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3028 Practice Considerations with Spanish Language/ Latinx Families (1 Credit)
This one credit intensive explores both clinical and social policy considerations with respect to understanding and working with predominantly Spanish speaking families in the United States. Content will include elements of social inequity; family and kinship organization and dynamics; cultural elements of health and illness; diversity of language and communication styles, and advocacy. Methods of instruction include lecture, discussion, and role play. This course is taught in Spanish; a level of "fair fluency" is sufficient.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3031 Positive Psychology (1 Credit)
Positive psychology is the study of what constitutes and contributes to
personal happiness, life satisfaction, and sense of well being; the
identification and enhancement of individual strengths and positive
emotions such as optimism, creativity, courage, and gratitude; and the
methods of applying this knowledge in order to strengthen what is positive
in individuals and in institutions. The course will describe the history,
philosophy, major tenets, and empirical base of positive psychology, and
the interventions and measures that have been designed to foster and
monitor positive development.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3033 Group Work with Children and Adolescents (1 Credit)
This course will provide an overview of the various dynamics that group
leaders should consider when leading short- or long-term groups with
children, adolescents, or parents of children and adolescents. These
elements include: the agency and community setting, the needs of the group
members, the purpose of the group, the diverse composition of the group
members, and the content and structure of the group. The objective of this
course, which will include lecture, discussion, role play, and case
vignettes, will be to explore in detail the dynamics of group work with
children and adolescents and parents of children and adolescents to assure
that students are fully prepared in the future to lead groups with these
three populations. Special attention will be given to preparing students to
lead groups that address specific issues and challenges such as abused
children, acting-out adolescents, as well as parents of hospitalized
children and adolescents.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3040 Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (1 Credit)
Meditation, Yoga, Metaphors, Gestalt exercises-Can these facilitate behavior change? What do they have in common with behavior therapy? Students attending Latest Developments in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) will learn ACT techniques, theory, and the mechanisms of change that may be (in part) responsible for the benefits of other practices, like yoga and meditation for our clients. Differences, similarities, and challenges to integration will be touched on as ACT and other “Third Wave” therapies are put in the context of traditional behavior therapies and cognitive therapies.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3041 Contemporary Gestalt Therapy Approach to Social Work Practice (1 Credit)
This course will focus on learning to use the basic concepts of Gestalt
Therapy, an evidence-based humanistic psychotherapy that intensely focuses
on the client's experience of living in the world. Gestalt therapy theory,
with its holistic, relational, and existential approach to working with
clients at the interface of the person and environment, provides a
multidimensional frame for clinical social work practice. Much of this
course will be experiential, with a great deal of time spent on enhancing
students' ability to track their clients' thoughts, feelings, and behaviors
in order to deepen their clinical work. Case examples will also be
discussed utilizing Gestalt therapy's strength-based approach to working
with all populations
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3042 Therapy Interventions for Traumatized Children: How to Incorporate Play Therapy (1 Credit)
This mini-elective will provide an overview of the impact of various forms
of trauma on children, including Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and
Attachment problems, and how these experiences and difficulties inform
treatment interventions and course. Students will learn the importance of
entering the child's world at their own level through play, and how play
techniques and interventions open the door to processing trauma and healing
in a way that traditional talk therapies cannot. The use of symbolism and
metaphor will be emphasized in the exploration of various interventions.
Care of the therapist in this work will also be discussed.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3047 Introduction to Mindfulness and Emotional Regulation in Social Work (1 Credit)
This class is an experiential and theoretical step and study into mindfulness practice, emotional regulation and the subcortical, implicit inner world of relational neuroscience. Students will develop an understanding of the neuropsychological mindfulness framework and ways to incorporate this into social work practice. This includes an expanded understanding of right -brain to right -brain engagement—and developing a relational perspective. Class discussion, lecture, video and case presentation, along with practice of mindfulness meditation will be incorporated to demonstrate these principles help students develop an appreciation of a mindful approach.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3050 Overview of Learning Disabilities & Deficits in Attention (1 Credit)
This course provides a basic understanding of learning disabilities as well as deficits in attention. Students will gain knowledge regarding behavioral and academic symptoms and differential diagnoses regarding behavior and underlying learning issues. In addition to identification of the problems, the course will address interventions including referral, advocacy, and family support. A case seminar format will be used to discuss actual cases.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3051 Sexual Health in Social Work Practice (1 Credit)
This one-credit intensive will function as a primer for social workers on
how to begin and sustain discussions about sexual health and sexuality with
their clients, treating sex as a quality of life issue, whose understanding
is essential for diverse practice. The course will provide a basic
understanding of clinical sexuality issues and will provide students with
the skills to do a basic sexual health assessment. There will be a special
focus on often pathologized and underserved groups, including:
transgender/gender non-conforming/non-binary identities; queer and
non-straight identities; consensual non-monogamy/polyamory relationship
structures; and kink/BDSM-oriented individuals.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3059 Emotional Regulation in Family Practice (1 Credit)
This one credit elective course will introduce students to the importance of emotional regulation in achieving family security and resilience. Students will learn how to work with couples as well as families with children and learn ways to intervene in dysregulated or unproductive reactions. Students will also learn ways to recognize cognitive mechanisms related to emotional dysregulation, and ways to help families achieve stability.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3061 Healthy Living (1 Credit)
This course focuses on the understanding and application of the theoretical principles and evidence base of public and community health nursing practice and culturally competent care. In this course, the unique health needs of women, civilian and veterans, in underserved communities and how associated factors with living in poverty-impacted underserved communities impact health. The focus of community health is on protecting and enhancing the health of communities and diverse populations, including those at risk and those challenged by health disparities, developmental needs, mental health concerns, and clients living with poverty. Emphasis is placed on health promotion and education, health care policy and ethics/social justice.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3062 Anxiety Disorders, Panic Disorder, OCD & PTSD: Diagnosis, Biology & Treatment (1 Credit)
This course will provide an overview of the most significant anxiety disorders. Special focus will be given to Panic Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).
The first part of the class will be a review of the diagnosis and sequelae of each disorder as well as the cognitive and biological drivers related to each diagnostics category. The psycho-physiology portion of the course will emphasize the use of this information to enhance client psycho-education, normalization and clinical actions. Treatment approach will be primarily from a cognitive behavioral point of view.
Students will be exposed to standard cognitive techniques, relaxation training, biofeedback and exposure techniques used in treatment. A basic review of psychopharmacology will be provided. We will review components of Panic Disorder treatment including exposure, psycho-education, specific cognitive reframing, hyperventilation syndrome and somatic interventions. Students will be exposed to special nuances related to treating OCD. PTSD treatment will include an introduction to Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). Discussion will include real world use of these interventions. Student will learn the specific application of techniques including EMDR, biofeedback and some hands on learning of relaxation techniques.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3066 Clinical Practice with Couples (1 Credit)
This one-credit elective will provide students with an introductory understanding of diverse theoretical and cultural perspectives on couples' relationships, core clinical skill sets pertinent to couples therapy, and special treatment issues.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3070 Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples (1 Credit)
This one credit intensive elective will offer an introduction to Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples (EFT), an evidence-based approach to couple treatment. This model emphasizes the importance of attachment, and the relationship distress that results from threats to safety, security and closeness by focusing on the emotions each one in the couple is experiencing. Through lecture, slides, video tapes and experiential exercises, students will become familiar with the nine steps of EFT as well as the specific skills and interventions used in this model.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3071 Social Work in the Emergency Room (1 Credit)
This course provides students with an overview of assessment and referral in the Psychiatric Emergency Room. Students will become acquainted with the role of the social worker and how the social worker interfaces and interacts with other professional staff. Students will also learn the basics of the biopsychosocial assessment models that are used and how psychiatric evalations are conducted.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3073 Grant Writing for Non-Profit Organizations (1 Credit)
This course will provide basic knowledge and skills for grant writing for non-profit organizations, and will assist students who are interested in working in leadership roles in non-profit organizations. The course will also help students apply for grants for projects as direct practitioners.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3081 Assessment & Treatment of Children of Substance Abusing Parents: An International Course in Tel Aviv (3 Credits)
Throughout the world, millions of children grow up with parents who are dependent on or abuse alcohol and other licit as well as illicit substances. Such children are found in every socioeconomic, ethnic,religious, and racial group, and in every setting ranging from preschools to community agencies to universities to mental health facilities.Numerous research studies show that that these children are at greater risk for various problems, which vary depending on a number of factors,including the age of the child. Because these children exhibit not only problematic behaviors but also strengths or resilience, careful individual assessment is warranted. This course will examine the nature of substance use, abuse and addiction and its impact on the family, particularly young and adolescent children within an international perspective. Assessment,treatment, policy and research issues in the U.S. and in Israel will be explored. A visit to a local agency and presentations from guest lecturers dealing with this population in Israel will be included.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3082 Social and Affective Neuroscience for Social Workers (1 Credit)
This mini-course will focus on the relevant and interesting
aspects of contemporary neuroscience research for social workers,
particularly social and affective neuroscience, epigenetics and the
transgenerational transmission of trauma and resilience, developmental
traumatology and psychobiology, and psychoneuroimmunology (brain-immune
interface), stress circuitry in the brain, etc. We will study the effects
of childhood trauma and maltreatment (physical, sexual and emotional abuse;
neglect; social isolation; peer verbal abuse and bullying; witnessing
domestic violence, etc.) on the central nervous system and person and its
implications for social relationships. We will study the neuroscience of
primary subcortical emotional systems (e.g., fear, rage, lust, play, care,
seeking, separation distress, etc.), attachment, neuroplasticity, memory
systems, dreams, the relationship between brain and mind, anxiety, a
possible complex neuroscience of the self, empathy/embodied simulation and
mirror neuron systems, the effects of psychotherapy on the MindBrain and
models of therapeutic action. Brief mention will be made of
neuropsychopharmacology and psychopharmacology, somatic psychiatric
treatments (e.g., rTMS, ECT, vagal nerve and deep brain stimulation, etc.),
and neuroimaging techniques (sMRI, fMRI, DTI, MEG, PET, SPECT, high density
EEG, etc.). At the start of the course we will review relevant neuroanatomy
and genetic/epigenetic processes. Time permitting we will look at the
neuroscience findings in a diversity of DSM disorders, including major
depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder,
schizophrenia, anxiety disorders, addictions, etc.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3084 Racial and Social Class Micro-Aggressions: Making/Invisible Visible/Clinical Practice (1 Credit)
Micro-aggressions are everyday occurrences, which reflect a person’s
internalized stereotypes and prejudices. These verbal and/or nonverbal
interactions are often unconscious and unintentional, and are difficult to
recognize because they are subtle and appear innocuous. Good well-meaning
people frequently commit micro-aggressions. Social workers often bear
witness to clients’experience of micro-aggressions that leave them feeling
inferior, dismissed or devalued. But, what happens when practitioners are
the ones committing the micro-aggressions?
This course will focus on the self-of-the-practitioner and how their
personal experiences and/or lack thereof may unconsciously inform the
professional treatment of clients. While there are several types of
micro-aggressions, this course will focus on micro-aggressions committed as
a result of race and class. Through the use of videos,
questionnaires/scales and experiential exercises, students will be provided
with a safe venue in which they are encouraged to examine their own beliefs
(in terms of race and class) and how they may manifest as micro-aggressions
in the therapeutic relationships and/or treatment. The class will also
examine the consequences of microaggressions on clients and how to engage
in conversations with clients around these issues.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3089 Integrative Behavioral Health Concepts (1 Credit)
Description: This elective course provides an overview of the essential
concepts and specific social work skills that are integral to the practice
of Integrated Behavioral health. The course prepares social work interns to
become effective "behavioral health specialists." The course focuses on
preparation for key social work competencies needed for social work
practice in Integrated Behavioral Health including Functional Assessment,
Motivational Interviewing, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy in Primary Care,
Cultural Competence, Relaxation Training/Mindfulness, Psychoeducation,
Psychotropic Medications, Alcohol and Drug screening, Case Management and
interdisciplinary practice in primary care and school settings.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3090 Social Work Treatment with Survivors of Trauma (1 Credit)
This mini course will examine the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of
trauma with an emphasis on physical abuse and child sexual abuse. We will identify trauma symptomatology and review the psychological and
physiological impact of trauma along a continuum with acute stress
disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and dissociative disorders.
Students will learn about current research on trauma as well as those
theoretical frameworks, which inform treatment. Trauma treatment,
specifically EMDR, somatic therapies and other interventions, will be
reviewed. The use of lecture, case material, class discussion, video and
group exercises will be incorporated to illustrate course material.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3097 An Introduction to Palliative Care Social Work (1 Credit)
All social workers will inevitably work with clients and
families facing acute, serious or life-limiting illnesses. The needs of
these clients and families across the life span are well-served by social
workers trained in generalist palliative care. This course will provide an
introduction to palliative care, its core principles and models of service
delivery. It will focus on the role of social work on the
inter-professional team, especially as a voice for social justice,
advocating for culturally congruent patient-centered care and respect for
patient and family self-determination when faced with ethical challenges.
Basic precepts of adequate pain management, advance care planning and
bio-psychosocial spiritual approaches across the illness trajectory will
also be discussed.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3100 Forensic Social Work: Practice with the criminal justice involved client (1 Credit)
Since its inception, the social work profession has
provided front line services to the criminal justice field, becoming
instrumental in forensic policy and practice. During this class, students
will learn the philosophies of forensic social work and discover the
diversity of social work practice opportunities within the forensic field.
Students will be introduced to social work with a mandated client
population; including work with victims of crime and offenders.
Characteristics of specialized offender populations will also be discussed,
from perpetrators of sexual crime, to extreme violence, domestic violence,
and beyond. An understanding of the intersection and overlap between
mental health and criminal behavior will be developed and students will
become familiar with the evidence based social work techniques currently
used in the forensic social work field.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3101 Sex Trafficking in the United States and Around the World (1 Credit)
This course will offer an in depth look at sex trafficking
around the world, in the United States, and in New York City. The course
will focus on the root causes of exploitation, the role of survivor
leadership, effective prevention, successful advocacy, and legal and
non-legal remedies. This course is designed to help social work students
gain a better understanding of contemporary human trafficking, modern day
slavery, and related aspects of sexual exploitation, with a focus on sex
trafficking and remedies within the United States. Students will learn
about the scope of the issue, important terminology in this field, and
various types of human trafficking. Through survivor testimony, students
will also learn about the physical and psychological trauma experienced by
victims of human trafficking. The role of government, the media, and
culture in defining and addressing sex trafficking will also be examined.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3102 Dynamic Concurrent Parent-Child Work (1 Credit)
This course focuses on how to include parents in clinical work with a child
or young adolescent in order to accomplish constructive change. Concurrent
Parent-Child Work is different from family therapy since it involves
working separately with the child and parents, and the focus of the work is
on the child or young adolescent. Students will learn techniques for
forming and maintaining multiple therapeutic alliances. They will also
learn to assess resistances to working with parents and to develop the
empathic and interpersonal skills necessary for dealing with challenges
such as guilt, shame, anxiety, and feelings of failure. This course also
aims to strengthen students' confidence for work with parents at each stage
of a child’s treatment. Students will learn about parenthood as a
developmental phase, and that at each stage of a child’s development there
are corresponding parental tasks for progressive development to take place
with both. Detailed clinical material will be used to illustrate clinical
techniques and the concepts behind them.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3104 Social Work Practice with Asian Pacific Islander/American Populations (1 Credit)
The purpose of this course is to provide a learning environment for
students to investigate the needs of API communities in the US, and to
explore ways to provide evidence-based culturally appropriate social work
services to API populations. The course will be grounded in biopsychosocial
theory, family systems theory, and critical race theory. API communities
in the US consist of over 56 ethnic groups who speak 100 different
languages. It will be impossible to address each group, and therefore the
class will focus on issues that are common to first- and later- generation
APIs across different nationalities. The issues include 1) acculturation
and intergenerational conflicts; 2) immigration and racial trauma; and 3)
low mental health service utilization. Students will be encouraged to
deepen their understanding of specific topics and specific groups through
their final assignment. This course will also introduce students to social
work practitioners, administrators, and community leaders who provide
social services in the API communities in the greater New York area.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3105 Social Work Practice and the Human Animal Bond (1 Credit)
This one-credit intensive (OCI) course examines the Human-Animal Bond and
its importance to client and community health. The human-animal bond is a
dynamic and mutually beneficial relationship between people and animals
that is influenced by behaviors that are essential to the health and
well-being of both. This includes, but is not limited to, emotional,
psychological, and physical interactions of people, animals and the
environment.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3106 Autistic Spectrum Disorder (1 Credit)
This one credit elective will introduce students to Autistic
Spectrum Disorder (ASD). These disorders are highly heritable, manifested
since infancy, and continue throughout the life cycle. The main clinical
signs are abnormalities of social relatedness and communications, and
stereotypic behaviors. Additional symptoms including language
abnormalities, cognitive deficits, neurological, and behavioral
abnormalities are common. Students will learn how the brain develops
social skills and communication; the role of genetic mutations as a cause
of ASD; the core and associated symptoms of ASD; pharmacological treatments
including emerging translational therapies; and the roles of the social
worker in the treatment of ASD individuals and their families.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3107 Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) (1 Credit)
This one-credit elective will introduce students to Accelerated
Experiential Dynamic psychotherapy (AEDP). AEDP is a model of psychotherapy
that focuses on healing-oriented techniques and aims to achieve a
transformation in client behavior by exploring the in-depth processing of
difficult emotional and relational experiences, actively helped by an
engaged therapist. This innovative model has roots in and resonances with
many disciplines including interpersonal neurobiology, attachment theory,
emotion theory and affective neuroscience, body-focused approaches, and
transformational studies. Evidence demonstrates AEDP to be effective with
Depressive Disorders, trauma, and creating secure attachment. This course
will enable students to have an understanding of the theoretical
foundations of AEDP and to gain competence in its strategies of
intervention. Classes will consist of lecture and discussion, viewing
videotaped sessions of clinical work, and practice of interventions in
small groups.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3108 Political Social Work for Advocacy and Social Change (1 Credit)
Section 6.04 of the NASW Code of Ethics states that social workers should
engage in social and political action that seeks to ensure all people have
access to the resources, employment, services, and opportunities they
require to meet their basic human needs. It also states that social workers
should be aware of the impact of the political arena on practice and should
advocate for social justice. This one-credit elective serves as
introduction to political social work and offers an overview on the role of
social workers in the political sphere. Taught by one of the very few
social workers currently serving in the New York State Legislature, the
course will cover multiple aspects of the political process including
running for office, crafting legislation, and utilizing public policy for
social change.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3109 Coping Skills for Stress and Anxiety (1 Credit)
In this one-credit intensive course, students will fill their therapeutic
toolbox with concrete coping skills for helping clients manage symptoms of
stress and anxiety. Biological, psychological and social/environmental
techniques are drawn from some of the most effective evidenced-based
treatments including CBT, DBT, EMDR, mindfulness, positive psychology and
motivational interviewing, all demonstrated and practiced in class. In
addition, an overview of the latest neurobiological findings about stress
and anxiety will lay a foundation for understanding why the techniques work
and how to prevent stress and anxiety accumulating in the future.
Applications to clinician self-care and burn-out prevention will be
explored.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3110 Understanding Structural Racism: Its History and Current Impact, Part I (1 Credit)
This is the first half of a two-part sequence of one-credit electives that
focuses on the impact of institutional racism in the United States, and
social and economic injustices on people of color in health and human
services, as well as how structural racism can be undone. Using principles
taught in the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond workshop, the
course examines the history of racism in the United States and current
manifestations in health and human services delivery systems with an
emphasis on the mental health system and implications for direct social
work practice. A generation after the Civil Rights Movement and the
election of an African American President, racism continues to be the
nation's most intractable social problem, and the gap between Whites,
Blacks, and Hispanics has increased. A systems perspective reveals
persistent disproportional outcomes on all measures of quality of life in
the United States. From wealth accumulation to health care, incarceration
rates to employment and unemployment, immigration policy to the opposition
of ethnic studies, dramatic ethnic and racial disparities continue to vex
the nation. Social workers interface with clients of color in virtually all
practice settings, and they have the highest visibility among clinical
disciplines in the mental health system. Therefore, an understanding of the
dynamics of race and racism is an essential requirement if we are to "do no
harm" and engage clients in effective therapeutic alliances. The course
introduces students to the many dimensions of race and racism that
influence service outcomes, and implications for direct practice in
agency-based settings with clients of color. Note that students must take
both courses in this two-course sequence.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3111 Understanding Structural Racism: Its History and Current Impact, Part II (1 Credit)
This is the second half of a two-part sequence of one-credit electives that
focuses on the impact of institutional racism in the United States, and
social and economic injustices on people of color in health and human
services, as well as how structural racism can be undone. Using principles
taught in the People's Institute for Survival and Beyond workshop, the
course examines the history of racism in the United States and current
manifestations in health and human services delivery systems with an
emphasis on the mental health system and implications for direct social
work practice. Note that students must take both courses in this two-course
sequence.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3112 Introduction to Oncology Clinical Social Work (1 Credit)
This course introduces students to knowledge and skills necessary to
address the psychosocialspiritual needs across various practice settings of
persons with cancer and their loved ones. The course begins by providing a
defining framework on cancer and its myths, and the meaning of cancer to
patients and families. The role of the oncology clinical social worker,
interdisciplinary care, ethnic and cultural dynamics, and treatment phases
will be explored utilizing the biopsychosocialspiritual model. Trajectories
of illness and care from diagnosis through to bereavement or long term
survivorship are considered. Students will learn how to apply clinical
skills such as psycho-social assessments, counseling, leading family
meetings, setting goals of care and making treatment decisions across the
cancer continuum, focused on issues directly affecting individuals,
couples, and families. Theoretical models and assessment approaches and the
research that supports them are studied. Policy and ethical concerns are
examined, including matters related to access to care. Sustaining self-care
while meeting the demands of oncology focused work will be explored.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3113 Ending Ageism (1 Credit)
Ageism is alive and well. A growing and consistent body of research has
documented how ageism and other forms of prejudice and oppression undermine
health, educational and employment opportunities, as well as compromises
health care delivery across systems of care. Only until recently has
evidence begun to support theories for interventions and at key
developmental life stages and across the ecological framework. The
objectives of this course are to a) incorporate theories and supporting
evidence on prejudice and discrimination broadly, with an emphasis on
ageism; b) identify psychological, social, organizational, legal, cultural,
and developmental theories on how to overcome ageism, inclusive of
Standpoint Theory, Critical Race Theory, and Social Justice perspectives;
c) propose real-world interventions to overcome ageism. Pedagogical
approaches include lectures, discussions, and experiential learning
opportunities. Professional communication skills will be practiced.
Throughout the course, we will discuss how to apply the tenants of
evidence-based practice to the theories and issues that impact aging.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3114 LGBTQ+ Acculturation, Public Mourning, and the Role of Religion In
Movements for Equity (1 Credit)
This course explores the process of LGBTQ acculturation in the United
States, particularly from the 1970s through the present day. The class will
pay special attention to the roles religion and public mourning have played
in delimiting the boundaries of sexual and gender minority acculturation.
The course will consider how prominent LGBTQ activists used religion and
public memorialization to bolster their arguments for social inclusion and
how religion has shaped the parameters of social acceptance in the United
States. We will also examine how prominent deaths, public mourning, and
religion have influenced other movements for equity among racial and ethnic
minority groups in the United States.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3115 Psychotic Disorders: Psycho-Social-Bio Perspectives (1 Credit)
This one-credit elective will introduce students to a comprehensive,
non-reductionistic model of psychotic disorders (schizophrenia and bipolar
I disorder): From DNA to Neighborhood. We will review the most recent
genetic, epigenetic (chemical processes controlling gene expression which
are also regulated by social and psychological experiences) and
neurobiological findings as well as their relationship to chronic stress,
trauma, and adverse social experiences. We will concentrate on
sociocultural and psychosocial factors identified in research to be
involved in the initiation, course, and outcomes of psychotic disorders.
Our course will also concentrate on the many evidence-based psychosocial
therapies for these disorders, e.g., psychodynamic supportive therapy,
CBTp, psychoeducation, Open Dialogue, Compassion Mind Therapy, Avatar
Therapy for Voices, Voice Hearers Network, Acceptance and Commitment
Therapy, Care management and ACT, PROS Programs and Milieu Therapies,
Multiple Family Therapy Groups, Pre-Therapy, etc. We will also review all
FDA approved medications for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, as well as
the use of off-label medications.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3116 Communicating with Children Facing Serious Illness (1 Credit)
Social workers often play a crucial role in supporting and educating
children facing serious illness in a variety of settings, including
hospitals, schools, community organizations and social services. Optimizing
communication using age appropriate language is crucial in supporting
short-term coping and long-term mental health and developmental outcomes.
Employing cultural humility is critical in understanding
individual and family needs with regards to language, medical literacy and
information sharing norms. Family systems theory and psychosocial
development theory are used to guide assessment of communication needs. The
crisis intervention model, play therapy, resiliency and coping model
and bio-psycho-social-spiritual assessment models are drawn upon to best
understand individual and family needs at various points throughout the
illness trajectory. The objectives of this course are a) to incorporate
theories and supporting evidence regarding children’s needs across the
developmental spectrum and throughout the disease process b) to identify
relevant psychological, social, organizational, cultural and developmental
perspectives related to communication with children about serious illness
from diagnosis and into bereavement, c) to introduce assessment and
intervention tools for engaging with this population. Pedagogical tools
will include PowerPoint lectures, in-depth class discussions and
experiential learning opportunities such as role play and case discussions.
Clinical and professional communication skills will be practiced and
evidenced based practices will be emphasized.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3117 Animal Companion Bereavement in Social Work (1 Credit)
Grieving a companion animal can elicit profound, extended, and complicated
reactions when invalidated by lack of community support, social rituals,
and practitioner focus. The under treatment of pet loss as a significant mental
health challenge can result in a protracted complicated grief as trauma can
be a more common component. The goals of this course are a) to raise
awareness of animal companion loss and its emotional impact on family,
individual and community, b) to incorporate mental health assessment
protocols which include attention to animal family members and their
significance within the family structure across all socio-economic and
racial populations, c) to apply trauma and attachment theory to better
understand the unique factors of mourning companion animals, d) to modify
evidenced-based interventions in treatment planning to help heal animal
companion bereavement and e) to identify roles for social workers in
mediating such reactions and creating opportunities for healing within
their practices and communities. Pedagogical approaches include lectures,
discussions, case studies and interactive learning assignments.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3118 Sustainable Practice: Burnout Prevention and Vicarious Trauma Management (1 Credit)
Caring service is at the heart of Social Work's mission, but attending to
the suffering of others without a plan to address its impact leaves us at
risk for increased stress and vicarious trauma. Over time, this can
compromise our sense of purpose, the quality of our work, and the overall
health of our body, mind, and spirit. This course uses didactic material
and experiential exercises to explore these dynamics and teach new ways of
navigating. Students will learn to identify the impact of trauma exposure
and will emerge with substantive techniques and strategies to build into
their everyday practice, creating more sustainable and fulfilling careers
and lives.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3119 Assessing and Treating Mental Health Needs During Pregnancy and Postpartum (1 Credit)
This one-credit intensive (OCI) course examines mental health in the perinatal period, from conception through the first year after delivery. It identifies biological, psychological, social, and systematic determinants of perinatal emotional distress. It elucidates the prevalence and symptomatology of common perinatal psychiatric disorders, including perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs), postpartum psychosis, and bipolar disorder in the perinatal period. It then provides an overview of evidence-based methods for screening and treating these conditions. Next, the course investigates barriers to mental health care in the perinatal period, and considers populations affected most by such obstacles. It addresses racial disparities in maternal mental health care, as well as in maternal health care more generally. In addition, the course emphasizes the impact of perinatal mental health on infant mental health, child development, and family systems. Lastly, it addresses and evaluates policies related to perinatal mental health.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3120 Crafting Your Encore Career (1 Credit)
Until recently, most Americans equated the end of a long career with the
beginning of retirement. No more. Now, we want to stay in the game—or
better yet, change it. We want to leave a mark, make a difference, and (in
most cases) continue to earn a living. As we age, we are also wired to
connect with younger generations both to share what we know, learnand forge
links to the future. In this class, we'll explore what it takes to live all
life's stages using our talents and experience to find meaning and benefit
our community.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 3121 Using Artificial Intelligence to Support Youth Mental Health (1 Credit)
This course is designed to equip social workers with
the knowledge and skills needed to develop an understanding of the emerging
field of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and how AI can be used to proactively
assess and address mental health in children and adolescents, with a strong
emphasis on the collaboration between social workers and families.
Participants will debunk myths and fears about the use of AI, explore the
potential of AI in early assessment, and learn how AI tools can be applied
to improve mental health health outcomes. Ethical consideration of the use
of AI when working with youth and families will be explored.
Grading: Grad Silver Pass/Fail
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 4001 ASWB Masters Exam and NASW Code of Ethics Review (0 Credits)
Social work practice requires a thorough grounding in the NASW Code of Ethics, and one fourth of the ASWB Masters exam focuses on this content.This two-hour workshop reviews principles of the Code of Ethics related to direct practice, including confidentiality, informed consent, duty to warn, duty to protect, dual relationships, and responsibility to colleagues and issues related to professional development and use of self. Sample questions related to this content area and the rationale for their answers are discussed to illustrate how material is formulated into exam questions. A general framework for understanding the exam's questions and suggestions for reviewing the three other content areas will be covered.
Grading: Not For Credit
Repeatable for additional credit: No
MSWEL-GS 9001 Advanced Clinical Diagnosis-HBIII (3 Credits)
Taught by Associate Professor Judith Siegel, this online
course strengthens skills in assessing individuals, with an emphasis on
application of the DSM-5 in understanding mental disorders. The course
considers the historical perspective of diagnosis and the development as
well as the use and limitations of the DSM and ICD. The diagnostic criteria
for most of the major mental disorders from childhood through late
adulthood are studied from a biopsychosocial perspective that includes
neurobiology research. Implications for clinical interventions and specific
treatment approaches are considered.This is an asynchronous course that
students take on an individualized basis. Each of the fourteen lessons
contains notes, video lectures, and videos of clients. It also contains
links to most of the assigned readings from required books and journal
articles.
Grading: Grad Silver Graded
Repeatable for additional credit: No