Online MSW Degree: Advanced Standing

This concentration level course is designed to build on the practice of generalist social work by refining and deepening the conceptual and technical knowledge of clinical social work practice with individuals. Students will continue to consider principles and assumptions learned in the foundation year with the goal of achieving synthesis on a more advanced level of knowledge, attitude, skill and method. The clinical processes of engagement, biopsychosocial assessment, worker-client relationship, intervention, evaluating practice effectiveness, and termination are considered with an aim toward greater precision of application. More complex theoretical material and intervention methods as well as case situations are utilized and you are encouraged to reflect on past field experience for integration of material. Throughout the semester, attention is given to issues of gender; sexual orientation; and ethnic, racial, and cultural diversity.

Prerequisites: SW 639 and SW 637.

Course outcomes:

• Apply differential assessment with various populations to identify treatment focus and intervention options. Analyze multiple theoretical perspectives and differentially apply them to client situations.
• Apply theoretical conceptualization to design practice interventions.
• Identify the interpersonal dynamics and contextual factors that both strengthen and potentially threaten the therapeutic alliance.
• Demonstrate acute awareness of the needs of oppressed and disadvantaged populations and of ways in which the clinical process is modified to respond to those needs.
• Employ an ecological framework to conceptualize the influence of institutional policies and practices on the clinical social work process with a view toward mobilizing forces for organizational and social as well as individual change.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of practice including the application of theoretical and intervention models as they meet the needs of the client and affect the therapeutic relationship.

Focusing on social work practice with families, this course expands systemic thinking by introducing multiple models for family work, including Psychodynamic, Bowen, Narrative, Communication, Contextual, Structural, and Solution-Focused, as well as newer models of family work such as Multidimensional Family Therapy. Using these models and their related theories, students will gain a solid foundation for assessment and intervention with families, knowledge of the family life cycle, and the impact of wider systems on a family’s structure and functioning. The definition of family will be inclusive of many different family forms. Students will examine how cultural issues such as class, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexual orientation must be considered while assessing a family’s presenting issues, unique strengths, and vulnerabilities. Students will learn to think critically about the relevance of particular concepts and interventions for each family system, including whether certain “Western” concepts apply to all families.

3 credit hours each

These courses comprise the two-semester concentration-level field placement. Students work in a supervised social work setting for three days (24 hours) per week for a total of 680 hours for the year. Field Instruction III and Seminar and Field Instruction IV and Seminar provide students with the opportunity to further examine and integrate the theories and skills of agency-based clinical social work practice with individuals, families, and small groups; to develop and refine clinical assessment, intervention, and evaluation skills; and to consolidate their own identity as a professionally disciplined and self-aware professional social worker. Field Instruction III and Seminar and Field Instruction IV and Seminar build upon the generalist social work practice perspective introduced in the prerequisite courses.

Prerequisites: SW 630 and SW 639.

For more detailed information about the MSW Field Experience.

Course outcomes:

• Integrate classroom material in the field.
• Reflect on practice in the field.
• Engage in clinical supervision.
• Reflect on use of self in the therapeutic relationship.
• Critically analyze and apply evidence-based practice.
• Evaluate your own practice.
• Demonstrate knowledge of policy and contextual issues that impact practice.

This course concentrates on the etiology and treatment of traumatic symptomatology. Students explore conditions that contribute to the development of acute stress disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, borderline personality disorder, dissociative disorders, and other disorders of extreme stress. Comorbid conditions, including substance abuse and self-harming behaviors, are considered. The intergenerational, socio-cultural, and societal impact of trauma is explored. A strengths-based approach is emphasized. Readings orient students to the assessment of trauma symptoms, as well as to some generally applicable treatment approaches, and to research on the psychobiology of trauma.

Course outcomes:

• Demonstrate an understanding of the factors that contribute to the development of traumatic symptomatology and stress disorders.
• Demonstrate integration of the knowledge needed to assess traumatic symptomatology.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the impact of trauma on psychobiology.
• Demonstrate a general understanding of a variety of treatment approaches, including the ability to incorporate unique client strengths and resources into chosen treatment approaches.
• Demonstrate the analytical skills needed to integrate theories into trauma treatment.
• Demonstrate the ability to make use of professional literature.
• Demonstrate an understanding of personal and professional strategies for minimizing the risks of vicarious traumatization.
• Demonstrate an understanding of the intergenerational, cultural, and societal impact of trauma.