Spring 2027 Seated and Hybrid Electives

This course will build upon the Introduction to Community Organizing and Development course to provide students with an understanding of the ways in which the history of community organizing and development informs community theory and policy across urban and rural settings. With an emphasis on group development theory, students will be introduced to the major theories and policies that impact neighborhood/community capacity, including theories of poverty and development, inequality, human rights, urban and rural community development, neighborhood organizing, restorative practice, social movements, community transformation, social capital. A particular focus is the intersection of these theories and policies within this framework that can create social capital, and foster entrepreneurship, social innovation, and cross-sector collaboration.

This course provides an introduction to the social work profession and generalist social work practice. Students will be introduced to the core values of social work and the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics and be exposed to issues of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility (DEIA), oppression and social justice. The course will familiarize students with the various roles, functions, and tasks that social workers perform in a variety of settings and acquaint them with the primary skills and practices of social work with individuals, groups and communities. Students will also explore current topics and career opportunities in social work. The practice of social work will be considered from the perspective of a collaborative, trauma-informed, strengths-based and human rights model.

This course uses a social work lens to understand individuals and groups across the lifespan and the unique interplay of human development and the social environment. It highlights social and environmental factors that impact people at the individual, family, and community levels. Students will be introduced to the major theories of human behavior and human development employed in social work. Specifically, this course will familiarize students with the core theoretical approaches including, but not limited to attachment theory, general systems and ecological theories, strength-based and resilience theories that encompass collectivist and peer-centered models of healing as well as individualized approaches to coping and growth, and theories that focus on minoritized and oppressed groups. Students will discuss how these theoretical approaches are used in social work practice through a collaborative, trauma-informed, racial equity, and human rights lens.

This course introduces students to the helping process essential for effective social work practice. Students will develop an understanding of engagement, communication, interviewing, and assessment skills with individuals, families, groups, communities and/or organizations. Emphasis is placed on the use of strengths-based and person-in environment perspectives, guided by the NASW Code of Ethics. Students will become aware of structural inequalities, like racism, poverty, and discrimination, and recognize intersectionality, the need for cultural humility, and respect for human rights through the helping process. Students will develop self-awareness of their role in the helping process.

This course is designed to increase student understanding of the adverse experiences of children growing up in various countries. The purpose of this course is to expose students to considerations of socioeconomics, health, culture, religion, and politics and how these affect the welfare and well-being of children across the world. This course examines advocacy efforts using a trauma-informed, human rights framework.

Restorative Justice is a social justice approach towards repairing harm, promoting positive interpersonal relationships, and building community when conflict, misconduct, or criminal behavior occurs. Rather than focusing primarily on punishment for the offender, restorative justice seeks to elevate the role of crime victims and community members; hold offenders directly accountable to the people they have violated; and repair harm by providing a range of opportunities for dialogue, negotiation, and problem solving. This course provides an introduction and exposure to the principles of restorative justice and examines its history, values, and assumptions. Students will learn about the application of restorative justice approaches and implementation guidelines in a variety of settings such as schools and communities and within the criminal justice system, including individuals who are incarcerated in prisons. Students will also be exposed to some of the current programs at community, state, and international levels and identify the challenges and benefits of implementing restorative justice.

This course focuses on interdisciplinary system responses to child maltreatment, including trauma-informed and human rights-based approaches. The purpose of this course is to expand students’ knowledge of and skills in responding to child maltreatment. The course explores responses across multiple community systems, including child welfare agencies, health care systems, law enforcement and schools. This course is designed for, but not limited to, students who are interested in public health, social work, human services, nursing and other health professions, sociology, psychology, law and education.

This course is organized primarily as a seminar that will highlight Motivational Interviewing (MI) approaches to help clients build commitment and reach a decision to change behavior. This course provides a forum for case presentation and discussion with an emphasis on discussing cases from students’ practicums and/or practice settings. Theories of behavioral change will be discussed, and the Transtheoretical Model (TTM) of intentional behavior change will be highlighted as an integrative framework for understanding the process of behavior change.

MI is an evidence-based practice for addictive behaviors, but applications of motivational interviewing have been extended to behavioral change in general, including social work, mental health, health promotion, general medical care, corrections and community and organizational settings. In addition, the course will discuss MI’s application to practice with “mandated” clients.

This course is approved for CEs.

This course examines social work practice in the context of the legal and justice systems, including criminal and civil courts, child custody issues, and mandated treatment. It provides students with a broad overview of the justice system within the United States, and how that system interacts with other structures and policies to affect social workers and the populations we serve. Students will review forensic social work practice within a broad array of settings with diverse populations. Recent trends in the criminal justice system will be examined, including mass incarceration, civil commitment, the criminalization of poverty and the so-called war on drugs. Special emphasis is placed on the disproportionate impact of these trends on marginalized communities within the United States. 

This course is a practice-oriented elective. The purpose of this course is to provide students with exposure to and an opportunity to develop knowledge and skills in using play therapy with individuals, families and groups in diverse settings. Students will become familiar with various theoretical practice models and learn to apply those models with children experiencing a variety of problems across diverse populations. This course will expose the student to basic knowledge about play therapy as a component of services to children, including in mental health, child welfare, health and community-based settings.

This course is approved for CEs.

This course will focus on the central human experiences of loss, grief and bereavement that occur across the life course. Guided examination of current theories, research and evidence based practice(s) in grief counseling will be conducted. This course will focus on building knowledge about the nature of grief, mourning and bereavement as it is influenced by age, developmental stage, gender, race, culture, ethnicity and social context. Familiarity with the various types of losses that occur in all age groups is germane to effective social work practice in all agency settings. This course is designed to provide students with greater awareness, increased knowledge and basic skills for assessing and intervening with loss and grief in micro-, mezzo- and macrosocial domains. It will incorporate a trauma-informed and human rights perspective to social work practice with people who are adapting to loss.

This course is approved for CEs.

Restorative justice (RJ) is a social justice approach toward repairing the harm, promoting positive interpersonal relationships and building community when conflict, misconduct or criminal behavior occurs. RJ brings social justice to the criminal justice system, schools, and communities. With youth, RJ is an evidence-based approach toward improving school climate; interrupting the school-to-prison pipeline that disproportionately affects youth of color; and creating safe and supportive environments for children and youth without resorting to punitive responses. 

In this class students will learn about RJ and practice skills in conducting RJ circles in school, criminal justice system, and community setting with children, youth and adults. Students with an interest in working in criminal justice settings, neighborhood community centers, schools, child welfare settings and other organizations serving children, youth and adults are encouraged to take this course.

This course is approved for CEs.

Infant Mental Health is a rapidly growing field that emphasizes the importance of supporting the developing parent-infant relationship and promoting secure attachments. This course will provide a foundation and overview of the important theories and assumptions underlying infant mental health, the evidence-based practices with infants, toddlers and families, and identification of appropriate interventions based upon the infant and family’s needs, cultural histories and capacities. Students will critically examine trauma-informed and human rights perspectives on how experiences of early childhood persist over time and how they may be summoned up again by the presence of a baby. The course will highlight the importance of self-reflection and self-awareness of one’s own experiences of early childhood, as well as cultural histories and capacities.

In this interprofessional course, students work alongside students from other health professions at community-based clinics and other settings working toward racial equity in the delivery of basic health care services. Students may be working with students from other university schools or departments to conduct assessments, provide psychosocial information, coordinate services and advocate for the community. Students will use social work skills learned in the classroom and practicum experiences, including a trauma-informed and human rights lens, to assess the macro forces that impact health and health care in economically challenged neighborhoods.

This course will provide a general introduction to cognitive-behavioral therapy. The student will be introduced to the behavioral, cognitive and emotional systems. They will learn how to develop conceptualizations that connect client problems with potential interventions to address these problems. Interventions will include stimulus control, behavioral activation, contingency management, skills training, distress tolerance and exposure therapy. Cognitive-behavioral interventions for several disorders will be addressed including insomnia, depression and alcohol use disorder. Strategies for engaging clients in treatment will be highlighted throughout.

This course introduces students to Acceptance and Commitment Therapy - its philosophy, theory, treatment components, and clinical applications.  ACT is an evidence-based practice that combines mindfulness and behavior change strategies to help people change their relationship with psychological pain, break the cycles of avoidance and control, and fully pursue what matters most to them. ACT takes a non-pathological approach, is adaptable and flexible, and can be utilized with a diverse range of clients and diagnoses. Through interactive lectures, experiential exercises, and hands-on assignments, students will learn how to implement ACT principles and interventions in behavioral health treatment and help clients make meaningful and lasting changes in their lives. 

We will focus on the conceptual foundations for computational thinking – how to think like a programmer without necessarily becoming a proficient programmer – and apply it to real world scenarios. This course will equip students with an approach to problem solving that is derived from learning how to write computer programs. Students will practice applying computational thinking to topics of their choosing within the context of social work or related fields (e.g., homelessness, substance misuse, aging-related challenges, poverty, etc.). Learning computational thinking will equip students with several systematic thought processes, such as decomposition, algorithm design, abstraction, and pattern recognition (at least 19 different strategies have been identified!), that are most useful for addressing social problems. For example, students will practice decomposing their social problem of interest into smaller parts until they become more manageable. Additionally, students will develop insight into the capabilities and limitations of computers and related technologies as tools. Thus, students will be able to engage knowledgeably in policy and program decisions about the ethical integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other technologies into addressing complicated social problems. Students are not expected to have any prior computer programming knowledge and will be expected to learn the basics.