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Reflected below are changes to SSW's course catalog that have been made since Friday, March 28, 2008.
Information for final summer students: Click here for information about courses open only to final summer students.
PRAC 0305 The Adolescent in Context: Dynamics and Treatment Issues
Term 2
See on-line catalogue for basic description. This section will emphasize theory and practice with severely troubled adolescents through Dialectical Behavioral Treatment. Elective course second
or third summer. Two quarter-hours - Hammer.
PRAC 0306-2 Couple Therapy
Term 1
Through didactic presentations and discussion, analysis of videotapes and experiential exercise, students will be introduced to the fundamental theories and practices of work with couples. The course will focus on three levels: (1) the set of expectations and "models of intimacy" brought to the relationship from each partner's family of origin; (2) the problematic patterns of current interactions; and (3) the larger systemic context that serves to maintain the problem. The theoretical framework for understanding couples will draw on object relations, intergenerational, cognitive-behavioral, trauma and narrative perspectives. Specific attention will be focused on couples who face challenges related to interpersonal violence (i.e., legacies of childhood trauma, combat trauma, and domestic violence). Previous clinical experiences with couples and/or families will help with participation in this course. Elective course second or third summer.
Two quarter-hours - Laird.
PRAC 0306-1 Couple Therapy
Term 1
Through didactic presentations and discussion, analysis of videotapes and experiential exercise, students will be introduced to the fundamental theories and practices of work with couples. The course will focus on three levels (1) the set of expectations and “models of intimacy” brought to the relationship from each partner’s family of origin, (2) the problematic patterns of current interactions; and (3) the larger systemic context that serves to maintain the problem. The theoretical framework for understanding couples will draw on intergenerational, structural, trauma, social constructionist and narrative perspectives. Two quarter-hours - Spiegelman.
PRAC 0307 Family Therapy: Narrative Approaches to Substance Abuse
Term 2
This five week course is designed as a beginning process of integrating family therapy, psychodynamic therapy and addiction counseling theories and concepts into practice. The course will present a brief overview of the family therapy field including narrative practices and other newer approaches. The format will include lecture, group discussion, formal case studies, role playing, and guest presentations. Student participation is key. Vital contextual factors, such as, ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic status, race, and sexual identity will be discussed separately and within the practical application of the different approaches presented. This course offers opportunities for students to fortify their understanding and skill in treating families coping with substance abuse problems. Demonstrated are innovative, flexible ways to help clients form new understandings of what has happened in their lives, explore their relationships to drugs and alcohol, and develop new stories to guide and nourish their recovery. Topics covered include: the role of AA and Al-Anon in providing meaning and support, treating addicted survivors of trauma and abuse, applications to adolescent and child therapy, dealing with overlapping substance abuse and food addictions, and issues facing care givers who are themselves in recovery. Elective course second or third summer. Two quarter-hours - Diamond.
PRAC 0308 Clinical Practice with Families: Systemic, Dialogic, Feminist and Narrative Approaches
(Two-term course)
Caution, this is a 10-week course. You may register only in first term. If you are successful, you must keep open the same meeting times (Wednesday and Friday at 1:40 p.m.) in second term and reduce your second term electives by one. After web registration is over, the Registrar will register you in the second half of this course. Elective course second or third summer. Two quarter-hours each term - Olson.
SWPR 0318 Managing Ethnicities: A Socio-Legal History of Immigration to the U.S.
Term 1
From the 1790 act which limited the rights of naturalization to "free whites," to the devastating quota Acts of the 1920's, to the reinvigorated restrictionist legislations of the post-9/11 era, the laws of the nation and the discourses of immigration and immigrants which have enabled them, have been key terrains in and through which legitimate and de-legitimized identities have been forged, and populations demarcated as viable participants in society or as undesirable "Others" to be excluded from full participation. Because immigration has been a central discriminating mechanism through which this selective peopling of the nation has been accomplished, the history of immigration and immigrants is a site par excellence for the examination of the mechanisms through which the contemporary issues of diversity, "difference," and marginalization of populations were and continue to be accomplished. This seminar will examine the socio-legal history of immigration. We will review major U.S. legislation concerning immigrants and immigration, refugees and asylum, and citizenship and naturalization. The legal codes will be analyzed through the lens of theory: contemporary theories of race, ethnicity, and culture that enabled the legal and social discourses of immigration and citizenship, and current theories of identity and participation that both challenge and maintain past assumptions and practices. Social work's development as a profession coincided with the period in U.S. history marked by the largest waves of immigration and the most troubling discourses of nativism. Work with immigrants and more specifically, work with poor immigrants in the urban settings, shaped the nature and the direction of social work in these crucial early years of the profession. We will examine the history of immigration - the history of the organic past which has constructed the particular demographic make-up of the present day communities-as an indispensable part of our efforts to clarify the profession's current practices with newcomers and the broader issues of diversity and difference within which they are framed. Elective course second or third summer. Two quarter-hours - Park.
PRAC/HBSE 0322 Beyond Combat: Clinical Social Work Theory and Practice Models
Term 1
This elective course draws from research data that explore the effects of deployment and combat stress on the physical and mental health of active duty U.S. service members and their families. Therapy modalities grounded in a synthesis of trauma, attachment, object relations, family and cognitive-behavioral theories include a range of approaches (i.e. individual, couple/family, group and clinical case management). Attention to issues of diversity, ethics and use of “professional self” will be included throughout all clinical case discussions. Clinical issues involve intimate partner violence, intergenerational transmission of legacies of combat trauma, military sexual assault and complex responses of PTSD, other anxiety disorders, depression/suicidality and substance abuse. Managing secondary trauma and the role of transference/countertransference phenomena are central in all discussions. Priority is given to students who have worked with or who anticipate working with soldiers, Marines and their families. Two quarter hours – Basham.
HBSE 0337 - Neurobiology and Clinical Social Work
Term 2
The purpose of this course is to synthesize contemporary literature that demonstrates the increasing relevance of neurobiology findings on clinical practice, with a range of vulnerable populations. Using aspects of child development theory, contemporary attachment theory, trauma theory, cognitive neuroscience, and clinical theory, the course focuses on the adaptive functions of positive early relationships for the achievement of key developmental capacities. A central hypothesis of the course is there is no such thing as a “single brain” and that one’s social brain is fundamentally shaped in interaction with other people. The healing benefits of a therapeutic relationship are explicitly demonstrated. We will explore the central role of affect regulation and mentalization processes in the development of mental health. We also will explore the outcomes of disrupted attachment and trauma on brain development; in so doing, we will explore clinical implications and treatment strategies for a range of biopsychosocial disorders. Classroom methods will include lecture, small group discussion, videotapes and case presentations. Two quarter-hours – Miehls.
SWPS 0376 International Human Rights and Social Work Practice
Term 2
The history of human rights is that of the struggle against exploitation of one person by another.It is based on the recognition of basic rights founded on the concept of the inherent dignity and worth of every individual. The recognition was consolidated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the General Assembly of the United Nations. Its preamble asserted "recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world". Despite these agreements, gross and subtle violations of human rights are perpetrated every day against thousands of people. The phenomenon of the "disappeared", the torture of political prisoners, summary killings and arbitrary arrests, the increasing use of the death penalty, the extortion of confessions by physical and mental abuse, the manipulation of and the intellectual, emotional and moral pressures imposed on individuals in an attempt to condition their personalities, the detention of prisoners without trial, the economic exploitation of adults and children, displacement of populations due to internal conflicts - these and other violations are all too evident throughout the world. The victims of human rights abuses continue to suffer for many years as a result of their experience. This course examines the context of human rights issues and policy from the vantage point of the field of social work. Social workers deal with common human needs. They work to prevent or alleviate individual, group and community problems, and to improve the quality of life for all people. In doing so, they seek to uphold the rights of the individuals or groups with whom they are working. Elective course second and third summer. Two quarter-hours – Levinsky.
Senior Integrative Seminars (0533) and Senior Clinical Seminars (0503) serve a function of helping third summer MSW students to synthesize academic and experiential learning drawn from their academic coursework, thesis, community and anti-racism projects as well as their internship settings. Critical reflective thinking is encouraged as students review and critique clinical social work theory, policy, research and practice models. These seminars also serve the function of launching students into their professional careers. Although all seminars aim to fulfill these overarching goals, each one also maintains a unique focus that is described in the individual course description. While the integrative seminars maintain a more distinct integrative focus, the senior clinical seminars direct a more specialized focus to particular content.
Though not required, our expectation is that all third-year MSW students will be able to participate in one of these seminars:
Term 1 -
Senior Integrative Seminars:
SWPS/HBSE/PRAC 0533 Dismantling Institutional Racism (Gannon)
Term 2 -
Senior Integrative Seminars:
HBSE 0533 Senior Integrative Seminar (Hertz)
HBSE 0533 Senior Integrative Seminar (Flanagan)
Descriptions for the following additional electives limited to third summer students may be found in the on-line course catalogue:
Term 2
HBSE 0540, Death and Bereavement over the Life Cycle (Lynch)
RESH 0581, Writing for Professional Publication (Averill) – description below.
HBSE 0533-1 Senior Integrative Seminar: Dismantling Institutional Racism: The Challenge for
Social Workers
Term 1
This course will serve as a Senior Integrative Seminar and will combine aspects of policy, HBSE, practice and research. It is designed for those students who have a strong interest in combating institutional racism and a commitment to engagement in anti-racism efforts. Students will consider the various forms and types of institutional racism and its presence in not only obvious circumstances, but also those situations where it is least expected. Students will also develop clear definitions of racism and oppression, with attention to the interactions that perpetrate their presence in our communities. The profession’s commitment to social justice and the roles that social workers have in the eradication of racism will be explored. The course uses research, theory, and student’s personal and professional experiences to analyze the manifestations of institutional racism. These efforts can help prepare students to engage in anti-racism activities as clinical practitioners, policy practitioners, teachers, scholars, activists and citizens. Elective course in third summer only. Two quarter-hours – Gannon.
HBSE 0533-1: Senior Integrative Seminar
Term 2
This course will assist students in reflecting upon their clinical practice and in integrating the many theories they have studied with their evolving professional selves. A relational perspective will be offered as a framework for the discussion of clinical issues. Attention will be focused on clinical and ethical dilemmas which emerge in the therapeutic process. These dilemmas may include: transference and countertransference issues; questions pertaining to self-disclosure and boundaries; supervisory dilemmas; the differential use of self in working with various client populations and with issues of difference; and the role of managed care in practice. The goals of the course are: (1) to help students conceptualize how the therapeutic process unfolds and to appreciate why they intervene in particular ways; (2) to synthesize theory into a coherent social work approach that attends to internal and external factors and allows for the most creative uses of the self; (3) to develop the courage and patience to "not know" while attending to the complexities inherent in the therapeutic dialogue; and (4) to develop and trust their own voices as social workers as they prepare to enter the field. Students will be encouraged to discuss their most perplexing clinical and ethical dilemmas from their placements, and to grapple with their unanswered theoretical questions. The course will also provide an opportunity for students to gain a sense of closure as they complete their studies at Smith. Elective course in third summer only. Two quarter-hours – Hertz.
HBSE 0533-2: Senior Integrative Seminar
Term 2
By this last semester of their three years at Smith, students have been exposed to a variety of theoretical lenses. Drive theory, ego psychology, object relations and attachment theory, self psychology, relational theory, psychosocial life theories, and ongoing biopyschosocial assessment have been presented as some of the tools that are most useful for clinical social work treatment. This seminar is designed to help students synthesize these theories into a coherent social work approach that always takes into account both the internal and external factors of a client’s world. Enhancing the application of theory to practice will be at the heart of the course, and special attention will be paid to developing the most creative use of the self in clinical work. Students are expected to compare and evaluate theories of human behavior and are invited to bring in the theoretical material with which they have struggled most in their placements. Students will be required to read for each class, but the readings will not be assigned by the instructor. Instead, the required reading will be co-constructed by the class and the instructor. The instructor will place on the Required Reading reserve in the library or on Moodle the books and articles that have been most useful (and beloved) to her, but students will also be encouraged to revisit readings that have either inspired or perplexed them and to share those with the class. Developing the courage and patience to be wrong, to not know, to tolerate ambiguity, and, therefore, to become lifelong learners will be central to this course. Elective course in third summer only. Two quarter-hours - Flanagan.
RESH 0581 Writing for Professional Publication
Term 2
This course offers a framework for conceptualizing, organizing, writing, and submitting for publication a paper of professional quality that reflects an area of interest to social work. Using the thesis as a basis for work, it launches students as professionals capable of contributing to and advancing the knowledge base of the profession, both in the present and future. Elective course third summer.
Two quarter-hours - Averill.
Contact
us: sswoas@email.smith.edu
(413) 585-7989
Valerie Abrahamsen, Th.D. , Registrar & Director of Academic Support Services
Sharyn Zuffelato
, Student Services Coordinator
Nicole Kutcher, Faculty Services Coordinator
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