This course discusses the major categories of psychological disorders, as well as theory and research regarding etiology, diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. Introduction to the use of the DSM.

This course examines the foundational aspect of social work practice, that is, the development of the "person in environment." The course is designed to provide knowledge and understanding of theory, research and practice issues related to human behavior and development. Human behavior is presented as a bio-psycho-socio-cultural phenomenon. The course focuses on people as individual and as members of families, groups, organizations, communities and global society.  Course content covers life course and life span development from conception through later adulthood and death and examines the impacts of racial, ethnic, socio-cultural, religious/spiritual and gender diversity on human behavior. These impacts on special population groups including racial and ethnic minority groups, immigrants, minority religious groups, women, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender persons, children, older adults, and people with disabilities will be evaluated. The social work profession's ethical responsibility for enhancing individual and social functioning and advancing social, economic, and environmental justice will be emphasized.

This course focuses mainly on chemical substance abuse but considers the etiology and manifestations of other addictions as well. Attention is given to the occurrence of addiction in the family with particular reference to the physical, behavioral, and attitudinal manifestations of addictive behavior and identification and diagnosis of addiction, as well as the selection of appropriate processes of intervention.

This course will examine social issues and injustices as they relate to social work. A central focus will be the struggles of individuals, families, and communities from around the country and around the world. This course will deepen the student's understanding to the concepts of social justice, human rights, social welfare, liberation and oppression, and explore how these concepts are understood at different times and in different places. In addition, they will discuss ways to promote human rights and social, economic and environmental justice in social work.

This course will examine the ethical perspectives of social justice and the ethical dilemmas of working with vulnerable children and families. We will critically examine current policies and practices relating to children and families' circumstances and be able to apply appropriate social work perspectives that encourage sound practice, while reflecting upon the influence of historical events and persons. The course will enable students to bring skills and knowledge to bear in assessing and intervening in situations involving children and families.

This course is designed to prepare the student for the professional practicum in social work. The course will familiarize the student with the roles of the student intern and will guide the student in developing skills for the social work relationship, as well as an understanding of profession practice. The course will assist the student in identifying diverse and vulnerable populations that pose the most challenge for students so that they can gain understanding of, and comfort and experience interacting with various social groups. The course will also introduce interviewing and empathic listening skills and provide opportunities for students to practice these skills.

This course focuses on the processes of ethical engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation in generalist social work practice with individuals. Skills are developed in initiating the social work relationship, assessing individual client strengths and challenges, advocating for individuals, developing intervention plans, evaluating outcomes, and appropriately ending the professional relationship.

This course investigates the processes of attachment, loss, and grieving. The course explores loss, in life and in preparation for death, and addresses both acceptable and disenfranchised loss and grief. Theories of bereavement and grief counseling and companioning skills are presented.

There is a saying in Latin America - "Puerto Rico: tan lejos de Dios y tan cerca de los EE.UU." (Puerto Rico: So far from God and so close to the United States). This course will look at la Isla del Encanto - the Enchanted Island - and the challenges it has faced throughout its history as well as the strength and resilience of the people in facing those challenges. It will examine Puerto Rico from multiple perspectives: historical; its relationship to the US; and, through the eyes of the local Diaspora.

This course focuses on social work engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation with families and groups. It provides an investigation of and skill development in generalist social work practice, focusing on systems theory and empowerment perspective. Students gain knowledge and skills for effective and ethical generalist social work practice with families and groups.

This course specifically focuses on engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation with organizations and communities. Social work values and ethics provide a foundation for this course, which highlights the integration of micro, mezzo, and macro skills for effective generalist practice.

Students will be introduced to a variety of approaches to macro social work practice. Students will acquire knowledge and skills for engagement, assessment, interventions, and evaluation with organizations and communities utilizing a systems framework within the empowerment tradition in social work.

Research Methods for Generalist Social Work Practice is a one-semester course. The purpose of this course is to prepare the generalist social work practitioner to understand the research process, develop the steps of research design, including a survey instrument, and seek approval for the project from the La Salle University Institutional Review Board. The student will be exposed to a variety of social research processes and methods, including qualitative and quantitative methodologies; program evaluation; and needs assessment research. Emphasis on understanding and applying social work values to research will be included. Students will examine ethical dilemmas facing researchers and those studying research, especially as this relates to work with vulnerable populations. This course highlights how research interfaces with successful social work practice.

This course provides students with an educationally directed field experience designed to enhance the development of engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation skills in generalist social work. Students complete 250 hours of fieldwork in an approved setting under the supervision of a professional social worker.

A continuation of SWK 580: Generalist Field Practicum Part A, this course provides a social work practice experience in which students integrate the social work theory, skills, and values they are learning in the classroom. While the focus of this practicum is assessment and intervention with organizations and communities, the student will continue to develop and practice skills intervening with individuals, families, and/or groups. Students complete 250 hours of fieldwork in an approved setting under the supervision of a professional social worker.

This course will provide students with an understanding of co-occurring disorders, related concepts and theories, and the inter-relationship between mental health issues and substance use and abuse. Mental health issues and substance abuse will be examined using the DSM, with specific attention to key symptomology and increased risk. Screening and assessment tools and intervention strategies for co-occurring disorders will be explored. The use of self in a professional setting, and cultural considerations will also be examined. Students will gain an understanding of the implications of current policy on individuals, families, communities and agencies as it relates to mental health and substance use disorders.

This course will provide an examination of the historical roots of the United States' response to human needs through social welfare policy, including the distribution of power, status, and resources. The experience of oppression and discrimination of vulnerable groups will be stressed. Social policy is discussed using historical and social justice lenses, stressing critical thinking in how these policies can be improved to better serve individuals, groups and communities, especially those who have historically experienced oppression and discrimination. Ethical issues associated with the allocation of resources will be highlighted.

This course is designed to provide an understanding of working with children, adolescents, and their families. It will focus on treating a variety of presenting issues, as well as provide several theoretical perspectives for working wit families with children and/or adolescents. We will explore many clinical interventions for working with youth of varying ages, and the course will include play therapy. Students will have many experiential opportunities to learn about play therapy techniques and interventions. Careful attention will be paid to ethical issues, laws regarding mandated reporting, duty-to-warn, when treating children and adolescents, as well as cultural and diversity issues will be addressed.

This is a clinical skills course that focuses on the initial problems addressed in the process of therapeutic intervention, namely the self-regulation of thoughts, feeling, and actions. Training is in a broadly conceived cognitive behavior therapy that includes a variety of specific intervention strategies designed to address problems of self-regulation.

A clinical skills course that focuses on the issues addressed in those counseling and psychotherapy approaches that see the gaining of insight as a significant goal in the change process. Key concepts identified with these specific approaches will be presented along with general process issues for working with individuals. techniques specific to a number of insight-oriented approaches will be explored and students will be encouraged to gain both an understanding of these skills and the ability to utilize them.

This course combines experiential and didactic approaches. The student learns the major theoretical approaches to group counseling and psychotherapy and also participates in group counseling sessions on issues presented by the classroom group. this experience will show the dynamics of groups and lad to the acquisition of skills needed to assist in the resolution of behavioral problems.

This course explores multicultural counseling theory as well as culture-specific counseling strategies for culturally diverse clients. It is designed to help students develop their multicultural counseling competence and increase their ability to work effectively and ethically in a complex and diverse social world.

This course will offer a critical examination of the development of racism in the U.S. and within social work as a discipline and profession in the United States with a focus on how social work practice, theories, and interventions perpetuate racism and oppression. The course will use critical race theory and intersectionality to discuss how different forms of oppression -- discrimination based on race, ethnicity, immigration status, ability, gender identity, sexual orientation, class, to name a few - are connected and how the dominant culture, both inside and outside social work, misuses power to maintain their advantage and privilege knowingly and unknowingly. It will then offer frameworks for practice that are anti-racist, anti-oppressive, abolitionist, and that promote social, economic, and environmental justice.

This course examines human relationships with particular reference to their various forms, functions, and patterns of development. The processes of attachment, separation, individuation, and differentiation are highlighted and are used in a contextual (systemic) framework to examine each relationship. Special emphasis is placed on the clinical applications of this knowledge to couples and families. The student is required to complete a study of one of his/her primary dyadic relationships.

This course focuses on an understanding of how addictive processes interact with social and family contexts. This allows more effective treatment interventions to be designed. The current research on family dynamics and treatment of codependence, adolescent substance abuse, and children of addicts will also be reviewed.

Social service agencies and nonprofit organizations permeate society and are a main source of enhancing well-being for individuals, families, and communities. Social workers are often employed by these agencies for service provision and program management and development. Increasingly, social workers are tasked with leading complex social services agencies and non-profit organizations. This course aims to provide students with the necessary skills to manage and lead in complex environments. Students will identify their own theory of leadership and how leadership applies to organizational management. Additionally, students will identify organizational structures and the processes for managing and developing programs within these structures. Students will also learn how to mentor employees and develop skills for providing supervision. Through course work, students can expect to gain knowledge in evaluating and implementing programs. Ultimately this course prepares students for the arduous, but necessary task, of transitioning from direct practice to a leadership role within the social work profession.

Advanced Integrative Practice with Children and Families emphasizes the application of advanced theory and practice principles for working with children and families in diverse practice settings. This course provides students an opportunity to consider approaches of current and emerging models of service delivery across the spectrum of settings where clinical intervention may be necessary, as well as more systemic intervention, which would address needs in a setting where social work may be one of many services offered (such as educational, healthcare or child welfare agencies). Models of child and family practice that emphasize promotion of wellbeing for the child and their family are considered.

This course builds on the generalist practice courses (SWK 541, SWK 560 and SWK 561) and explores theories and models for advanced social work practice with individuals and families with an emphasis on clinical practice methods. The course explores and critiques evidence-informed models for practice, emerging models of practice, and traditional/indigenous healing practices. The course reinforces the integration of theory and practice interventions as well as culturally appropriate, trauma-informed, and anti-oppressive stances toward social work practice. The overarching goal of the course is to integrate direct practice approaches that are client-centered, strengths-based, and relational with a primary focus on individual and family well-being.

This course focuses on social work at the community level and social work in policy arenas, connecting the two. The context for all social work practice is community. All people are members of communities and given social work's commitment to the person-in-environment perspective, community and policy practice are essential for social work. Likewise, since social policy affects all aspects of life -- both personal and professional -- social workers must be aware of how policy is developed and implemented, and how to influence policy. This course provides students with the advanced skills for work in communities and policy areas. Students will learn basic concepts and strategic approaches related to practicing in these settings, including the concepts of economic, environmental and social justice; social transformation; empowerment; and, participatory democracy.

Advanced Field Practicum: Part A is the first, in a two-part practicum that provides the student with an educationally directed advanced social work practice experience. The student integrates social work theory and skills related to their area of concentration, while guided by a field instructor to practice within an ethical and professional framework. This practicum is based in an agency or organization within the community. Students are expected to complete 300 hours in the field and participate in a weekly seminar class. This practicum must be taken concurrently with SWK 680: Advanced Practice for Individual & Family Well-Being.

Advanced Field Practicum: Part B is the second in a two-part practicum that provides the student with an educationally directed advanced social work practice experience. The student integrates social work theory and skills related to their area of concentration, while guided by a field instructor to practice within an ethical and professional framework. This practicum is based in an agency or organization within the community. Students are expected to complete 300 hours in the field and participate in a weekly seminar class. This practicum must be taken concurrently with SWK 661: Advanced Community & Policy Practice for Well-Being.

This course is designed for social work students to integrate learning from the advanced social work practice curriculum and the student's area of concentration. Students will develop and disseminate a culminating experience that contributes to individual, family and/or community well-being. With a focus on professional and ethical practice, students will demonstrate competency at the advanced practice level by synthesizing the values, ethics, knowledge, and skills learned throughout the MSW Program. In consultation with their colleagues and faculty, students will create a capstone project that advances social work research and/or practice and prepares them for lifelong learning.