SWK6911 Grounding the Strengths Perspective

Abstract

Course Description: ¶The purpose of this course will be to provide a grounding for the Strengths-Perspective in Social Work, supplying it with a much needed, multidimensional theoretical structure, methodology, and model of the person, that is rooted in human experience, and emerges from the world of clinical practice. Toward this end, a number of classical and contemporary practice modalities, famous therapeutic masters, and noted theorists (see below), have been assembled and joined together, creating a spiritually inclusive, holistic, non-reductive, humanistic, paradigm and framework for clinical social work, thereby doing justice to the professionʼs core principles and values. Moreover, the course content has been grouped into three primary, though overlapping units (see also below), that are all organized around these common themes ¶In line with the above ideas, however, it is important to emphasize that while there will be some time devoted to outlining theory and engaging in conceptual and textual learning (through class lectures and readings), the overwhelming focus of the course will be on experiential learning and the concrete development of practice knowledge and skills; i.e., this course has been designed as a systematically integrated (though of course not exhaustive) survey of what we have termed herein “Social Work-True” approaches. As such, the main focus of our study will be experienced-based, centered around, for example, mindfulness and other meditations and exercises done in class and practiced in weekly assignments, real clinical demonstrations of therapeutic modalities and interventions, and related experiential activities done in pairs and in groups, etc. In other words, the overarching goal will be to provide each of the developing practitioners with a substantial toolkit of strengths-based interventions, coupled with a unifying framework and conception of the person to anchor it, as well as a wealth of resources that enable further study in this domain, etc.