SCWK8820 · Social Work

Trauma Informed Psychosocial Interventions

School of Social Work

Elective This course provides a foundation for understanding and implementing mental health and psychosocial perspectives in adverse and low resource settings and among culturally diverse populations in the United States and abroad. The interventions explored are trauma-informed and designed for settings of adversity such as immigrant detention centers, juvenile justice settings, child welfare settings, and places and populations affected by community violence, forced and irregular migration, war, and pandemics. The course will use a biopsychosocial approach to understand how interventions work to improve outcomes for beneficiaries at the individual, family, and community levels. Throughout the course, consideration is given to how a clinicalas well as a macroperspective can inform traumainformedpsychosocial interventions. Emphasis will be placed on clinical interventions for individuals, communities and groups that are supported by current and emerging research evidence about effective practice. The psychosocialinterventions explored in course are relevant for both domestic and global settings, the course will focus on best practices and international standards and guidelines for psychosocial and mental health work in humanitarian settings, these standards include the Interagency Standing Committee (IASC) guidelines as well as those of WHO, UNHCR, UNICEF and SAMHSA. The course will focus on frameworks and policy interventions that strengthen community resilience.