Areas of Study

Social Work Methods
Clinical Social Work Practice with Individuals, Families, and Groups
Macro Social Work Practice
Social Work Knowledge
Human Behavior in the Social Environment (HB/SE)
Implications of Racism
Social Welfare Policy
Research in Social Work
Social Work Practice Ethics

SOCIAL WORK METHODS

Students specialize either in clinical social work practice with individuals, families, and groups, or in macro social work practice.

Clinical Social Work Practice with Individuals, Families, and Groups

Clinical Social Work Practice with Individuals and Families
The major objectives of this curriculum are to promote the development of knowledge and skills in diagnosis, assessment, treatment, and prevention. Numerous human behavior theories and social work perspectives as well as evidence-based practice are taught to inform student learning.

Person-in-environment theories are primary knowledge bases for the curriculum because they emphasize individual, family, and community resources as well as reciprocity between people and their environments. Four frameworks for differential assessment and intervention are introduced: psychodynamic, systemic, cognitive, and behavioral. The values of practice are strongly based in client empowerment and participation.

Basic skills taught include the purposeful use of oneself as
a therapeutic or change agent; listening and communication (written and verbal); interviewing; relationship building; advocacy; skill modeling and rehearsal; education; confidentiality; use of a strengths-based perspective; respecting the worth and dignity of all people; and advocating for the social environment to be more responsive to the client’s needs.

Clinical internships provide opportunities for the application of classroom learning and for interchange between the classroom and the field in diverse residential and community settings, both public and private.

Clinical social workers are employed in a variety of settings, including early childhood intervention programs, hospitals, community health settings, schools, housing developments, nursing homes, mental health clinics, and child welfare.

Offerings such as the Mildred A. Flashman Family Therapy Certificate Program strengthen family systems practice.
The Trauma Certificate Program offers specialized knowledge in trauma-focused interventions at multiple levels of social work practice. A group work specialization supports advanced mastery of group theory and practice. As part of the Louis Lowy Certificate in Gerontological Studies, the School’s curriculum includes policy and practice with aging populations. Urban practice electives also examine methods relevant to effective work with poverty and diversity. Elective courses include family therapy; cognitive and behavioral treatment; clinical practice and trauma; social work with refugees and immigrants; advanced practice with adults, children and adolescents, and the elderly; alcohol and drug abuse; and brief treatment.

Dual degrees with the schools of Education, Public Health, and Theology enable students to enrich their knowledge and skills in specialized areas of clinical practice.

Clinical Social Work Practice with Groups Individuals can meet their basic needs only with and through other people. Social work utilizes the collective power and the mutual aid of groups to help people grow, heal, and bring about social change.

Group work at the Boston University School of Social Work is part of the clinical practice sequence. This method of practice, however, is a bridge between the individual and larger systems. Group work concepts and skills can be applied in organizations and communities, as well as in groups for education, support, recreation, and therapy. Social workers lead groups with diverse populations and in a variety of settings.

Examples of group work include an after-school ethnic arts group for children; an early recovery group for women in prison; a hospital support group for patients with cancer; a therapy group for couples with relationship problems; and a task group to develop more green space in the city.

In group work classes, students study theories of small groups, utilizing systems, cognitive-behavioral, psychoeducational, and psychodynamic frameworks. They learn to conceptualize and develop groups and to engage members around a common task, using verbal and activity-based approaches. Field education agencies often provide opportunities for students to observe and practice the group method.

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In addition to taking the required courses (SSW CP 759 Introduction to Social Work Practice and SSW CP 760 Differential Social Work with Groups), group work specialists take SSW CP 762 Advanced Group Work and must have significant, supervised practice in leading, co-leading, and developing groups. Augmenting the specialization is SSW CP 764 Group Dynamics, a course based on experiential learning, and independent studies with faculty. All group work courses are open to all graduate social work students.

The Mildred A. Flashman Family Therapy Certificate
Program The field of family therapy has grown and diversified in the last three decades. Building on its traditional interest in the family as a basic unit of service, social work has made significant contributions to the development of both theory and practice in the field of marital and family therapy. Social workers are among the contemporary leaders in the field of family and marital therapy.

Boston University School of Social Work offers the Mildred A. Flashman Family Therapy Certificate Program (FTCP) as part of the advanced curriculum. The program is named after Professor Emerita Mildred A. Flashman, in recognition of her many contributions to the teaching and practice of family therapy. Dr. Flashman was instrumental in the establishment of the program.

The Family Therapy Certificate Program offers specialized courses, colloquia, and a field placement geared toward understanding and treating children, families, couples, and individuals in a systemic context. The program allows students to focus on family-centered practice with populations of their own interest, with an emphasis on working with families in an urban environment.

A maximum of 20 students may be accepted to the program each year, with applications considered after admission to the School. Full-time students may apply to the FTCP after one semester in the School. On- and off-campus part-time students who are following the standard program plan may submit applications during their second year. Off-campus students must be able to enroll in courses and attend colloquia on the Charles River Campus in Boston. The student’s grade point average must be 3.0 or above, with two positive references: one from the first field placement supervisor, and one from either an instructor or the faculty advisor.

The Family Therapy Certificate Program requires three clinical courses in family therapy. The courses are SSW CP 785 Family Therapy (fall), SSW CP 791 Seminar in Family Therapy (spring), and SSW CP 787 Couples Therapy (spring) or SSW CP 794 Clinical Practice with Children and Adolescents (spring). In addition to the clinical courses, students take a family-focused policy course—either SSW WP 706 Social Welfare Policy and the Family, or SSW WP 707 Social Welfare Policy and Programs on Children, or SSW WP 710 Family Law and Children’s Rights. The second-year field placement takes place in a setting that includes working with families and receiving family systems super­vision. Along with classes and field placements, FTCP students participate in monthly integrative group meetings over the course of their training, and attend two colloquia focused on contemporary issues in social work with families. The School will award a certificate of completion to students who take the required courses and complete the second-year family therapy field placement.

Certificate Program in Clinical Social Work and Behavioral Medicine The Boston University School of Social Work, in conjunction with the Boston University School of Medicine, is offering a new specialty program in clinical social work and behavioral medicine. This certificate program offers a small group of MSW students the opportunity to develop the knowledge, skills, and competencies derived from the growing field of behavioral medicine. New roles for clinicians are evolving in settings that require a strong grounding in the behavioral aspects of complex illnesses and disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, the addictions, and HIV/AIDS.

In addition to majoring in clinical social work, students in this program will take courses in neuroscience, psychopharmacology, health psychology, and behavioral medicine.

Students can complete the program of study in two years, with two summer courses required between first and second year.

Certificate Program in Trauma The field of trauma has exploded in the last decade with advances in neurobiology, increased attention to evidence-based and evidence-informed intervention in trauma, and more widespread recognition of trauma in the general population. Because trauma is a critical emerging and rapidly evolving field, social workers need integrated up-to-date training in working with diverse populations who are affected by wide-ranging traumatic experiences, including chronic interpersonal and/or community violence, natural disasters, combat trauma, and terrorism.

The Trauma Certificate Program has been conceptualized with these contemporary issues in mind. Students will learn to analyze conceptualizations of trauma and traumatic impact, to apply current principles of intervention and program planning, and to consider the larger social, cultural, and political forces at work which shape both exposure to and recovery from traumatic experiences. A significant theme of the program is professional self-care, including the implementation of supportive agency responses.

Students are invited to apply to the Trauma Certificate ­Program in their first year (or first term of completed fieldwork for part-time students), with completion of courses and fieldwork in the final year of the MSW. Trauma Certificate students will graduate with specialized knowledge in trauma-focused intervention at multiple levels of social work practice. The School awards a certificate of completion to students who complete the required courses and trauma-focused field placement.

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Clinical Social Work Course Offerings

SSW CP 759 Introduction to Clinical Social Work ­Practice

SSW CP 760 Differential Social Work with Groups

SSW CP 762 Advanced Group Work

SSW CP 764 Group Dynamics

SSW CP 781 Clinical Social Work Assessment and
Intervention

SSW CP 785 Family Therapy

SSW CP 787 Clinical Practice with Couples

SSW CP 791 Seminar: Family Therapy

SSW CP 794 Clinical Practice with Children

SSW CP 795 Cognitive and Behavioral Treatment

SSW CP 798 Advanced Clinical Practice with Adults

SSW CP 799 Brief and Time-Effective Treatment

SSW CP 801 Clinical Practice with Adolescents in
Social Context

SSW CP 802 Crisis Intervention with Urban Poor
Populations

SSW CP 803 Clinical Practice and Trauma

SSW CP 807 Clinical Practice with Older Adults

SSW CP 809 Alcoholism and Drug Abuse: Identification and Early Intervention

For detailed course descriptions, please visit the Social Work Methods Course Descriptions section of the School of Social Work Website.

Macro Social Work Practice

This method includes education in those areas of practice that call for intervention to bring about change in large systems. It encompasses a broad spectrum of practice, involving planning, organizing, and managerial skills. The curriculum prepares students whose academic and career interests are aimed at finding solutions to social problems affecting population groups at the community, regional, and national levels.

The macro concentration rests on a set of basic values that includes participatory democracy, multiculturalism, feminist principles, strengths and assets approach, community/consumer empowerment, and social and economic justice.

The curriculum offers courses that provide theory, knowledge, and practice skills in community analysis; needs, assets, and resources assessment; outreach and recruitment; action research; strategic analysis; program design and implementation; leadership development; group dynamics; organizational development; collective action for large systems change; bargaining and negotiating; conflict resolution; public speaking; lobbying; media relations; supervision; ­proposal writing; budgeting; evaluation research; financial management; and nonprofit administration.

The curriculum begins with a foundation course required of all first-year students, SSW MP 759 Communities and Organizations: Analysis and Intervention. Following this course, macro students are required to take SSW MP 781 Community Organizing, SSW MP 783 Planning and Program Development, and SSW MP 773 Human Services Management. These courses stress the analytical and interactional skills and bases of knowledge on which the different types of macro practice build.

Macro practitioners are trained to become community organizers for local action groups, health and welfare planners for the private and public sectors, program developers and directors, consultants and policy analysts for state and federal agencies, and managers and supervisors.

Clinical social work practice students who are interested
in macro social work practice as a secondary method may pursue a Macro Sub-specialization Certificate. They are required to:

• take any two of the following advanced macro courses: SSW MP 773 Human Services Management, SSW MP 775 Strategic Management, SSW MP 781 Community Organizing, SSW MP 783 Planning and Program Development, SSW MP 795 Applied Macro Skills; and
• develop a substantive macro practice project as part of the advanced field placement.

Community Organizing Whether the goal is organizational, institutional, or community change, the basic principles, methods, and skills of community organizing are essential for successful outcomes.

Core social work activities such as assessing resources and needs, increasing community involvement and ownership, developing indigenous leadership, designing and implementing new programs, creating democratic structures, staffing committees, conducting effective meetings, engaging in action research for issue campaigns, working with the media, lobbying elected officials, developing governance boards, and establishing participatory evaluation processes all draw directly and heavily on community organizing.

Students develop analytical, strategic, tactical, and interactional skills to work more effectively with diverse groups. The primary goal of the acquisition and enhancement of these skills is to strengthen efforts toward social and economic justice, institutional and organizational accountability, democratic participation, and consumer/community empowerment.

Social Planning Social planning draws on both analytical and political skills in attempting to remedy the multiple social problems affecting a community. Courses on social planning and program development stress the importance of using community assets and development of capacity enhancement interventions in working with communities and agencies. In addition, they also are grounded in the use of a generic set of planning theories and principles. The student will develop and work with a set of concrete tools and skills necessary for the planning process.

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Human Services Management Program All social workers need to have basic administrative and management knowledge and skills, regardless of their primary work responsi­bilities. Macro practitioners, in particular, must have basic competencies in proposal writing, budgeting, supervision, evaluation research, program development, and financial management and planning. For those who wish to concentrate on a career in management, the School offers a Human Services Management Certificate Program. This highly intensive program prepares students for top management positions in private agencies, middle management positions in larger public agencies, and entrepreneurial roles supplying and serving human service markets.

In keeping with the philosophy of the School of Social Work, the program prepares advocate managers—leaders who are deeply committed to social action, progressive social change, and institutional reform. As competent and tenacious as their counterparts in the business world, advocate managers are social work leaders first and managers second. With a primary focus on the needs and interests of the client, the advocate manager is prepared to make difficult trade-offs when responding to management imperatives of efficiency, effectiveness, and equity.

The program seeks to be especially responsive to women and other minority groups who are preparing for management roles. Through classroom discussion, field education, and special colloquia, students examine the institutional barriers faced and the strengths brought by members of minority groups.

The foundation year of the program is the same as for all other macro students. Students then specialize in advanced coursework that includes financial management, human services management, organizational behavior, marketing, strategic planning and management, and evaluation research. Some of these courses are offered at the Boston University Graduate School of Management in cooperation with the School of Social Work. Most management courses are conducted in a discussion/seminar format using the case method.

An application process is required in the spring of the first year. Interested students should have a minimum of two years full-time experience in a human service organization.

Macro Social Work Practice Course Offerings

SSW MP 759 Communities and Organizations: ­Analysis and Intervention

SSW MP 770 Poverty in America: Macro Interventions for the 21st Century

SSW MP 773 Human Services Management

SSW MP 774 Seminar: Community Planning

SSW MP 775 Strategic Management

SSW MP 776 Financial Management in Human ­Service Organizations

SSW MP 781 Community Organizing

SSW MP 783 Planning and Program Development

SSW MP 785 Program Evaluation

SSW MP 794 Macro Field Seminar

SSW MP 795 Applied Macro Skills, Groups and Systems

For detailed course descriptions, please visit the Course Descriptions section of the School of Social Work Website.

SOCIAL WORK KNOWLEDGE

Students take courses in the social work knowledge areas of Human Behavior in the Social Environment, Implications of Racism, Social Welfare Policy, Research in Social Work, and Social Work Practice Ethics.

Human Behavior in the Social Environment (HB/SE)

Social work practice of any kind requires an understanding of the factors that may enhance or impede the optimum development and functioning of individuals, families, groups, and communities.

The courses in this curriculum area teach human growth and development throughout the life cycle. The major objective of these courses is to enable students to acquire empirical and theoretical knowledge about individuals, groups, organizations, and other collectives so that, as social work practitioners, they can apply this knowledge analytically across diverse client systems and fields of practice.

After completing the courses, students will be better prepared to solve social work practice problems based upon knowledge drawn from the social, biological, and behavioral sciences. Students are also expected to be able to evaluate the utility of various theories and identify gaps in knowledge. Each student is required to take a one-semester HB/SE foundation course in the first year, and a one-semester advanced HB elective.

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Human Behavior in the Social Environment Course Offerings

SSW HB 720 Human Behavior in the Social
Environment I

SSW HB 723 Adult Psychopathology

SSW HB 727 Child Psychopathology

SSW HB 732 Perspectives on the Family and Diversity

SSW HB 741 Family Violence in Society

SSW HB 743 Social Work with Refugees and ­Immigrants

SSW HB 744 Spirituality and Social Work Practice

SSW HB 788 Child Sexual Abuse

For detailed course descriptions, please visit the Human Behavior in the Social Environment Course Descriptions section of the School of Social Work Website.

Implications of Racism

Students are also required to take a course on the implications of racism for social work practice. This course seeks to analyze and evaluate the social, cultural, political, economic, and intrapersonal contexts of racism that affect our current policies and institutional arrangements.

Racism Course Offering

SSW HB 735 Implications of Racism for the Practice of Social Work

For detailed course description, please visit the SSW Racism Course Descriptions section of the School of Social Work Website.

Social Welfare Policy

Courses in social welfare policy comprise conceptual, substantive, and analytical material.

Students are exposed to multiple understandings of urban social problems and approaches to addressing them through public policy, as well as to the current constellation of policy interventions affecting particular populations and problems. They also study different ways of analyzing and appraising social policies in their formation and implementation stages.

Social Welfare Policy Course Offerings

SSW WP 700 Social Welfare Policy I: Conceptions, Scope, History, and Philosophies of Social Welfare

SSW WP 701 Social Welfare Policy II: Contemporary Social Policy Analysis

SSW WP 703 International Social Welfare Policy

SSW WP 704 Social Policy and Programs on Aging

SSW WP 705 Mental Health and Social Policy

SSW WP 706 Social Welfare Policy and the Family

SSW WP 707 Social Welfare Policy and Programs on Children

SSW WP 708 Health Policy Issues in the United States

SSW WP 710 Family Law and Children’s Rights

SSW WP 711 Substance Abuse Policy

SSW WP 713 State Legislative Processes and Welfare Policy

For detailed course descriptions, please visit the Social Welfare Policy Course Decriptions section of the School of Social Work Website.

Research in Social Work

The research curriculum is designed to foster students’ understanding and appreciation of a scientific, analytical approach to evaluating clinical, programmatic, and policy interventions. The goal is to prepare students for the role
of “practitioner-researcher.” A practitioner-researcher applies research concepts, methods, and findings to inform practice and is capable of adding to the knowledge base of the ­profession.

The curriculum examines both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Emphasis is placed on the appropriateness and importance of both methods of inquiry to social work practice. Critical discussion is also undertaken regarding ethical standards in the conduct of research on human subjects, the importance of culturally sensitive research, and the role of research in combating or perpetuating stereotypes, discrimination, and oppression.

In the master’s degree curriculum, 6 credits are required
in research. The program consists of a one-semester, 3-credit introductory research methodology course, SSW SR 743, followed by a one-semester, 3-credit data analysis course, SSW SR 744.

Research Course Offerings

SSW SR 743 Introduction to Social Work Research I

SSW SR 744 Social Work Research II

For detailed course descriptions, please visit the Research Course Descriptions section of the School of Social Work Website.

Social Work Practice Ethics

The social work practice ethics course is an integrative
capstone seminar which serves as a bridge to professional practice. The course requires that students confront the demanding values and complex roles of social workers and examine potential conflicts with societal, organizational,
and their own personal values. In addition, students look
at ethical theory, licensing, and professional and legal
codes and obligations for social work. This practice course provides concentration and depth in debate about ethical dilemmas presented by urban settings with concentrations of people with diverse needs and values; by contradictory systems of service delivery; and by clashes of responsibilities and loyalties. It presents approaches to thinking about ethical dilemmas and models for decision making.

Social Work Practice Ethics Course Offering

SSW SP 741 Social Work Practice Ethics

For a detailed course description, please visit the Social Work Practice Ethics Course Description section of the School of Social Work Website.

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28 October 2009
Boston University
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