Online Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Social Work

This course will provide crucial information for assessing and reacting to various crises involving suicide, homicide, intimate partner violence, sexual violence, sexual abuse, bereavement/grief, substance use, natural disasters, wars, emergency response in the community and in schools, and terrorism. Practical applications and policy implications for various crisis situations will be presented. The crisis task model will be used to process crisis situations, understand crucial information about a crisis, clinical considerations, and practical experiences on every crisis topic. Safety issues, self-care, and wellness will also be examined.

In this course, students explore the specific implications of critical policy issues on evidence-based social work practice in health care settings. Topics include public funding for health care, the development of behavioral health services in the community, and the passage of mental health parity legislation. Students also examine the foundation for social work practice in integrated health including ethical social work practice, models and frameworks for medical social work practice, health care financing and workforce development. This course is part one of a two-course elective sequence in Integrated Health Care.

Prerequisite: SOWK 658.

In this course, students explore the central contribution of social work to comprehensive health care. They evaluate social work interventions to assess and ameliorate the psychological effects of illness and disability. Students also examine roles for social workers in prevention and health maintenance including case management skills. This course provides information about person-centered health care and evidence-based practices that are essential to integrated health care, such as screening, motivational interviewing, and wellness self-management. This course is part two of a two-course elective sequence in Integrated Health Care.