Trauma: Vulnerable Populations

Catalog description

The purpose of this course is to help students prepare for advanced social work practice in a variety of interdisciplinary settings, particularly those where trauma is a focus.. Professional social work practice in these settings often involves a varied skill set that promotes the social workers' critical thinking and advanced communication skills to help clarify roles and determine the tasks at hand. Students will explore a range of events associated with the development of trauma-related dysfunction, along with risk factors which potentiate the development of PTSD across the lifespan. Students will have the opportunity to learn and practice strategies for assessing survivors of psychological trauma using gold-standard, empirically validated assessment methods. This extends to self-assessment in working with vulnerable populations. Students develop understanding of trauma-informed principles of care that advocates for policies and trauma-informed sensitive services across systems levels, responding to those underrepresented and oppressed in society.