Storytelling and Social Work

Catalog description

This course provides instruction for students seeking to apply narrative approaches to encounters with individuals, families, groups, communities, and systems. The course, which uses creative engagement and didactic strategies, is divided into four modules. In the first module, students will explore definitions of stories/narratives, learn about narrative formation, consider the role of narratives, reflect on the power of narratives, discuss the universality of narratives, explore diverse narrative formats, and reflect on narrative possibilities and barriers. In the second module, students will learn about several specific narrative interventions including narrative therapy, trauma narratives, trauma art narrative therapy (TANT), narrative exposure therapy (NET), stories, and bibliotherapy/poetry therapy. In the third module, students will consider how narrative approaches align with social work values/ethics and reflect on the role of their own stories in narrative work with clients. Students will also identify challenges and opportunities in narrative assessment and review assessment measures. Finally, in the last module, students will identify specific ways to implement and apply narrative practices in their work with individuals, families, communities, and systems.