Clinical Social Work Practice: An Integrated Approach

1. Clinical Social Work: An Overview.
Definition of clinical social work.
Theoretical base: a historical perspective.
The therapeutic relationship.
Contemporary social work practice: brief treatment.
Practice evaluation and research.
Some tensions in clinical social work practice.

2. Key Issues in Clinical Practice.
Ethics and boundaries.
Practice in a managed care environment.
Suicide.
Therapist's Self Care.

3. An Integrated Approach to Clinical Practice.
Journaling as an integrative tool.
Process recording.
Clinical supervision.
The clinical agenda.
The core practice class as laboratory.

4. The Clinical Interview: The Process of Assessment.
The beginning phase.
The middle phase.
Endings.
Case example- working with a 16-year-old boy diagnosed with conduct disorder.

5. The Psychosocial Study: The Product of Assessment.
Preparing the psychosocial.
A psychosocial model outline.
How assessment informs diagnosis.
How diagnosis suggests theory.
How theory guides practice.
A sample psychosocial study: the case of Vincent, age 7, a traumatized child.

6. Cross Cultural Practice.
Ten important elements of cross cultural practice.
Culturally competent practice.
Culturally specific practice.
Case example: Counseling a Vietnamese adolescent attracted to sub-culture of substance abuse.
A Black Identity Development Model.
Case example: Counseling an Afro-American woman- worker and client of different racial and cultural backgrounds.

7. Object Relations Theory: A Relational Psychodynamic Model.
Early object relations theory: Harry Stack Sullivan and the Interpersonal School.
The work of Melanie Klein, Ronald Fairbairn, D.W. Winnicott, and Harry Guntrip.
Traumatic bonding.
Object relations theory and the brief treatment.
Case example: Treatment of a depressed adult survivor of childhood abuse- an object relations brief treatment approach.

8. Self Psychology: A Relational Psychodynamic Model.
The work of Heinz Kohut.
Application of self psychology to brief treatment.
Case example-treatment of an elderly woman whose adult son undergoes a gender change.
The concepts of brief group therapy within a self psychological framework.
Case example: a short-term group for woman victims of domestic abuse.

9. The Psychology of Women.
Historical Perspective.
Self-In-Relation theory-writings from the Stone Center.
Women's psychotherapy groups.
Case example: learning to connect in a women's psychotherapy group- a self-in-relation model.

10. Cognitive Theory: A Structural Approach.
History and definition.
Rational emotive therapy-the work of Albert Ellis.
Cognitive theory of Aaron Beck.
Challenging and disputing dysfunctional thoughts.
Schema focused therapy- the work of Jeffery Young and colleagues.
Case example: cognitive treatment for anxiety.

11. Behavior Theory: A Structural Approach.
The elements, skills, and techniques.
Self management strategies- the work of Donald Meichenbaum and colleagues.
Case example: treatment of a young woman with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

12. Narrative Therapy: A Postmodern Approach.
Constructivism as a conceptual framework.
The Language of narrative.
Therapeutic strategies.
Therapeutic documents.
Case example: a Latina woman constructs a new narrative about her family.

13. Solution Focused Therapy: A Postmodern Approach.
Strengths perspective.
Client self determination.
The editorial reflection.
Solution oriented family assessment.
Solution focused strategies.
Case example: initial meeting with a family.

14. Integrating Research and Practice.
Quantitative measures: using a single system design methodology.
Case example: Demonstrating the results of treatment with a client suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Qualitative methodology.
Case example: A qualitative inquiry into the levels of self-esteem of adults diagnosed with Tourette's Syndrome.