Course Details

This course is an advanced concentration year practice elective focused on assessing the neurodevelopmental impact of trauma and selecting interventions consistent with this assessment. Students will learn to identify major regions of the brain, appreciate the sequential nature of brain development, and determine which areas of the brain have likely been affected by developmental trauma. Consistent with a neurosequential understanding of development, students will be taught to recognize which interventions involve specific brain regions in order to assist them in choosing those most likely to promote growth in areas of the brain impacted by trauma. This assessment and intervention process occurs within the frameworks of systems and attachment theories, which recognize that the relational environments and communities in which clients live must be adequately safe and supportive for any intervention to be effective. This course is a hybrid course, incorporating recorded material supplied by The Child Trauma Academy. By the end of the course, students will have completed the majority of the requirements for Phase I Certification in the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics. Because of this, the reading and out-of-class workload for this course is heavier than usual.

Prerequisites: Grade of C or higher in SOWK 500, SOWK 501, SOWK 502, SOWK 503, SOWK 504, SOWK 505, SOWK 509, and SWII 530S; P in SWII 530; or Advanced Standing Students or 5 Year Social Work Students.

Outcomes: Students will be taught to recognize which interventions involve specific brain regions in order to assist them in choosing those most likely to promote growth in areas of the brain impacted by trauma.