TY - JOUR
T1 - Educating Graduate Social Work Students in Disaster Response
T2 - A Real-Time Case Study
AU - Findley, Patricia A.
AU - Pottick, Kathleen J.
AU - Giordano, Stephanie
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors thank Project Manager Sandra Moroso, M.A. This paper was funded in part by a grant from the Robin Hood Foundation (Grant Title: Hurricane Sandy Disaster Relief Initiative, Grant Number 435346).
Funding Information:
Another focus for social work emphasizes the empowerment of individuals, families, and communities. Experiencing a disaster can impact individuals’ sense of power and control (Green ). For example, Hopper et al. () assert that traumatic stress from disaster can be immediate and long-lasting. By acknowledging the possible impact of trauma after disaster as part of an individual’s overall trauma history, social workers can use trauma-informed care to bolster individuals and help rebuild control and develop a sense of safety in their environments. Abrams and Shapiro () find a natural fit between trauma-informed care and clinical social work. Both perspectives use the person-in-situation conceptualization; both are flexible in the selection of intervention to best suit the client’s needs. Until now, the principles of trauma-informed care have not been given much recognition within social work, but that is shifting. For example, the University of Buffalo (UB) School of Social Work, has integrated a trauma-informed and human rights perspective throughout its master’s curriculum since 2009 (University of Buffalo ). In 2009, a larger effort, the National Center for Social Work Trauma Education and Workforce Development Center (), was founded. This center is a member of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network (NCTSN) and is funded by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The aim of the center is to “transform” social work education to include trauma-informed, evidence-based work with traumatized children and adolescents, and their families (ncswtraumaed.org). Although the current focus of the center is predominantly on interpersonal trauma, the National Center for Social Work Trauma Education and Workforce Development Center website materials note the importance of considering disaster-related experiences in trauma histories when working with children.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media New York.
PY - 2017/6/1
Y1 - 2017/6/1
N2 - Social workers are mental health first-responders in disaster events, yet that role has been relatively underemphasized in social work curriculum for agency-based practice. The recent increasing number of disaster-related events has challenged schools of social work to respond with curriculum and field placements that meet the student demand for education in disaster behavior health. This paper describes how a real-time education and training program for disaster response was created and adopted into an existing graduate social work school curriculum. It also details how new field placements were created, and others were transformed to focus on mental health counseling and disaster relief following a significant weather-related event. This case study demonstrates how resources were developed and leveraged to address the immediate needs of devastated communities, and it provides strategic information on the way that social work students worked to address both acute and longer-term symptoms and needs of victims and survivors through clinical training and supervision. Through the historical lens of disaster response and behavioral health, resiliency-building is shown to be the cornerstone of effective community networking.
AB - Social workers are mental health first-responders in disaster events, yet that role has been relatively underemphasized in social work curriculum for agency-based practice. The recent increasing number of disaster-related events has challenged schools of social work to respond with curriculum and field placements that meet the student demand for education in disaster behavior health. This paper describes how a real-time education and training program for disaster response was created and adopted into an existing graduate social work school curriculum. It also details how new field placements were created, and others were transformed to focus on mental health counseling and disaster relief following a significant weather-related event. This case study demonstrates how resources were developed and leveraged to address the immediate needs of devastated communities, and it provides strategic information on the way that social work students worked to address both acute and longer-term symptoms and needs of victims and survivors through clinical training and supervision. Through the historical lens of disaster response and behavioral health, resiliency-building is shown to be the cornerstone of effective community networking.
KW - Disaster curriculum
KW - Disaster response
KW - Field placement
KW - Mental health
KW - Social work training
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U2 - 10.1007/s10615-015-0533-6
DO - 10.1007/s10615-015-0533-6
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84927537314
SN - 0091-1674
VL - 45
SP - 159
EP - 167
JO - Clinical Social Work Journal
JF - Clinical Social Work Journal
IS - 2
ER -