Smith College's Moodle

Greetings,

A few quick notes to ground our time together.

Contact Information: kdesuze@smith.edu
Mobile: 347-596-0828

Class is schedule for Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:30am and Wednesdays at 3:40pm. Office hours are available by appointment only. My intention is to start class from a grounded space so, I will not accept appointments before class.

In lieu of pre class meetings, please feel free to email me with your concerns. If it's urgent, please indicate so in the subject line.

We will follow the Smith College School of Social Work Calendar. If there are any changes, I will do my best to post an announcement with sufficient times to adjust.

All required readings are outlined on the syllabus. While completing all the readings for all your courses may be difficult, please aspire to complete all assigned readings. We will abide by the proposed plan however; I ask for flexibility as we move throughout the course.

Finally, the semester moves really quickly so, let's support one another in being organized, present, and accountable to the process.

Please contact me if you have any questions.

kqd.

In this course, we will explore the multifaceted process of developing effective clinical approaches for working with children and families in community-based clinics, agencies, or practice. Combining biopsychosocial, family systems, and trauma lenses, we will look at the impact that environmental contexts have on individuals' abilities, as well as those of entire families, to maximize their relational resources. We will take particular care in exploring the impact that multi-generational trauma (due to various forms of historical and ongoing oppressions) and the social identity of the therapist can have on the efficacy of treatment. Therapeutic collaboration will be a thematic constant throughout the course, as will be identifying approaches in assessment, treatment-planning, and in-the-room interventions that increase a sense of client agency and decrease the risk of pathologizing. Affect regulation, interpersonal neurobiology, and family systems theories will guide the direction of our work—particularly in terms of what brings clients into treatment in the first place. Finally, this course will provide multiple opportunities to practice moving clinical conversations away from the problem-saturated stories that are often one of the leading challenges of working in community-based mental health settings. Expect an interactive class that will utilize case studies and experiential exercises, and will have us all learning skills to effectively work with children and their families in community settings.