Hybrid MSW Curriculum

This is a required course of the professional foundation year in the MSW program, and prepares students for concentrated study in a specific policy area undertaken in the advanced concentration year. Woven through the course are four theoretical frameworks that underlie social work education at NYU Silver—critical race theory, standpoint theory, social justice, and intersectionality—and how these frameworks can be used to understand the development and practice of public policy. The course also focuses on the interplay between values and political and economic structures and how these affect social welfare policy development and create or limit access and availability to social welfare services and benefits. Students will learn about the major social policies and programs that affect people’s well-being or quality of life and various aspects of social service delivery; understand the ways in which direct social work practice enacts social policies and is shaped by them; develop beginning expertise in understanding social policy content, policy actions of agencies, professional associations, and political bodies; and gain the skills needed to influence social policy.

These two courses examine human development and behavior across the lifespan, starting prenatally through the end of life. The courses utilize biopsychosocial and systems perspectives, emphasizing the reciprocal interchange and mutual impact among individuals, families, and society and stressing the centrality of culture, race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, age, and the socioeconomic environment. The content, as well as pedagogical approaches, are bolstered by critical theories and perspectives, namely critical race theory, social justice, intersectionality, and standpoint theory.

This course covers basic research concepts and methods, with the goal of preparing students to be critical consumers of research for social work practice. A hybrid online version of this course is also available.

In this course, students develop the theoretical knowledge, attitudes, and self-awareness needed to engage in social justice-oriented practice. The course addresses all forms of diversity, oppression, and privilege and how they are manifested at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels, with a special emphasis on racism.

In the Integrated Social Work Practice I & II and the Practicum Instruction I & II courses, students learn a variety of professional social work roles and how to work with individuals, couples, families, agencies, and communities through the use of modalities that are appropriate to the agency setting. Learning the core social work values and ethical standards and how to apply them in practice are key aspects of these courses.

This course provides students with knowledge and skills for beginning, middle, and ending stages of evidence-based social work practice with groups. Topics include: recruitment and composition, contracting and goal setting, and structure of groups; phases of group development; leadership, decision-making, conflict resolution, termination, and evaluation of group interventions.

This course introduces students to the theoretical and empirical knowledge base that underlies contemporary concepts of mental health and illness. Students learn how to make differential diagnoses according to the DSM-5, while taking into account culture, race, ethnicity, and gender. The significance of labeling, stigma, and bias is critically examined throughout the course in keeping with the values and ethics of social work practice and issues of social justice.

In Social Work Research II, students learn to apply the basic concepts and methods taught in Social Work Research I for the evaluation of practice and programs. A hybrid online version of this course is also available.

Advanced Social Policy applies basic content learned in the Generalist Practice policy course to a specific area of practice, such as children and families, mental health, health, disabilities, sexual and gender minorities, substance abuse, aging, immigration, and criminal justice. Students may also choose a study-away advocacy option in Washington, D.C. Advanced Social Policy emphasizes issues of social and economic justice and diversity as applied to these areas and further builds skills to help students influence policies and promote social change.

Students deepen and extend assessment and intervention skills by learning several major theories and practice models that inform clinical practice with individuals and families, including psychodynamic, family systems, cognitive behavioral, and narrative theories. Practice models include motivational interviewing, solution-focused, dialectical behavior therapy, and other evidence-based practice models.

This course prepares students to synthesize what they have learned about social work values, ethics, and advanced social work practice roles; to consolidate their social work identity and prepare for professional pathways; and to terminate from their clients, practicum placement, and student status, as they enter the social work profession.