SWK 634 - Group and Community Based Practice with Children and Families

This course will examine the development of and build skills for the implementation of a wide range of prevention and intervention strategies to support child well-being provided at the community level.  Special attention will be given to the philosophy of empowerment-oriented and client-driven service models.  This course will provide content to build skills in developing and implementing mutual aid and self-help groups to support and educate children and families on issues such as parenting, domestic violence, grief/loss, conflict mediation and child abuse issues.  The course will explore the community as a resource and discuss strategies of collaboration and advocacy services for families and children to prevent out-of-home placement or involvement in other formal child protection/juvenile justice services, such as models of community-building, youth development and family group conferencing/restorative justice.  The course also provides frameworks for identifying and analyzing best practices in group and community-based services for children and families.