Social Work: Perspectives on Trauma and Wellness

This program offers knowledge, skills, and support to become a more compassionate, mindful, healthy helper. Social workers often work with clients that are in crisis or have experienced trauma or are experiencing trauma and stress in the present. It’s necessary to understand what trauma is, know the impacts of trauma, and what the social work profession and other professions are doing to work effectively with individuals, groups, families and communities that have been traumatized. Trauma is widespread and crosses all socioeconomic, racial, and geographic boundaries. Social workers often come to the profession because of something traumatic they have experienced in their life which has led them to want to help others experiencing trauma. It's important for social workers to understand how to work effectively with individuals, families and communities that have experienced trauma both historically and currently.

Social workers and helpers have an ethical responsibility to practice self-awareness, to explore how their own historical or current experiences impact their worldview and behavior. It is also essential to learn about, cultivate, and practice self-care as we do good work with others to ensure that we do no harm to ourselves or those we help. The concept of wellness is weaved throughout these courses and is looked at as a life-long journey that we are all on, both individually and collectively. Wellness is about health, healing, growth, reflection, connection, relationships, awareness, practice, and much more. Each week students will have an opportunity to practice wellness tools and reflect on the material for the week. The material might hit close to home, may be emotional or overwhelming to read about or watch or talk about. It is important to cultivate wellness tools so that we don’t get stuck in trauma, grief, or feel overwhelmed by the challenges that life sometimes throws at us. On the flip side this program is also likely to inspire you and uplift you as we learn about the strength and resilience of the human spirit.

Created by an Indigenous Deg Xit’an scholar, professor of social work, and national trainer on healing centered engagement, wellness, and resilience, this certificate program will guide you toward being a more compassionate, mindful, healthy helper.

Courses under this program:
Course 1: Embracing the Whole Person in Social Work

This course will explore trauma and wellness from a holistic, systems approach, emphasizing connections, relationships, strengths-based, resilience, post-traumatic growth, and healing and wellness. Complex problems require complex solutions; there is no one size fits all approach.

Course 2: Valuing Diverse Perspectives in Social Work

This course explores and critically examines diverse ways of knowing about experiences related to the concepts of trauma and wellness, both individually and collectively, and builds upon wellness strategies that focus on context, culture, and lived experience across the lifespan.