Embedding Social Justice within Micro Social Work Curricula

ABSTRACT

Social work struggles with the dichotomy between social and economic justice and micro practice. A large percentage of United States social workers (65%) practice in micro practice settings, yet the profession is challenged to commit to its social justice roots. This article reviews the history of social and economic justice within the social work profession, examines the role of distributive justice, and outlines strategies to integrate social and economic justice into micro social work courses. The article details implications for strengthening a social and economic justice perspective in micro curricula.

KEYWORDS:

• micro social work practice
• social and economic justice

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jennifer Harrison

Jennifer Harrison, PhD, LMSW, CAADC, is a faculty member and field coordinator for the School of Social Work at Western Michigan University. Jennifer has been in clinical and administrative practice for over 20 years and has teaching expertise in clinical and evidence-based practices, field education, and social policy. Her clinical work is focused on integrated medical and behavioral health using evidence-based methods. Jennifer’s research interests include social and economic justice in social work education, co-occurring mental health, substance abuse, and medical needs among adults, peer services in behavioral health services, and food insecurity among college students.

Karen VanDeusen

Karen VanDeusen, PsyD, LMSW, ACSW, is a professor at Western Michigan University School of Social Work. She co-coordinates the school’s Trauma-Focused Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy (TF-CBT) training project, a program for the National Center for Social Work Trauma Education and Workforce Development (NCSWTEWD, a collaboration between Fordham University and Hunter College Schools of Social Work). Dr. VanDeusen co-developed and is a core team member of Western Michigan University Campus-wide Suicide Prevention Program, funded through SAMHSA (2006–2010), providing comprehensive suicide prevention programming on campus and in the community. Dr. VanDeusen co-facilitated a 2-year learning collaborative involving faculty and community members to enhance social and economic justice within the micro practice curriculum. Dr. VanDeusen teaches courses in individual and group treatment, trauma, and psychopathology. Her clinical work and scholarship are in the areas of interpersonal trauma, secondary trauma in clinicians and students in training, and suicide prevention.

Ineke Way

Ineke Way, PhD, ACSW, LMSW, is professor at the Western Michigan University School of Social Work. She co-coordinates the school’s TF-CBT training project, a program for the National Center for Social Work Trauma Education and Workforce Development (NCSWTEWD, a collaboration between Fordham University and Hunter College Schools of Social Work). The project implements evidence-based practice in schools of social work. She also coordinates the school’s Trauma-Informed Implementation Science project through the NCSWTEWD, which works with selected agencies to assess their trauma-informed readiness and readiness to implement evidence-based trauma treatment. Dr. Way led an interdisciplinary research team to develop the Children’s Alexithymia Measure (CAM, Way et al., 2010), to screen children’s difficulties in expressing emotions (funded by a SAMHSA grant to the WMU Southwest Michigan Children’s Trauma Assessment Center, as a part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network). Dr. Way has been active on diversity and inclusion committees at the school, college, university, and community levels. She co-facilitated a school task force on infusing social and economic justice into micro practice courses. Dr. Way teaches courses on trauma, individual treatment, and group treatment. Her current research interests focus on alexithymia in children and adolescents, trauma effects for children who have experienced maltreatment, secondary traumatic stress effects for students exposed to trauma course content, trauma history in adolescents who have sexually abused a child, and vicarious trauma in clinicians who provide sexual abuse treatment. Her treatment experience is with children who experienced sexual abuse, nonoffending parents, adolescents with sexually abusive behaviors, and adult survivors of incest.