Trauma-Informed Curriculum
The trauma-informed curriculum at the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research prepares students to be aware of, and responsive to, the impacts of trauma on individuals, families, organizations, communities, and the broader society. Our curriculum includes a required course on “Trauma-Informed Social Work” and across our curriculum we explore core aspects of trauma-informed care.
Our curriculum explores traumatic stress through the lens of power, privilege, and oppression so students can learn about the impact of historical and collective trauma on individuals and communities. Advanced electives provide the opportunity to learn evidence-informed approaches to trauma-informed care. The GSSWSR received a transformative gift in 2017 that enabled us to expand our trauma-informed curriculum development for the M.S.S. program.
As a school, we are also committed to working toward becoming a trauma-informed organization. This means we attend to the impact of secondary traumatic stress by recognizing the impact of our work on ourselves and proactively seek to create community and provide support. Our first-year experience program, the CONNECT program, welcomes students into our school and encourages students to build community as they begin their journey toward the M.S.S. degree. We have also made trauma-informed work a key focus of our seminar in field instruction to ensure that an understanding of trauma-informed social work is also experienced by our students as part of their field learning experiences. As a trauma-informed school, we support a healing justice approach to trauma-informed work; one that recognizes the impact of structural inequities on individuals and communities. Our required and elective courses focus not only on the impact of trauma, but also on the potential for post-traumatic growth and healing.
What is a trauma-informed curriculum?
Dean Janet Shapiro illustrates how the theme of trauma-informed curriculum carries through the M.S.S. program.
