Lecture: 4 hours/week
Lectures
Group work
Case studies
Presentations
Course content will be guided by research, empirical knowledge, and best practices. The following values and principles, consistent with professional standards, inform course content.
- Indigenous perspectives on family, healing, and community that emphasize culturally responsive and anti-oppressive social work approaches.
- Anti-racist and anti-colonial approaches are central to social work practice with families.
- Ability to reflect on one’s own family experience is central to understanding the potential impact of one’s values, beliefs, and attitudes on social work practice.
- Diversity exists within individuals, families, communities, and cultures.
- All families have strengths and it is essential for social workers to foster resiliency and support the development of positive coping mechanisms.
- Providing support to families is only possible through collaboration.
- Families develop through life transitions that present opportunities for change and growth.
Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Describe the role of social workers in supporting families
- Describe the impact of systemic inequities on families
- Apply theories used in generalist social work practice with families in the processes of engagement, assessment, and intervention
- Use a variety of assessment and intervention strategies with families
- Demonstrate the importance of self-awareness in reflective practice
- Discuss the impact of colonization on Indigenous families
- Critically analyze one's own social location and be able to articulate how use of self is incorporated into practice.
This course will conform to Douglas College policy regarding the number and weighting of evaluations. Other means of evaluation may include a combination of:
- Classroom activities and participation
- Examinations
- Presentations
- Group assignments
Evaluations will be carried out in accordance with Douglas College Evaluation Policy and will include both formative and summative components. Instructors may use a student’s record of attendance and/or level of active participation in a course as part of the student’s graded performance. Where this occurs, expectations and grade calculations regarding class attendance and participation will be clearly defined in the Instructor Course Outline.
Texts and papers such as the following, the list to be updated periodically:
Albanese, P. (2018). Canadian Families Today (current edition). Oxford University Press.
Catherine E. Burnette (2018) Family and cultural protective factors as the bedrock of resilience and growth for Indigenous women who have experienced violence, Journal of Family Social Work, 21:1, 45-62.
None
None