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Free State Social Work

Free State Social Work

This course explores advocacy for Black women survivors of intimate partner violence and offers strategies that are survivor-centered, culturally responsive, trauma-informed, and strengths-based. Using an intersectional approach, the course highlights the multiple forms of oppression experienced by Black survivors and details the overrepresentation of Black women among survivors of reproductive coercion, non-fatal strangulation, and intimate partner homicide.

Free State Social Work

Examines the impact of familism on victimization in Mexican families, using qualitative research including 50 interviews of people convicted of crimes in Mexico. Identifies four main processes: preventing victims from disclosing family violence, preventing families from denouncing violence, victims remaining with families despite abuse, and victims being forced to remain in abusive relationships.

Free State Social Work

Free State Social Work

This course explores the ethical challenges experienced by social workers during the Covid-19 pandemic and offers a framework for understanding ethics during a time of crisis. Four broad responses to ethical challenges were identified and include ethical confusion, ethical distress, ethical creativity, and ethical learning.

Free State Social Work

This course offers an ethical analysis of the mitigation measures, restrictions, and social isolation of long term care residents during the Covid-19 pandemic. The course explores concepts of harm, proportionality, reciprocity, and transparency. Ethical principles of autonomy, beneficence, maleficence, and justice are examined.

Free State Social Work

Free State Social Work

This course highlights the political action and leadership of early African American social workers and their work challenging discrimination and injustice while advocating for systemic change. It uses Lane and Pritzker's five domains of political social work practice as a framework and includes the NASW 2021 Blueprint of Federal and Social Policy Priorities.

Free State Social Work

This course explores key stages of the evolution of social work ethics from the morality period to the digital period. Practical tools for managing ethics challenges in social work organizations are provided; strategies include informal ethics conversations, formal ethics consultations, agency-based ethics committees, and ethics rounds.

Free State Social Work

Free State Social Work

Free State Social Work

This course explores the systemic problems that contribute to stress, trauma, and burnout in the social work profession, while examining the recent addition of self-care as an ethical mandate to the revised 2021 NASW Code of Ethics. The course highlights mezzo and macro factors affecting the profession that include workforce and employment conditions such as stressful working conditions, low pay, inadequate support, heavy workloads, and poor staffing. Instead of viewing self-care as a personal responsibility of social workers, the course reframes self-care as a social justice issue.

Free State Social Work

This course uses communication theory to explore the benefits and challenges of communication technology on the social worker-client relationship. The course examines the importance of resolving ethical issues related to ICT use, digital literacy, and social work practice. The following ethical issues are highlighted: boundaries, client well-being, professional competence, privacy, confidentiality, cultural competence, and social justice.

Free State Social Work

Free State Social Work

This course explores social work boundary issues and ethical conflicts that result from a growing use of technology and remote contact with clients. The course examines three forms of boundary challenges encountered by social workers in the digital age: ethical judgments, ethical mistakes, and ethical misconduct.

Free State Social Work

This course explores ethical implications and challenges related to private equity investment in the field of social services. The course offers an overview of private equity in social services and uses the NASW Code of Ethics as a guide to address potential concerns. Ethical standards related to informed consent, conflicts of interest, professional integrity, administration and commitments to employers, dishonesty, fraud, and deception, and social injustice, anti-racism, and social and political action are highlighted.

Free State Social Work

Explores common mental disorders among college students, including depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors. Evidence-based clinical interventions and treatments are highlighted along with strategies for working with diverse student populations.

Free State Social Work

This course explores the unique needs and challenges of older adults with serious mental illness and provides an overview of evidence-based psychosocial interventions. Five interventions are examined including Assertive Community Treatment, Cognitive Behavioral Social Skills Training, Functional Adaptation Skills Training, Integrated Illness Management and Recovery, and Helping Older People Experience Success.

Free State Social Work

This course provides an overview of concurrent substance use and concurrent substance use disorder, exploring risk factors, protective factors, screening, assessment, and treatment. Three treatment approaches are examined including FDA-approved pharmacotherapy with counseling, contingency management with FDA-approved pharmacotherapy and counseling, and twelve-step facilitation therapy with FDA-approved pharmacotherapy and counseling.

Free State Social Work

This course offers an overview of the behavioral health service needs, challenges, and opportunities of individuals experiencing homelessness. The course highlights five evidence-based interventions, including medication for opioid use disorder, motivational interviewing, intensive case management, Community Reinforcement Approach, and peer support.

Free State Social Work

This course explores recent research on stimulant use disorders along with best treatment practices. The course examines how cocaine, methamphetamine, and prescription stimulants affect neurobiology, the brain, and behavior. Common medical and psychological complications are discussed. The course describes the best supported treatment approaches; contingency management is highlighted as the primary psychosocial treatment for stimulant disorders. Strategies for supporting patients in treatment and recovery are given.

Free State Social Work

This course explores the unique needs of special populations experiencing stimulant use disorders. The course examines treatment and care considerations for racial/ethnic minorities, women, men who have sex with men, the transgender and gender nonbinary community, adolescents, people experiencing homelessness, rural populations, people involved with the criminal justice system, people with or at risk for HIV/AIDs, and more. Strategies are given for improving engagement, rapport, and treatment outcomes.

Free State Social Work

This course explores current research related to medications to treat opioid use disorder. The course offers an overview of methadone, buprenorphine, and naltrexone and compares their effectiveness and how they work. Misconceptions, misunderstandings, and diversion risks are discussed. The course examines opioid use disorder treatment for special populations, including those with HIV, those in the military, those in the criminal justice system, and pregnant mothers.

Free State Social Work

This course is the first of a 3-part series on recovery from problematic substance use. The course provides an introduction to recovery-oriented counseling and describes a shift in SUD treatment away from a model of specialized treatment that focuses primarily on abstinence and toward a different model of integrated care that is strengths-based, client-driven, and offers a broad range of services.