School days

If you haven't read my previous post (I'm Back!), scroll down and read that first!

Yes, my classes have begun! September 8th was the official first day of class. I started up on the 10th, with a full day of class. I have two classes every Thursday: (1) Advanced Practice with Children & Adolescents for three hours in the morning and (2) Program Evaluation for two hours in the afternoon. Every other Thursday I have a forty-five minute field seminar between the two.

Children & Adolescents is taught by the wonderful Anne Gearity, who is a clinical social worker in independent practice. She also is a consultant for the day treatment program at the Washburn Center for Children (where Mira works). I had heard wonderful things about her from Mira, who took her class last year. So far she seems like an excellent instructor, with a lot to teach. This class basically focuses on child and adolescent development and how to work effectively with that population based on principles of development.

Program Evaluation is taught by David Hollister, who is a very nice man, very well-versed in the area of evaluation. This course focuses on teaching us how to create and complete an evaluation for a program within an agency or organization to see whether or not it is effective.

I also have class on Saturday morning for three hours. That class is called Resilience and Risk and is taught by Jane Gilgun. Resilience and Risk is focused on child psychopathology. It looks at what are the risk factors in childhood and adolescence, and also what are the protective factors. In other words, how can we work with children to overcome their risks and pathologies?

My last class is Monday nights for two hours. Advanced Practice with Diverse Populations is taught by Oliver Williams. He has both an M.S.W and a Master's in Public Health (M.P.H.) and is the director for the Institute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community. This class is fairly self-explanatory. I am hopeful about this class. In our first session, the instructor noted that he was tired of focusing on the philosophical aspects of diversity and cultural competence and that it was time to move on to the practical. So we are supposedly going to focus on application of principles of diversity.

So far things are going pretty well. The reading has been pretty manageable, and overall very interesting. I just completed my first paper, a cultural competency self-assessment and agency assessment for my Diversity class. Overall, I'm really happy with how the program is going, and am already learning a lot!