The Mandel School has created a program called Classroom Without Walls (CWW) designed to foster learning opportunities between current students, faculty and community members with bachelor’s degrees and significant applied human service experience, to learn alongside traditional MSW students. Classroom Without Walls community learners will gain skills to enhance their careers, lives and communities. A community consultant will be involved in the class as well (Ms. Yvonne Pointer).
The pilot course is SASS 518: Social Work with Death, Grief and Loss. It is open to all CWRU graduate students and advanced undergraduates.
This course focuses on the concept of death and related topics from a social work perspective. Such topics include the role of death in American culture; the dying process and its institutions; assessment and intervention strategies; life span and family life considerations; and end-of-life decisions. The course provides both theoretical and experiential exposure to the dying process as it relates to self, the dying person, and the bereaved. Additionally, other forms of loss such as divorce, independence, and physical/cognitive functioning will be explored. Students will gain insight into intervening with those experiencing loss and grief across the life course including those terminally ill, those clients dealing with difficult life-and-death decisions regarding loved ones.