| |
 |
| |
Students will visit Israel's capital city of Jerusalem to learn about international social work.
|
The USC School of Social Work will offer a new study-abroad opportunity in Israel this summer for students who want to explore another culture and different models of social service in an international setting.
The Israel program, convening over a three-week period in June, will focus on social conflict and creative problem-solving, highlighting expressive practice skills. The seminar will combine a classroom component with experiential learning through field trips, emphasizing diverse approaches to social issues similarly prevalent in the United States.
"The issues are very similar between the places, which is the whole point. The similarities are in the issues, but the methods of looking at how to solve the problems are different. The ways of thinking about what needs to be done are different,” said Clinical Assistant Professor Michal Sela-Amit, the faculty adviser for the Israel program.
Students in the Israel program will begin with a one-week preparation session at USC, which will include distance-education lectures from faculty at Tel Aviv University, where students will be staying for the majority of their time in Israel.
The university will serve as the base of operations for the two weeks in Israel. There, students will engage with the community in various field activities, in addition to attending lectures and discussion panels on "outside the box” methods ranging from community theatre to therapy using horse-riding as a means of assisting troubled youth.
The final part of the program will include field excursions to Galilee and Jerusalem, where students will focus on creative problem-solving and international social work, with a special emphasis on immigrant and youth issues.
"This opportunity will expose participants to these different methods and the social workers who implement them in the field, as well as clients who have been exposed to them,” said Sela-Amit. "Talking to these people about how they responded to the methods will inspire our students to deal with different ways of thinking and develop new methods once they enter the field.”
Students have the option of taking the course for credit, which will count as four units toward their master of social work degree.
For more information, contact Michal Sela-Amit at mselaami@usc.edu or International Program Director Dan Hester at hester@usc.edu.
|
|
|
 |
|
