Emotionally focused therapy (EFT) is an attachment based approach that utilizes the power of empathic attunement and experiential interventions to facilitate a felt sense of security with oneself and others. In the context of individual therapy in EFT, the therapist tunes into the emotion processes of the client and works to facilitate corrective emotional experiences. These new, healing emotional experiences build capacities in regulating emotions and shape a sense of trust in one’s worthiness and competence.

This course provides a theoretical overview of the EFT approach in the context of individual therapy (EFIT) with an emphasis on the experiential practice of empathic attunement and EFT interventions. Students will learn the roadmap of EFT, apply practical interventions on how to attune to the here-and-now emotions, and facilitate processes that promote more secure and flexible models of self and others. Neuroscience is introduced to help students to understand its role played in emotional changes.

Assessment: 100% coursework

This course helps the students to evolve a frame of reference for work within family situations. The basic concepts and historical development of family therapy will be introduced. The differences and intervention implications between individual framework and the systemic family framework will be examined. Various schools of thought for working in areas of parent?child, marital, and intergenerational exchanges are critically examined for their applicability to the local setting. The focus is on family structure and transactional processes.

Human behaviour is heavily influenced by family upbringing and socialization.  This course, based on a marathon experiential training mode, aims to help students to achieve an understanding of their family. Virginia Satir’s concepts of family rules, communication patterns, family mapping and self-esteem will be used to guide students through a process of self-discovery.  Active participation will be essential.

Assessment: 100% coursework

The course introduces students to the Beck’s cognitive-behaviour therapy model in working with people with depression and anxieties. A case process approach will be adopted to provide a stage-by-stage and step-by-step understanding of the theory and practice of Beck’s CBT. Other CBT models for working with people with psychosis, OCD, pathological gambling, substance abuse and etc. will also be discussed in class.

Assessment: 100% coursework

Adventure-Based Counselling (ABC) is a popular contemporary approach employed to work with people in order to assist their building and/or promoting of a positive self-concept, improve their interpersonal relationship and enhance their problem-solving abilities. Although it is especially popular among working with young people, it can also be used in working with different age groups, families and couples. This course aims to introduce the basic theories and practices of ABC. Besides introducing the theoretical base of the approach, how to design and run sessions of ABC will also be taught. Some micro skills in conducting ABC sessions will be introduced. Last, but not least, the quality of an ABC facilitator and the ethical considerations in employing ABC to work with people will be discussed in the course. The format of the course includes lectures, seminars and ABC workshops for candidates to participate and experience the process.

The course introduces and examines concepts and practices critical to good financial planning and management. The objective is to enable students to learn skills and strategies for budgeting. Emphasis will be given to the understanding of the financial activities and reports essential to management, as well as analysis and use of financial information in planning, budgeting and measuring results to promote the organization‘s mission and goals.

This course is designed for students with an interest in understanding all aspects of social life and social relations especially those who will undertake a dissertation study. Starting with the question what is reality, the course begins with an introduction to different perspectives on approaching reality, followed by an assessment of the general strengths and weaknesses of qualitative research in comparison with other conventions such as quantitative surveys. The lectures will focus on introducing the general process of ethnographic research and the variety of methods for data collection and analysis including ethnography, grounded theory, observation, interviewing, focus groups and narrative analysis, etc. Various cases will be used to demonstrate how qualitative research helps make meaningful policy and social work practice. Seminars will be organized around practical methodological issues with the objective of helping students proceed with their own research projects. Hands-on experience of a range of research techniques will also be provided.

This course provides a comprehensive, holistic view of ageing that considers the implications for an older person’s interactions with their social and physical environments, including the immediate environment of family, friends, and home, as well as the larger social structure of community, organizations, and society. It also aims to impart knowledge to students about the most important social theories on ageing and the time dimension in the ageing process and its relation to the evolution of larger society.

Assessment: 100% coursework

This course explores the types of mental illnesses among the elderly in Hong Kong. Attention will be put towards the understanding of the causes and treatments of mental illness in the elderly population. A critical review of medical, psychological and social services for the elderly with mental illness will be conducted.

Assessment: 100% coursework

The objective of the module is to introduce the student to the principles and practice of play therapy and its application to the counseling and psychotherapy for children, adolescents and families. At the end of the course, the students will have an introduction of the history and development of play therapy, an understanding of various theoretical models of play therapy, rationale for the use of play in therapy, and phrase of the client’s progress in play therapy. Practice material will be provided including how to development therapeutic rapport, conduct a play based assessment, setting up of a playroom and the selection of therapeutic play materials. Best practice tips on engaging the client, recording keeping and other ethical issues will be discussed. Assessment: 100% coursework

This course focuses on an understanding of the mental health issues found among children and youth in Hong Kong. While it will introduce the developmental perspectives on child and adolescent development, it will also provide an overview of the prevalence and general features of different childhood and adolescent mental health problems. The course will also bear a practice focus and introduce to students the assessment, treatment and skills in engaging neurodivergent children and youth while appreciating their strength and embracing their uniqueness.

This course offers an understanding of the developmental characteristics, needs and struggles of students in schools (children and adolescents). To understand the counselling process and acquire necessary skills in offering counselling to students are the main foci, such that students may be helped to cope better with their school life.

The course is designed to examine the concepts of social policy and ageing, and the various models available for the analysis of social policy. By analyzing local and foreign services and policy regarding the elderly people, students will become familiar with the roles of government and non-government organizations in implementing public policies. This should further the understanding of the development of social services to meet the needs of the elderly in the context of economic and social change. Basic concepts of social planning, problem identification and programme implementation will be examined.

Assessment: 100% coursework

This course provides a framework of analyzing and formulating social policy in the current social, political and economic environment. Current social welfare policy issues including social welfare planning mechanisms, welfare blue print, strategic framework for social welfare, district planning, and other relevant issues will be examined.

The course will introduce the theories of creative arts as healing and illustrate the use of creative arts in local social work contexts, including individual or group counselling setting and community development setting. It is a practical course with hands-on experience to the use of creative arts in expression, communication and healing. Creative arts are action-oriented and process-focused. The development of skills and use of creative arts for self-exploration go simultaneously in this course. Students will have opportunity to experiment with the use of arts for creative exploration and self-understanding. Different arts media will be introduced, including visual art, craft work, music, sounds, dramatic exercises, spontaneous movement and writing. The students will synthesize their personal experience with conceptual learning through experiential activities, live demonstration, listening exercise, case studies, video analysis and sharing. The course is not a formal creative arts therapy training, but offers opportunities for exploring the resources of creative arts in social work context.

This course will examine the nature of interpersonal conflicts and the strategies of conflict resolution. The course reviews key elements of negotiation and mediation from different perspectives. The essence of mediation is to achieve a ‘win-win’ situation of concerned parties. Students will be able to master the basic skills of negotiation and mediation. The course is designed for intended practitioners who are interested in undertaking mediation in various settings.

Death is an inevitable life experience for everyone. Death-related problem is one of the commonest issues that clients brought to counseling, but is also rated as the most uncomfortable scenario by beginning counselors. This course offers a basic orientation to the knowledge and intervention approaches in working with death-related situations, including end of life care and bereavement counseling. Major theories and models related to death, dying and bereavement would be introduced. Corresponding clinical implications and practical work approaches would also be highlighted. Apart from the knowledge and skills, the course also emphasizes on personal exploration and review on one’s attitudes toward life and death issues. It is hoped that students are better equipped with knowledge competence, practice competence as well as self competence in working with death, dying and bereavement.

Assessment: 100% coursework

The objective of school counselling is to enhance students’ whole person development through the provision of remedial, preventive and developmental services in school settings. Phenomena such as students’ suicide, physical and sexual abuse, mental health issues, study problems and school violence pose great challenges to a school counsellor. Adopting the ecological perspective, this course will examine: the service provision of school guidance and counselling service in Hong Kong, the multiple roles of a school counsellor, the establishment of collaborative relationship with school personnel, the application of practice theories and intervention strategies to individual and school-based family counselling, and the implementation of comprehensive school guidance and counselling programmes. By participating in this course, social work students will be equipped with the knowledge and skills to be a competent school counsellor.

This course covers various statistical analyses that include single variable, bivariate, and multivariate analyses. Appropriate analyses for different types of data will be discussed and various techniques in scale development including reliability and factor analysis will be introduced. Apart from various multivariate linear modeling and path analysis, non-parametric analyses will also be introduced.

Positive Psychology emphasizes the discovery and cultivation of human strengths and potential for a flourished life, and strength-based interventions include counseling and therapy models that foster psychological well-being and reduce distress and symptoms in clients. This course critically reviews the theory and practice of positive psychology, including the study of happiness, character strengths, optimism, resilience, compassion, meaning, goals, flow, creativity and hope and their relevance to psychological health and psychotherapy, as well as strength-oriented interventions which include mindfulness-based, compassion-based and valued-based models. The cultural relevance of Positive Psychology and strength-based interventions will also be examined. Assessment: 100% coursework

The course covers different theoretical orientations towards mental illness in relation to its definition, classification, etiology, treatment, management and rehabilitation; the relationships between mental illness and individual and environmental factors; the relevance of cultural factors in mental health practice; prevailing models of service provision for persons with mental illness; multidisciplinary teamwork approach in mental health service; and the professional roles and core competences of mental health social workers.

This course will focus on the various approaches in working with young people experiencing different issues in their development. To facilitate the skill development, emphasis will be placed on experiential learning through the use of simulated services, games and role-play. Advanced social work practice includes motivational interviewing, debriefing, youth development intervention protocol design, and multi-disciplinary cooperation for various youth problems.

This course aims at helping managers of human service organizations to be equipped with the knowledge in strategic management to deal with the current challenges arising from the rapidly changing public and social service scene. Topics may include strategic planning, quality management, risk management, change management, business process re-engineering, etc.

The Hong Kong society and the world at large have unfolded multifarious new social phenomena that pose new challenges to professional social work practice. The social work professional community has to develop new insights in understanding the nature of such problems and challenges, and to accordingly devise timely and appropriate intervention to address these issues. This course aims at introducing the concept of social entrepreneurship and how it creates social change. We will examine the current global development of social entrepreneurship as well as local development and its development in Greater China and South East Asian countries. We will inspire our students to become an active agent in addressing the pressing social issues and making social change.

This course aims to help students understand the implications of population ageing and increasing life expectancy in both developed and developing countries although countries in the Asia-Pacific region will be our focus. Cross-national evidence-based programs will be selected from North America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. Specifically, we will illustrate how population ageing varies across the globe and how it affects family support, living arrangements, and intergenerational transfer and relationships. Moreover, the policy and practice implications of population ageing in social, political, and economic dimensions will be discussed.

This course will examine the various issues involved as couples prepare for marriage, nurture their marital relationship, deal with marriage difficulties, resolve conflicts, work for conciliation/reconciliation, handle possible divorce and post-divorce issues, and face the challenges of remarriage. Approaches in working with couples at the different stages of couple relationship development will be discussed.

This course critically examines current models of prevention, rehabilitation and treatments for people with mental illness. Topics such as prevention and rehabilitation, hospital and community care, models of social and vocational rehabilitation, models of psychological intervention, culture and mental health, multidisciplinary teamwork in mental health service, core competences of mental health workers/social workers and etc. By comparing these to overseas models of psychosocial approaches in mental health care, students can appreciate the strengths and weaknesses of the models that are at work in Hong Kong.

In light of increasing number of special educational needs (SEN) children in school settings, this course provides basic knowledge and intervention strategies for social workers working in family services, schools and integrated youth services settings. Attention is drawn to the assessments and the needs of these children, the needs of families, and the roles of different professionals with related multi-disciplinary collaboration. Students are expected to understand the social workers’ roles in working with SEN children. More importantly, various types of interventions, such as applied behavioral analysis, social story and learning strategies are discussed.

This course provides students with knowledge and skills in conducting psychiatric and psychosocial assessments on people with mental illness. Assessments on individual illnesses such as depression and psychosis will be taught using a bio-psychosocial perspective. The first 5 lectures cover the genetic and neurological bases of certain types of mental illness and the other 5 lectures will focus on the psychosocial factors in the etiology and development of certain types of mental illness. Students will be introduced to selected neurological, psychological and psychosocial assessment tools that are commonly used in measuring the mental health characteristics and statuses of a person with mental health concerns. Practical skills in using these assessment tools will be taught during classes.

This course provides an introduction to the field of drama therapy, a form of creative arts therapy with the concentration using drama and theatre elements, as well as the theories and principles involved in its practice through lectures and experiential activities. There will be an overview of the history, sources, rationale, philosophy, application, as well as ethical consideration for practitioners. Different approaches of drama therapy as well as psychotherapy such as Humanistic Approach, Existentialism Psychotherapy, Individual and Group Psychotherapy, Developmental Transformations Drama Therapy, Sesame Drama & Movement Therapy, Psychodrama Psychotherapy, Playback Theatre and Forum Theatre will be covered in the course. It provides students a picture for further academic development in this profession.

This course provides students with competence, including values knowledge and skills in conducting comprehensive assessment on frail older people for psychogeriatric care. A government adopted assessment tool interRAI Home Care will be introduced to illustrate four interrelated area of assessment, consisting of functional well-being, cognitive and mental well-being, social well-being, and clinical well-being, together with popularly used clinical assessment in corresponding areas. Students will be introduced to understand rational, contents, assessment procedures, and comprehension of assessment results for clinical intervention.

Dementia care and interventions can improve cognition, behavioural and psychological symptoms, and other outcomes in people with dementia and wellbeing of carers. This course equips current and future practitioners with the fundamental understanding and skills in delivering evidence-based non-pharmacological interventions in dementia, covering the entire course of illness from mild to severe, including Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST), Tailored Activity Program (TAP), multicomponent carer support programmes, and dementia care management; as well as case identification and evaluation of intervention outcomes.

Pre-requisite: SOWK6201. Mental health problems in old age

Assessment: 100% coursework

Recovery is “A deeply personal, unique process of changing one’s attitudes, values, feelings, goals, skills and roles. It is a way of living a satisfying, hopeful and contributing life even with the limitation caused by illness.” (Anthony, 1993). Recovery-oriented practices are empowering approaches that embrace person-centered alternatives for promoting hope, self-determination, self-management, wellbeing and social inclusion of people in face of mental distress. Such humanistic approaches have been gaining international credence among mental health service users, service providers, professionals and policy makers in recent years.

Grounding on the recovery paradigm, this course aims to walk you through the re-authoring elements of recovery, and the latest knowledge on recovery-oriented practices for mental health counselling and the promotion of wellbeing. It will provide you with the evidence- and experienced-based knowledge of non-pharmacological approaches and postmodern practices including story-telling, narrative therapy, the strengths model assessment and intervention, Wellness Recovery Action Plan etc. You will be guided to see how these practices are not only applicable to counseling in mental health context but also to working with people coping with other issues and challenges in life. You will also have the opportunities to learn and practise the various conversation maps of narrative therapy through experiential exercises during the course.

This course aims to equip students with knowledge and skills in handling and utilizing information and communication technology in managing social service organizations and service delivery. The course content includes: Trends and issues of technological development in society and human services, process of developing and managing IT projects, use of ICT and social media in direct services, Assistive technology and gerontechnology, Security and ethical use of ICT and social media, and Emerging trends and its future use in human services.

Assessment: 100% coursework

This course introduces the evolving development of an empowering social work practice in healthcare. It is an integral learning of psychosocial assessments, empowerment skills, and evidence-based approaches for working with the Chinese and local population to cope with a range of health challenges. The course covers multi-level methods of holistic care from diagnosis, treatment, rehabilitation to palliative phase. Major methods at individual, family and community levels include case management, patient education, health promotion, body-mind-spirit model, healing arts, mindfulness-based practice, trauma-informed care, end-of-life care, bereavement support, self-help, mutual support and care for the care-givers.

The course emphasized the importance of experiential learning and sharing of clinical experience. Interactive exercises, live demonstration, video illustration, case studies and readings will be provided to build up the knowledge, skills, sensitivity, collaborative capacity, professional ethics and personal strengths of the students.

This course brings together cutting-edge knowledge and discussions related to the online world, its impact on digital generations’ health and mental health, and the use of technology in psychosocial services both in the unique local and international contexts. Students will learn essential theories and research of cyberpsychology and online counselling. The content includes basic principles, assessment and evidence-based practices of professional counselling and psychosocial interventions for individuals and groups over the Internet, focusing on understanding and practising online counselling and crisis intervention with high-risk groups. Ethical practices are highly emphasized throughout the entire course. Our goal is to help students with background training in “human services (e.g., counselling, social work, academic advising, support for caregivers) to be capable of helping people with various psychosocial needs or mental health conditions and distress through both synchronous and asynchronous e-platforms.

Assessment: 100% coursework

This course introduces students to a variety of current intervention approaches that are effective for working with people with health and mental health problems.  These may include narrative therapy, solution focused therapy, art and music therapies, mindfulness-based intervention, body-mind-spirit approach, Satir family therapy and etc.  Candidates will be provided with experiential training on skills/techniques in working with patients in hospitals and in the community.

Assessment: 100% coursework.

Domestic and family violence is a critical social and health issue with profound implications for individuals, couples, families, and communities. This course provides an overview of various forms of domestic and family violence, with a particular emphasis on intimate partner violence, child abuse and maltreatment. Students will gain an understanding of the prevalence, risk factors, theoretical frameworks, and intervention approaches related to family violence. The course objectives are designed to equip students with the essential knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values necessary for effective practice in Hong Kong.

This course focuses on the latest and innovative technologies and strategies to promote healthy and active aging. It delves into the intersection of aging and technology, examining how advancements such as smart devices, digital health tools, and artificial intelligence can enhance the quality of life for older adults. It also addresses the complex societal, ethical, and economic challenges associated with these technologies.

Assessment: 100% coursework