Why and how do people recover from difficulties related to mental health, substance use, and trauma? Students are required to use Roth’s book, Insane: America’s Criminal Treatment of Mental Illness, and 4-6 additional resources of information to support their response including: relevant literature, empirical research, class discussion and lecture, and direct practice experience. For full credit, at least 2-3 resources will be readings not assigned per course content. If incorporating past or current practice experience, please be sure to protect client confidentiality by using pseudonyms and disguising any information that may identify clients.
Student essays will be a critical response to the text, course content, and both personal and professional values as defined by their conceptualization of practice in context of client treatment and support. The purpose of this assignment is to enhance students’ understanding of the intersection of mental health, substance use, and trauma as it is experienced by individuals, and to encourage students to consider the challenges to case conceptualization, theoretical frameworks, clinical decision making, systems-level policy, or other aspects of service delivery exemplified by accounts offered and course content. Students may prepare the essay in a style of individual preference and creative freedom. The analysis should a) describe the utility of texts and readings for broadening one’s knowledge about the experience of people affected by concerns related to mental health, substance use, and trauma; b) explore the ways in which course material and topics intersect with issues raised in readings; and c) provide understanding as to one’s personal and professional identities, values, and biases. Students may choose to focus on a specific issue or person or to highlight several issues that are of particular interest and help not only influence clinical “style” but meaning to their practice.
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