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The Bachelor of Social Work is an entry-level, professionally accredited qualification to practise as a social worker. This high job growth area offers a variety of careers in client service roles, service management, research, strategy and policy development. The course prepares students to work in a diverse range of fields including health and mental health, child and family welfare, cross-cultural work and work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, youth work, homelessness, domestic and family violence, disability, drug and alcohol, community development, and advocacy. Underpinned by core principles of social justice and human rights, the course engages students in contemporary anti-oppressive, decolonised and trauma-informed approaches to social work practice. Core units within the course cover essential theories, methods and skills for social work practice with individuals, families, groups and communities. These are complemented by foundational studies in Indigenous world views, sociology, politics, human development and social research. An elective stream provides opportunity for students to pursue their interests and develop knowledge in a range of disciplines, and an optional embedded Honours program is available for eligible students interested in research and pathways to further postgraduate studies. Note: Eligible students who are interested in undertaking the Honours program should consult the Bachelor of Social Work Course Coordinator prior to enrolling in elective units.

Study sociology and welfare theory, develop counselling and case management skills, and get to know Indigenous world-views. When you graduate, you’ll be equipped to help individuals and families with housing, rehabilitation, and disability services.

Bachelor of Social Work

Become an agent of positive change in diverse communities with UNE&#39;s conditionally-accredited Bachelor of Social Work. With an emphasis on social work in rural and complex community environments, our flexibly delivered course will equip you with the practical skills to work with and empower individuals, groups and communities who experience marginalisation, isolation or discrimination.In our complex world, skilled social workers are valued and in high demand. You&#39;ll be choosing a rewarding profession, with the qualifications to work in a range of professional environments.Why study the Bachelor of Social Work with UNE?Social workers address barriers, inequality and injustices faced by many groups, particularly those who are socially excluded. UNE&#39;s Bachelor of Social Work is an innovative and flexible social work degree with an emphasis on rural and complex communities. Learn online or on campus with interactive problem-based learning.Covering the core requirements of an accredited professional social work degree, the course gives you the skills to understand how human behaviour interacts with complex social environments and institutions.With a shortage of social workers in many countries, your UNE qualification can take you around the world. Our social work degrees are recognised internationally and locally.What makes our course different?Our Bachelor of Social Work is delivered flexibly, and we focus on developing both your theoretical and practical skills to fully equip you to work in a broad range of professional contexts. We offer opportunities to:<ul><li>Study flexibly - either on campus or online (with on campus intensive schools for some units), Choose the option that suits your lifestyle and learning needs by studying with us - we understand that students come to UNE at different stages of their lives and professional careers.</li><li>Learn theoretical skills, enabling you to future proof your career in diverse areas of social work, including work with Indigenous peoples, child protection, rights-based practice, mental health and the law.</li><li>Learn practical skills by undertaking 1000 hours of professional fieldwork (clinical) placements in diverse social work settings, either locally or internationally.</li><li>Our clinical placements are supervised by experienced practitioners who support you in developing the skills needed to work with disadvantaged and marginalised individuals, groups, and communities. Our approach uses a social justice framework in counselling, advocacy, and community development to enhance people&#39;s health and wellbeing.</li></ul>

Learn to make a positive impact on clients' lives. You’ll study social welfare theory, engage in field education, and gain insight into social problems. Explore sociology. Build counselling and case management skills. Get ready for the challenge of social work.

This postgraduate program provides mental health practitioners and case managers in diverse practice roles with the skills and knowledge to effectively manage programs that support their clients to achieve personal and system goals, as well as work more effectively with people with injury, disability, mental illness, and their significant others.  This includes a wide range of human service and rehabilitation programs supporting diverse populations with complex needs, assisting clients to obtain and maintain employment and supporting people from diverse backgrounds with injury, disability or mental illness to find new ways to lead fulfilling and satisfying lives. You will be introduced to the values, theories, frameworks, principles and skills of person-centred planning, case management, and communication skills, and therefore become more efficient at determining individual need and planning, coordinating and procuring a range of appropriate services and supports to promote the goals of diverse clients. You&#39;ll also gain an understanding of mental illness, epidemiology and relevant theoretical frameworks, which is vital for informing quality mental health practice.

Develop your human service or rehabilitation practice. You’ll build skills and knowledge to manage programs and work with clients. Explore person-centred planning and communication. Grow your connections and look forward to new opportunities.

Graduate Certificate in Case Management and Mental Health

The Bachelor of Community Welfare provides you with the theoretical and practical foundations for work in the community welfare and human services sectors. You will gain skills in case management, community development, counselling, social research, advocacy and organisational practice.Throughout the course, particular emphasis is placed on social justice, human rights and collaboration as the basis for contemporary community welfare practice. We&#39;ll harness your empathy and enhance your communication skills with a view to delivering great outcomes across diverse areas of community welfare practice.Core units focus on the contemporary context of social welfare, counselling, case management, community development, mental health, trauma-informed practice, Indigenous world-views, child protection and out of home care, youth work, disability and research. Elective units also provide opportunity for you to pursue other areas of interest. You will also gain on-the-job experience through extensive placements, working with individuals and organisations that share your commitment and are working to improve people&#39;s lives.The course articulates with a range of VET awards and is a pathway to the Master of Social Work (Professional Qualifying) which will enable you to qualify as a social worker.Please note: All students, including those enrolled online, are required to participate in on-campus learning for a minimum of 3 days/21 hours over the duration of the course. This requirement is stipulated by the Australian Community Workers Association (ACWA). On-campus enrolled students meet this minimum requirement by participating in one unit with compulsory attendance. Online students meet this requirement by attending a compulsory residential school conducted at the Gold Coast campus.

This community welfare course prepares you to work with clients and colleagues in human services. Placements add context to your studies with real world experience. Explore youth work and case management. Adopt the values and ethics of the profession.

Bachelor of Community Welfare

This professional qualifying postgraduate program provides you with a social work qualification that allows entry into the profession. It is specifically designed for graduates holding degrees with some social and behavioural science components. The program equips you with the knowledge, skills, values and ethical foundations for social work practice in contemporary social policy and human service contexts.This is an AASW-accredited qualification. It is an entry qualification into the social work profession and has been determined to meet the Australian Social Work Education and Accreditation Standards (ASWEAS).The frameworks for practice incorporated in the program are designed to ensure graduates are effective, ethical, and innovative thinkers, communicators, problem-solvers, change facilitators and leaders.

Build on your knowledge of social and behavioural science and prepare for work as a social worker. Explore the ethical foundations for social work while you expand your knowledge. Understand contemporary social policy and human service applications.

Master of Social Work

The Master of Social Work - Graduate Entry requires 2 years of full-time study (or the equivalent part-time). The course is offered by the College of Education, Psychology and Social Work.The Graduate Certificate in Society and the Individual can be used as a pathway to the Master of Social Work - Graduate Entry for those students who do not have a Social Sciences background.

Do you consider yourself a caring, compassionate person? Make these qualities your career. Gain the skills care for those facing hardships. Learn what’s considered best protocol in the standards set by the Australian Association of Social Workers.

Master of Social Work (Graduate Entry)

The Master of Social Work is a vibrant and challenging program. You will be encouraged to build on your existing knowledge and experience, and gain a sound understanding of social work values and practice approaches. The course emphasises social justice, human rights, and achieving the best possible outcomes for the most marginalised and disadvantaged members of our community. You will be taught by leading social work practitioners and academics, with a strong focus on experiential learning.You must attend a compulsory, 10-day on-campus component in Year 1 and a 10-day on-campus component in Year 2 of your program (i.e., 20 on-campus days in total), delivered at ACU&#39;s Brisbane and Melbourne campusesPlease note, for students who enrol midyear in Term 3, the program is scheduled over an additional two terms, completion time will be 2.5 years.

Challenge yourself to build on your social work knowledge and experience. You’ll deep dive into current research and practices. Strengthen your ethical foundations. Improve the lives of vulnerable individuals and families. Includes supervised placements.

Master of Social Work (Qualifying)

Study the Graduate Certificate in Childhood Trauma On Demand with UniSA Online and take full control over your study. Access support seven days a week, plan your study to fit around your life, view learning resources 24/7, and log in to the interactive online environment anywhere, any time and on any device. Designed to build on past study in a related field, or to enhance skills gained in your current child-related role, this 100% online qualification will equip you with an in-demand skillset applicable to a range of care and advocacy settings. You’ll learn to apply critical thinking and reflection skills when understanding, assessing and responding to childhood trauma, and use evidence-based approaches to support those affected. Developed by experienced practitioners to meet national strategies for improving the prevention of child abuse and trauma, you’ll graduate with the expert knowledge to enhance your professional practice and make a meaningful difference.

Make a meaningful difference and enhance your professional practice. You’ll learn how to assess and respond to childhood trauma with evidence-based approaches. Build a specialist knowledge of child abuse and its impact on development.

Graduate Certificate in Childhood Trauma

The course prepares students to work in a diverse range of fields including health and mental health, child and family welfare, cross-cultural work and work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, youth work, homelessness, domestic and family violence, disability, drug and alcohol, community development, and advocacy.Underpinned by core principles of social justice and human rights, the course engages students in contemporary anti-oppressive, decolonised and trauma-informed approaches to social work practice. This high job growth area offers a variety of careers in client service roles, service management, research, strategy and policy development.Core units within the course cover essential theories, methods and skills for social work practice with individuals, families, groups and communities. These are complemented by foundational studies in Indigenous world views, sociology, politics, human development and social research.The Bachelor of Social Work (Honours) is designed for social work students who are interested in designing their own research project or pursuing further studies at a postgraduate level.

Study social work theories and skills. During professional placements, you’ll get to know how human service organisations operate. Focus your honours year on research and practice. Explore legal and policy considerations.

Bachelor of Social Work (Honours)

The Context of the Health and Community Services

Community Development Placement

Stories of Doing Community Work

Core concepts in health and social care, along with the perspectives of various stakeholders, shape the way in which health and community services are delivered. Studying this subject will help to equip you with an understanding of the context and role of health and community services in enhancing health and well-being outcomes for individuals and the community. With a focus on marginalised and disadvantaged individuals, groups, communities and regions, you will examine the structure and function of health and community service systems, and how these influence organisational roles, responsibilities and practices. Exploring the social determinants of health, your understanding of how these affect the outcomes of diverse groups, and how health and community services systems seek to address these issues, will be developed. You will also analyse the perspectives of a range of stakeholders in health and social care.

Come to understand how health and community services can help disadvantaged individuals, groups, communities and regions.

Studying this subject will extend your community services case work skills, allowing you to more effectively help children and young people at risk. Integrating theoretical and practical foundations, you will hone your skills to identify, assess and provide appropriate services to vulnerable children and young people in a range of client contexts. From simpler to more complex needs, you will learn to match the provision of advocacy, representation and referral as appropriate. Considering your role as a community services case worker, you will examine your duty of care, and the ethical and legal considerations when working with children and young people. You will analyse, plan and evaluate strategies appropriate for working in group settings to identify issues and support group processes, as well as exploring options for providing group and individual client advocacy and representation. Analysing individual client or group information, you will also identify appropriate case work services.

Children and Young People at Risk

This subject was previously known as COD235A Community Work Across Sites, Settings and Peoples.
Community development is used in a variety of contexts by many different groups. This subject provides an understanding and appreciation of the diversity of settings and areas of practice within community development in contemporary Australia. It  examines the important part that story has in both shaping practice and methodologies. Students will gain skills and experience in describing and critically reflecting upon practical examples of community development in practice. They will learn skills to help with the preparation of funding applications.
Please Note: All students studying at Murdoch University will need to complete the compulsory unit, Murdoch Academic Passport (MAP100), which only takes 2-3 hours to complete online. Find out more: <a href="http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport" target="_blank">http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport</a>.

Assemble a more complete view of the areas of practice that make up community development. Digest practical examples of community projects. Grasp the role community development plays in social work, remote area education, aid work and government.

In this subject you will examine the history of relationships between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples, using the notion of whiteness to understand dispossession, resistance, adaptation and survival of Aboriginal peoples in Australia. Models of community development and cultural awareness will enable you to develop strategies to equip you for working with Aboriginal people in a variety of professional practices. You will be challenged to examine and reflect on the self as a conscious personal and professional actor within the dynamic of ethnic interchanges. This subject is developed and taught by Oorala Aboriginal Centre staff.

Grow your cultural awareness for better working relationships with Aboriginal people and the community. Explore the dominant concept of whiteness and start to think about Aboriginal perspectives. Learn through both historical and self reflections.

Working with Aboriginal People

This subject was previously known as Foundations of Community Health Work.This subject introduces the essential knowledge and skills you will need to advance you career in community health and welfare, with opportunities for you to use self-reflective practice to develop personally and professionally for effective community sector case work. With an emphasis on the ethics, values and philosophies underpinning community health work, you will build theoretical foundations to apply when providing community services. Examining distinctions between private and public issues in community development work, you will learn to effectively plan, coordinate, deliver, evaluate and improve community service activities. You will also explore ways to optimise individual outcomes when working in socially and culturally diverse settings.

Get ready to work with socially and culturally diverse communities to improve their wellbeing. Get to know the boundaries between what’s private and public. Explore your own personal biases. Be ethical and equitable in your decisions and caring.

Foundations of Community Work

This subject was previously known as Introductory Client Centred Health Care.Individual clients are at the heart of health care and community services. For a career in this fast-growing sector, you need a strong theoretical foundation in client-centered community services delivery. Studying this subject, you will gain an introduction to applying individual, community and statutory considerations to identify and assess needs and deliver appropriate services to clients. You will evaluate frameworks for optimal service delivery, including appropriate referral to alternative providers or organisations. Examining the principles of effective community services case work in the context of a service organisation, you will learn about the relationship between individual case workers and clients. You will explore issues of cultural diversity and cultural awareness as they apply to case work practice and professional relationships between case workers and clients. You will also assess a range of client issues and appropriate referral protocols you may encounter professionally.

Prepare for case work with clients of community services including healthcare and welfare. Build your understanding of cultural diversity and see how it impacts case workers and clients. Learn to assess client issues and refer them for the best care.

Introductory Client Centred Casework

This subject introduces you to the foundations of social work practice in human service organisations. You will develop critical analytical skills to explore historical and contemporary inequalities of power and privilege based on, for example, race, gender, sexuality, geographic location and health status. Through this examination, you will be able to clarify the role of social work to create more inclusive, just and humane societies. You will gain an understanding about the purpose and domains of social work practice, professional standards, knowledge for practice, and ethics. Practice fields and methods of intervention are covered to illustrate how social workers work in micro, meso and macro environments to create a more just society and to protect and enable human rights.

Learn how social workers advocate for justice and empower communities. You’ll explore inequality and the role social workers play in creating a more inclusive and equitable society. Build your social work foundations. Reflect and engage with the class.

Introduction to Social Work and Human Service Practice

In this subject students will further develop their knowledge and skills in the delivery of alcohol and other drug interventions. This subject will focus on contemporary and emerging treatment approaches including psychosocial interventions and pharmacological treatments. This includes the range of alcohol and drug interventions and specialist programs such as substitution therapies.

Approaches to Intervention

This subject was previously known as COD303 Preparing for Professional Community Practice and COD324A Projects in Community Development.This placement subject gives students the opportunity to examine how ideas and practice interconnect. The primary part of this subject requires students to undertake a placement within an organisation that undertakes community-based work. Students will be encouraged to look, listen and consider the linkages between theory and practice by going &#39;into the field&#39; and reflecting on the process of working within the community.Students are required to complete 90 placement hours.Please Note: All students studying at Murdoch University will need to complete the compulsory unit, Murdoch Academic Passport (MAP100), which only takes 2-3 hours to complete online. Find out more: <a href="http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport" target="_blank">http://goto.murdoch.edu.au/MurdochAcademicPassport</a>.

Undertake a community work placement with an organisation. Observe industry professionals in a collaborative setting. Get a sense of the work while participating in organisational activities. Record detailed and rigorous notes and reflections.

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