Summary

There are currently more forcibly displaced persons around the world than ever before recorded, and social workers are well suited to respond to this global humanitarian issue. The impacts are broad and complex, and many responders to humanitarian crises are insufficiently trained and supported. Currently, the field of humanitarian response is led by practitioners in public health, public policy, and international development, whose approach - while proper for their respective fields - may contribute to fragmented response and services provided to the displaced population. The core values, principles, and approaches of social work such as  person-centered and human right-based practice, culturally-responsive care, and multi-system approaches, align with humanitarian response needs. This positions social workers to have increased leadership in establishing policy and practice responses, engaging in research, and practicing directly with forcibly displaced populations. However, the specialized knowledge and skills needed by social workers to work effectively and ethically in the humanitarian field can be challenging to teach to students.This workshop will present innovative pedagogical methods to train future social work practitioners, as well as practicing social workers in this field. The workshop will be conducted by editors and contributors to a book Integrative Social Work Practice with Forcibly Displaced Persons,  and will review the tools for integrative and interdisciplinary training to prepare social workers aiming to or currently practicing with displaced groups. Perspectives from macro, mezzo and micro levels of practice, as well as innovative approaches for educating social work practitioners-in-training will be discussed in this workshop. As a result, participants will be able to identify skills and competencies important for social work practice with diverse displaced populations;  apply new pedagogical approaches and tools for training social work students; utilize resources to develop integrative curriculum training future social workers practicing with various groups of immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers.

Keywords (separate with commas)

refugees, asylum seekers, integrative social work practice, interdisciplinary, global