If you want to work with adults facing complex mental health challenges, this specialization prepares you to deliver effective, compassionate care in today’s most demanding practice settings. In this path, you will:
- Develop the clinical skills needed to support adults experiencing mental illness, trauma, and substance use disorders—conditions that frequently co-occur and require integrated, evidence-based approaches.
- Learn to work in diverse community-based settings such as hospitals, mental health centers, substance use treatment programs, schools and social service agencies
- Gain experience with empirically supported interventions, recovery- and resilience-oriented practice models, and trauma-informed approaches that account for the complex clinical presentations common in adult mental health care
Led by advanced-level clinicians with extensive real-world experience, this path prepares you for clinical roles such as therapist, clinical case manager or behavioral health provider. By graduation, you’ll be equipped to think critically, practice ethically, and leverage client and community strengths—while addressing mental health and substance use together in ways that promote long-term recovery and well-being.
Related Opportunities
- Advanced Standing
- Certificates
- Combined graduate study (3+2 social work)
- Dual degrees
- Interprofessional education
Sample Courses
For a complete list of courses and course descriptions, visit the General Bulletin.
- “Cognitive Behavioral Interventions”
- “Integrated Health and Wellness Specialized Policy”
- “Mindfulness for Social Workers”
- “Social Work Practice in Substance Use Disorders”
- “Social Work Practice in Mental Health: Adults”
Examples of Field Education Sites
Possible field education placement sites for the Adult Behavioral Health path include: