Continuing Education for Social Work

Hip-Hop, The Spoken and Written Word, and Trauma: The Use of Creative Arts Therapy with Youth

FRIDAY, July 19, 2024
10:00 am – 12:00 pm (eastern time)
Live Webinar on Zoom
(You will need to register to receive login information)

Registration: 2 CEU Credit Hours
General:  Through July 9, $50; July 10- July 18, $60
Wurzweiler Alumni and Current WSSW Field Instructors: Through July 9, $40; July 11-July 18, $50
All Current Students: $15

Registration closes on 7/18/24 at 5:00 Eastern Time (EST)

Presenters will explore the use of creative arts therapy with youth through a focus on how Hip-Hop music and culture can be incorporated into the promotion of mental health and processing of trauma. Through rhythmic engagement, evoking emotions, and fostering community, Hip-Hop based strategies help promote regulation, a more empowered sense of self, and opportunities to challenge trauma-inducing environments. 

These strategies are action-oriented, culturally responsive, and meaningful across the lifespan. Focusing on music, as well as spoken and written word, presenters will explore specific approaches that address trauma within pathways to growth and well-being, and how they may be used with individuals and groups.

Learning objectives: 

As a result of attending this program, attendees will:

1. Understand the use of creative arts therapy with youth through the lens of Hip-Hop, spoken word, and writing.
2. Appreciate the range of evidence-informed Hip-Hop integrated strategies that add a culturally specific intersectional lens to creative arts therapies.

J.C. Hall, LCSW, EXAT is a Hip Hop artist and clinical social worker who directs the Hip Hop Therapy Studio program at Mott Haven Community High School, a “second-chance” school in the South Bronx. In 2013, J.C. created a professional recording studio that provided youth the opportunity to engage in the therapeutic process through writing, recording, producing, and performing their own music. 

The origins of the program were chronicled in the award-winning short documentary Mott Haven, which showcased the efficacy of Hip Hop therapy in addressing trauma and grief in the wake of a school tragedy. J.C. created hiphoptherapy.com to serve as a centralized resource for those interested in learning about its theory and application. J.C. won a national Jefferson Award for Outstanding Public Service Benefiting the New York Community in 2020, as well as the 2024 Psychotherapy Networker Vanguard Award.    

Raphael Travis, PhD, LCSW is a Professor at the School of Social Work at Texas State University. His research, practice and consultancy work emphasize healthy development over the life-course, resilience, and civic engagement. He also investigates creative arts, especially Hip-Hop culture, as a source of health and well-being for individuals and communities. 

He is author of The Healing Power of Hip Hop: Intersections of Race, Ethnicity, and Culture (2015), and co-editor of Music for Inclusion and Healing in Schools and Beyond: Hip Hop, Techno, Grime, and More (2023). His latest research, linking music engagement and well-being, appears in a variety of academic journals and book chapters.

JP PrettyBull, MSW has a private telehealth practice, specializing in working with Indigenous and queer populations. They are also an adjunct professor at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work and Queensborough Community College/CUNY. JP sits on multiple organizational boards, including the Indian Child Welfare Act Board, for their tribe. They have dedicated their career to working with Indigenous communities in the US and Canada, the queer community, and veterans. 

JP is a veteran of the US Army. They are currently working towards a PhD at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work. In addition to receiving his MSW degree from Wurzweiler, they have received degrees in culinary and pastry arts, tribal historic preservation, and art history.

Tahj Bo Kjelland, LCSW is the founder of the Montana-based Express to Speak (E2S), a youth empowerment program designed to enhance critical thinking and emotional intelligence through creative expression utilizing a creative arts therapy approach.  The program has served over ten thousand students in traditional classroom settings.  

Tahj has 17 years of experience in clinical, family, and school-based services, including peer recovery coaching, individual men’s counseling, and facilitation of men’s therapy groups.  He received his MSW from Walla Walla University (WA).

PODCAST

Rabbis, chaplains, and social workers are often called on to provide spiritual care near life’s end. Whether in response to serious illness, advanced cognitive or physical decline in old age, or unexpected, tragic violence, health care professionals and clergy need to respond compassionately and effectively with families facing spiritual, emotional, and existential crises. Clips from Wurzweiler School of Social Work’s “Spirituality Near the End of Life” Conference in July 2019 include leading clergy, chaplains, and social workers offering their knowledge, skills, and wisdom to assist professionals seeking to better integrate spiritual care into their professional and community work.

Episode 1

Episode 2