Emily Bleiweis
In a groundbreaking new program that is believed the be the first of its kind in the world, University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) has designed an interprofessional dual-degree program that will provide future social workers with knowledge about medical cannabis that is necessary to help them better care for their clients.
The program, which was built in partnership between the University of Maryland School of Pharmacy (UMSOP) and the University of Maryland School of Social Work (UMSSW), allows for social work students to earn a Graduate Certificate in Medical Cannabis Science, Therapeutics, and Policy from UMSOP.
The two-semester, 12-credit certificate program can be completed by students while in their Master of Social Work (MSW) program by using two electives for certificate coursework and taking two of their MSW course requirements during the summer.
“It’s uncharted territory right now with cannabis being legalized in so many places for recreational and medical use,” said Joan Pittman, PhD, MSW, LCSW-C, clinical professor and director of the MSW Program at the Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville, Md. “There are many questions including how cannabis can impact someone’s mental health positively or negatively. And social workers want to be prepared.”
More Education, Less Stigma
It was social work students who were the leading force behind this new program, said Andrew Coop, PhD, professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences and associate dean for graduate programs at UMSOP. Students reached out to UMSOP’s Graduate Studies in Medical Cannabis Program, which includes an MS degree and the graduate certificate, because the number of social workers who interact with members of the public who are using medical cannabis or have questions about it is increasing. They wanted to be better informed, Coop said.
“Many of the individuals they’re going to interact with either take cannabis or know a family member or a loved one that actually takes medical cannabis,” Coop said. “So being knowledgeable and being able to speak about cannabis from a point of view of expertise allows them to serve the public and speak to the public.”
There is still much stigma around cannabis, even medical cannabis, Coop added. If a client knows that the social worker they’re speaking with has expertise, it helps to remove that stigma. It allows for an open dialogue, he added.
A strength of this new dual-degree program, Pittman said, is that UMSOP’s Graduate Studies in Medical Cannabis Program includes students from many different disciplines, so students learn about the field from different professional lenses.
Additionally, students are learning micro and macro elements of cannabis science, including information about policies and the legal landscape in Maryland and the nation.
An Interprofessional Approach
The issue of drugs potentially being abused and a resulting liability spans every aspect of all seven professional schools at UMB, Coop said. And the University can approach the topic of the impact of drugs — both positively, when it comes to medical cannabis, and negatively, when it comes to addiction to opioids and other substances — because of the diverse expertise in its seven schools.
“We are uniquely set up for the collaboration of all of us looking at this from a different angle — coming at different aspects,” Coop said.
Pittman said a great benefit of the dual-degree program is gaining interprofessional competencies.
“The experience of learning with students from many different professions and taking classes from School of Pharmacy faculty has the potential to expand social work students’ skills in working on interprofessional teams — something that’s very important in the workforce today,” she said.
UMB’s schools have been working to build more and more interdisciplinary collaborations, something Pittman hopes will continue at UMSSW. The program has several electives built into the curriculum that would allow for more of these partnerships, she said.
This skill — to be able to work with and learn from other professions — is immensely important for social workers as they enter their profession, Pittman said.
In the social work program, Pittman said, students are taught how to work with individuals, families, and the community, including societal impacts on the individual.
“Collaborating with other professionals and clients to think innovatively about the whole person within their environment — that’s a real focus of social work,” she said.
