Instructor-Led Introduction to Sport Social Work (September 2025)

Held September 27, 2025 via Zoom

9 am - 3 pm (5.25 CEUs)

This course will provide a foundation level knowledge and understanding for students interested in social work practice in sporting environments. Itbegins to prepare social workers to assist athletes, at all levels that they encounter in various settings. This course will introduce students to theintersectionality between social work and mental health disorders in athletics, parenting and youth athletics, athletes in foster care and how socialservices use sports as a social work intervention.

Upon concluding this course, participants will be able to:

1. Apply the multidimensional contextual perspective to examining athletes at various stages of the life cycle (C 2.1.3 PB 5; C2.1.10, PB 16, 18, 19, 21,23, 24, 28)
2. Critically select, adapt, and evaluate theoretically supported practice strategies and principles in relation to: a) athletes functioning andproblems, needs, and concerns of varying duration and onset, b) congruence with the athletes culture and related experiences; c) fit withvalues and ethics of the profession in the context of athletic spaces; d) applicability to athletic teams, spaces, and systems; and e) emphasis upon athlete advocacy in sports systems at various levels (C 2.1.3 PB 5; C2.1.10, PB 16, 21, 23, 29)
3. Analyzing the influence of power differentials onathletes (athlete-coach process and athlete-system process and b) engaging in self-evaluation and self-correction of values and personal responseswhen thinking about and/or practicing with athletes. (CS 2.1.1 PB 2)
4. Apply ethical making decision strategies to complex ethical legal dilemmasencountered in practice with athletes in various settings and at various stages (C2.1.2, PB 3)

Emmett Gill, Ph.D., MSW, LMSW is the founder of AthleteTalk, LLC and currently serves as the Director of Mental Health for the University of Houston Athletics. Emmett served as the Director of Student-Athlete Wellness and Personal Development at the University of Texas at Austin where he provided clinical services for college athletes and created signature programming including initiatives for injured athletes and substance use. Following his tenure at the University of Texas, where he was also a clinical professor in the Steve Hicks School of Social Work, Dr. Gill served as a professional sports crisis and wellness program manager - working on mental health initiatives for the NFL and NBA - including the NFL Lifeline. Dr. Gill is the past president and founder of the Alliance of Social Workers in Sports, a 225-plus member organization that promotes the social work profession in athletics. Emmett’s scholarship focuses' sports scandals, the intersection between social work, sports and mental health, social justice in sports and Black male athletes.