Michal Sela-Amit is an associate teaching professor at the USC Suzanne Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. She instructs students in the MSW program on campus and the online program. She teaches courses on clinical theory and practice including Human Behavior, Foundation Practice courses, Domestic Violence and IPV, Practice in Early Childhood Social Work Practice, and Global Immersions courses to Israel and China.
Her clinical interests include providing culturally sensitive and relationally informed interventions focusing on the social context of the family, the organizations, and the communities. She uses solution focused perspectives and narrative therapy as well as the healing and transformative power of the arts in her practice and teaching. She has experiences in designing and developing courses including online courses. Because of her interest in the intersection of social work and the arts, Professor Sela-Amit is incorporating expressive practices, including the use of community-based theater, for empowerment of youth and communities into her teaching. Professor Sela-Amit is an expert on incorporating the arts in social work and has served as the chair of a consortium of national and international social work faculty focusing on the advancement of the arts in social work.
Born and raised in Israel, Professor Sela-Amit served as a clinical therapist at the Haifa University Student Counseling Center. She then worked with emotionally and behaviorally challenged youth in residential settings and in schools. She served as a research practitioner and therapist with adults, couples, families, and groups impacted by domestic violence and child abuse at the Haifa Women's League for Israel Family Therapy Center. In addition, she was served as an instructor at the University of Haifa and the Tel-Hai Academic College in Israel, where she developed and taught courses on immigration, diversity, group work and cultural competence for social workers.
Professor Sela-Amit has developed USC Social Work's support program for international students and continues to support Admissions and Students Services in their work with international students. In 2008, she assisted MSW students in establishing the International Social Work Caucus and has served as the adviser to the caucus since then. She served as a co-chair of the families and children concentration, and a lead instructor on several key courses on the Children, Youth and Families track. She currently leads the Social Work and the Arts think tank.
Professor Sela-Amit also served as a member of the CSWE-China USC Project, where she trained Chinese counterpart in building a curriculum and teaching in the areas of child welfare and family practice. She has been active in providing mentorship to visiting scholars and students to advance the development of the social work profession in China. Professor Sela-Amit is interested in supporting community organizations in empowering youth through the arts and has served as a board member of the Unusual Suspects Theater Company, a nonprofit that arose after the LA Riots to empower incarcerated and at-risk youth in the most challenged communities in Los Angeles through mentoring, arts and theater workshops.