In 2012, Hope For The Warriors® welcomed Master of Social
Work interns from Fordham University, Columbia University, and the
University of Southern California. Currently, Hope For The Warriors® also has
students from the Touro University, Eastern Carolina University, and Southern
Illinois State University.
By working with Master of Social Work interns, Hope For The
Warriors® has been able to expand its services in case and crisis management,
clinical intervention and support, organization development, and grant research
and writing. Through this expansion, we
are able to positively impact military service members, veterans and their
families. The organization continues to
develop and expand upon an environment that promotes educational development
for the MSW interns. The ultimate goal of our work with each intern is to
ensure that they graduate and enter the field of social work with thorough
understanding of the needs and challenges of today’s military family and a
respect for their service and sacrifice.
Today’s blog is written by Chrystal, one of our incredible social work
interns.
 |
| Social work intern prepares to meet service members |
As an MSW intern enrolled with the University of Southern
California (USC), I can personally speak about my experience as an intern,
gaining experience and insight with Hope For The Warriors®. I enrolled into the full-time graduate
program offered by the university’s Virtual Academic Center (MSW@USC). The
program includes a foundation year and a concentration year, both with nine
month field placements along with a full-time course schedule. My concentration is Community Organization
and Public Administration (COPA) with a sub-concentration in Military Social
Work. Both my foundation year placement
and my current concentration year placement have included projects in which I work
with both the specific population of interest and the community as a
whole. Through these projects, I have
learned to observe the social problem and its direct and indirect effects
economically, socially, and culturally through research methods and processes
of evaluation.
At USC, MSW students have the opportunity to further their
education through additional training and coursework that can be directly
applied to the student’s field placement.
Students receive certification in both Motivational Interviewing and
Problem Solving Therapy after completing the required training hours. Along with these certifications, the Code of
Ethics published by The National Association of Social Workers (NASW) is
incorporated into the foundation year coursework in preparation for students
entering the field and remains constant throughout the concentration year. The Code of Ethics is a set of values and
standards to guide decision making and ethical dilemmas (NASW, 2013).
These principles include cultural competence, commitment to clients and
interdisciplinary collaboration (NASW, 2013).
The MSW program offers a wide range of core programs of the
MSW profession, which is an asset to the field placement agency or organization. Such classes include: social work practice
with families, groups, and complex cases; human behavior and social
environment; management for community
and social services; evaluation of research; clinical practice with service
members and their families; leadership in the social work profession and
organizations; etc. Students are also enrolled
in classes that directly correspond to their internship. For instance, professors regularly require
students to incorporate course material and examples from their field
placements into their assignments.
While in placement, students have a faculty field liaison, a
field instructor and a preceptor to provide a support network for the
student. Along with the structure and
requirements placed on the graduate students, there are requirements for agency
staff members too. The faculty field
liaison is a university professor and the field instructor is an individual in
the agency with at least a Master in Social Work that can offer
supervision. Most academic institutions require the field supervisor to have a minimum of three (3) years post graduate studies and a state license as a MSW.
Although requirements vary slightly from state to state, most states require 1,000 to 1,500 hours of field work and supervision. These clinical hours are required of MSW students in order to graduate and become a licensed social work professional.
To support our social workers' program work, please consider a donation today
References
National
Association of Social Workers (2013). Retrieved from: http://www.naswdc.org/
