Photo: Sophia Hune (BSW ’23), and (MSW ’24), interns with the McCandless Police Department. She uses Community resource guide to refer services to clients over the phone.
The Social Work program at SRU requires all its majors practice their skills through a supervised internship. The program has relationships with hundreds of social service agencies, which provide a variety of internship opportunities. The program is always adding new internship sites and as a result of the pioneering use of video steaming, students may consider internships in local, regional, national and global settings.
The MSW program has various clinical field placements for students. Many are working in Schools, Mental Health facilities and Police Departments. The BSSW students also complete field placements in a variety of settings such as nursing homes, hospices, hospitals, home care agencies, substance abuse programs, mental health services, development disabilities services, vocational rehab, public health, community action agencies, family service agencies, and children and youth services provide valuable real-life experience. Each individually designed internship offers a real-world opportunity for the student to demonstrate their competency in the practice behaviors taught in the classroom. Each student also receives ongoing assessments of their competency in all practice areas during and after the internship.
In addition to furthering their education, students learn valuable leadership skills, create professional relationships, and practice ethical decision making. Internships frequently lead to job offers after graduation.
