This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Broward chapter.
Guide for Clinical Social Work Students and Recent Graduates; An MSW is Just the Beginning of Your Education
Move beyond being a generalist and learn something in real depth,
Supervision or consultation is the key to learning a therapeutic approach in depth.
Build Critical Skills
- Screen for substance abuse/alcohol problems.
- Assess and diagnose mental health problems, ideally with use of standardized assessment scales.
- Assess for domestic violence and know how to develop safety plans.
- Understand how trauma affects people, as most problem behaviors make sense when you look at what people have lived through.
- Behavioral interviewing, i.e., you don’t ask “were you abused as a child?”, you ask about specific behavioral experiences (“how were you disciplined?”)
- Intervention skills in basic cognitive behavioral treatment methods.
- Motivational interviewing.
- Record-keeping.
- Working with couples and families.