Virtual Reality: Therapy’s New Office? This week, I have the pleasure of introducing Kylie Coulter to you. For most therapists, online therapy is a rather new and/or unexplored terrain. This is not the case for Kylie; she has actually been working as an online therapist for the past five years. Kylie conducts therapy via video conferencing, […]
Social Work Internship: 12th Week
The other day at my placement was particularly difficult for me. One of my clients, let’s call her S, came in after having cut herself a few days earlier and as I questioned her, I learned that she had some suicidal ideation. In layman’s terms, this means that she expressed some wishes or fantasies about […]
Social Work in Substance Abuse
As per Dr. Straussner, “if one is interested in learning and being challenged, it’s [the substance abuse area] a wonderful field. The knowledge of addictions treatment will come in handy no matter where one works.” Dr. Straussner is a professor of social work at NYU’s Silver School of Social Work. Aside from being a lecturer, […]
Social Work Internship: 10th week
This was a busy week with my conducting seven one-on-one sessions, having two intakes, making a presentation to two women groups, as well as attending a seminar on the role of social workers in within the oncology and palliative care arena. In terms of the individual sessions, two of the seven appointments were with new […]
Social Work Career Advice from a Dean: MSW to PhD Journey
Social work career advice from Dean Nancy Smyth, PhD: her path from MSW to Dean, why MSW is just the beginning, 10+ essential clinical competencies for private practice (substance abuse screening, mental health assessment, domestic violence, trauma, dissociation, CBT, MI, record-keeping), women in academia challenges, virtual reality therapy applications, and trauma-informed care integration.
Social Work Internship: 7th Week
To give an update, since my last post, I’ve started conducting one or two intake interviews per week as part of my regular clinical work. An intake interview essentially involves asking a prospective client various questions to find out who referred the client (self, inpatient psychiatry unit, emergency psychiatry unit), what is the client’s main […]
Integrating Theory With Practice
Since my last post, I have been essentially settling into the routine of seeing between 8 and 9 patients a week at my placement in addition to the twice weekly group sessions, the weekly social work seminar and the other routine fixed weekly items on my agenda. The work that I am finding the most […]
Social Work in Advocacy and Public Policy
Are you interested in pursuing a career in advocacy or public policy? Melinda Lewis advises you to: “Choose an organization that you’re excited about not, just a job description that sounds good… also an understanding of how policy systems work, how to build organizational strength, and how change happens.” This week, I had the honor of interviewing […]
What Is Social Work In Child Welfare Like?
Many people are rather confused as to what child welfare social workers do, especially in light of how the media portray their role. @SocialJerkBlog, a social worker employed in the field of social work, describes her typical day as including “some parent training with clients. This can be working on behavioral charts and disciplinary consistency, […]
Beginning of 2nd Year Internship
This week I had the first full week of my second year internship (or placement) at the outpatient mental health clinic at a New York hospital. On the first day, the social work department provided an orientation for all the interns in which they provided some background information about the hospital and the different functions […]
