This week, I had the pleasure of interviewing Karen Zgoda, MSW, LCSW and a current PhD Candidate at the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work. Her primary occupations are conducting research, teaching and working on her dissertation but she also volunteers for the American Cancer Society and SocialWorkChat.org, and writes for TheNewSocialWorker. I think you […]
Parallel Processes, Boundaries & Authenticity
This week, I listened to a very interesting podcast from the University of Buffalo’s School of Social Work (UBSSW) addressing the topic of the supervisor – supervisee relationship in clinical social work settings. This podcast (Living Proof episode #5) is titled Models of Supervision: Parallel Processes and Honest Relationships and in it Dr. Lawrence Shulman, […]
Healing Yourself as You Heal Others
About two weeks ago, I completed my finals and second year placement for the first semester. Since then I’ve been enjoying some rest and relaxation (R & R) which is especially nice after having had several intense weeks. Today, I will cover the topic of the supervisor-supervisee relationship because it is a particularly important one […]
Online Therapy: A New Frontier
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 […]
Career Advice from a Dean of Social Work
Are you a social work student or recent graduate wondering what to focus on in terms of your career development? Nancy J. Smyth, who is the Dean of the School of Social Work at the University at Buffalo, in New York, recommends that you see your MSW as “just the beginning of your education,” and […]
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 […]
How To Start Up a Private Practice
Is starting up your own private practice one of your dreams? As per Michael Langlois, LICSW, “private practice is a business, and you need to learn how to create and run a business if you are going to be successful.” Michael would know! He is a social worker who wears many hats. In addition to running a […]
