SWO-424 A/B Advanced Clinical Practice

This is a required two-semester advanced clinical practice course that is taken concurrent with advanced year Field Education. Building on foundational knowledge and skills mastered from the first year social work practice course, this course will have four foci: 1) professional use of self; 2) the professional/therapeutic relationship; 3) continued development and refinement of more sophisticated assessment skills; and 4) mastery of brief/time-effective approaches to intervention/treatment. Contemporary clinical social work practice is ever evolving and is shaped by a number of stakeholders. Within this context of transition and change sound clinical social work practice is culturally responsive, flexible, and demonstrably effective, and when appropriate, community-based. The goal is for students to practice and acquire skill sets related to a variety of practice frameworks/theoretical perspectives and to learn how to decide which particular approach is most beneficial for each specific client in achieving positive outcomes. The second semester will deepen the knowledge, skills, and values addressed in first semester and will provide an opportunity for students to integrate their course work across the curriculum as it applies to professional practice.