The Practicum Experience is Essential for Your Success

To become a well-rounded, fully qualified social worker, you need firsthand experience in addition to coursework. Social work is rooted in relationship development and personal service, so success demands practical understanding and supervised interaction with real clients. For most students, including those at the Wurzweiler School of Social Work, this initial exposure comes through the practicum experience.

You’ll complete our practicum throughout your first and second years in the online Master of Social Work (MSW) program. It will bring your studies to life. Through dialogue with diverse clients, you’ll be empowered to practice social work with true cultural sensitivity and responsiveness, fully understanding all facets of the client relationship, including:

• Engagement
• Assessment
• Intervention
• Evaluation
• Termination

As you progress through the online MSW program, you will have an opportunity to focus on specific service areas, including:

• Advanced clinical practice with individuals and families
• Group work
• Community practice

These areas of emphasis will carry over into your practicum opportunities as you begin to integrate your classroom knowledge into client exchanges at hospitals, welfare agencies, mental health facilities, schools and more.

Practicum is especially crucial for students pursuing the Gerontology and Palliative Care Embedded Certification or the Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselor (CASAC) credentialing. You’ll complete a second-year advanced practicum in an agency related to or partially serving the population in which you specialize.

Contact the Field Instruction Office
212-960-0803
wsswfield@yu.edu