Internships

Every academic year, the Social Work Department offers internships for undergraduate (BSW) and graduate (MSW) students recruited from area schools, such as; Simmons College School of Social Work, Smith College School of Social Work, Salem State College, Wheelock College, and Boston College School of Social Work.

The student internship placements span many of the inpatient and outpatient service areas including: Healthcare Associates, Inpatient and Outpatient Psychiatry, Inpatient Medical/Surgical, the Center for Violence Prevention and Recovery, Women's Health, and Behavioral Neurology. 

The goal of the program is to train interns in clinical practice in a health care setting. This practice includes work with individuals, families, and groups, as well as collaboration with a multidisciplinary staff. The goals of the training program are to help students develop skills in the following areas:

  • biopsychosocial assessments
  • treatment planning
  • individual, family, and/or group treatment
  • short and long term treatment interventions
  • case management
  • evaluation and management of ethical dilemmas
  • advocacy
  • crisis intervention
  • the differential use of self
  • knowledge and sensitivity regarding issues of diversity
  • recognition of the larger social content in which problems emerge

The development of a conceptual and theoretical framework is emphasized in the training and provides the context for the interns' practice. Psychodynamic and systemic perspectives inform the interns' formulations of their work.

The program also offers a professional development opportunity for Social Work Staff in developing themselves as supervisors. Monthly seminars are held for supervisors to enhance their teaching skills and to process programmatic and ethical dilemmas in their work with students.

Students may participate in the following seminars as their time and areas of specialization permit:

  • primary care psychiatry case conference
  • social work continuing education series
  • psychiatry grand rounds
  • ethics rounds
  • death and dying case discussions
  • Schwartz Center Rounds

In order to monitor and assess the effectiveness of the student program, oversight is provided in the following manner:

  • supervision of students work 1 1/2 -2 hours a week by a licensed independent clinical social worker
  • monthly meetings of student supervisors with the Director of Training
  • year-end evaluation of student program by the students
  • meetings twice a year with field advisors from each school
  • written mid-year and end-of-year evaluations of each student by their primary supervisor
  • ongoing contact between the Director of Training and the Director of Field Work at each school