Anyone has a social service or community-focused agency/nonprofit? Recently came across a group of social workers offering evaluation, research, program development, or strategic planning work at reduced rates and sometimes free for community-focused agencies. Apparently their mission is to give back to the agencies and people who can’t afford the “big time” consultants and fees. Thought I’d shared here.
I am social work professor and I feel like academia, by way of CSWE (Council on Social Work Education), our national accreditation body, is failing our profession and not properly preparing students to enter the profession to address today’s issues. Practicum is currently being used as the scapegoat/main way to “prepare” students to be in the “field”.
How do people feel about the direction of CSWE, NASW, and SW programs. Particularly the MSW degrees which are seeing an increasing number of non-SW students as a way to become therapists while neglecting or disregarding the other critical aspects of what it means to be a social worker in today’s society.
We, as a profession, cannot therapy people out of many of the conditions and circumstances they are facing and must teach and prepare future SW practitioners to be able to understand social work beyond the scope of clinical/interpersonal/therapy.
Would love thoughts, comments, feedback, suggestion, feelings on this topic. Very open to pushback on my views also.