Social Work Practicum Fail #2: Picking a Dead-End Site

The first step in choosing the right practicum is knowing what you want to be doing as a professional social worker. Would you like to offer financial aid to non-traditional college students? Do you want to rescue children from abusive homes? Are you planning on opening a private marriage counseling center? Knowing who you want to work with, and in what capacity, will be critical to getting your foot in the door in that arena by making sure that your time at practicum adequately prepares you for that role.

 

#WorkMSSW

Have you worked at a practicum completely unrelated to your current job? Share your experience!

For example, if you do want to rescue young children from abusive homes, maybe your foundation practicum could take place in a school or day care center, and then your advanced practicum could take place at a Child Protective Services site. Through both of these experiences, you could learn effective ways of interacting with children and parents, and how to navigate the CPS, judicial, and foster care systems as they relate to helping parents and children transition to court-ordered changes to their relationship. Whereas getting a placement at a drug treatment facility would be wildly irrelevant to your desired career path.

Like   Follow   Connect