Social Work in Health and Hospital Settings

The Chapter has been partnering with the Directors of Social Work from the major teaching hospitals in the Greater Boston area on several projects for the last several years. This group of incredibly experienced and savvy senior social work administrators is now focusing on how to best prepare social work students to intern at hospitals. The Directors have been meeting with Deans of the Schools of Social Work to figure out the best way to prepare students for this specialized placement. Some feel only refinements are needed, others feel that the schools need to be more rigorous in preparing the students for these highly demanding placements and others feel that interning in other social work settings-homeless shelters, public health clinics, substance use treatment centers, etc- can be just as demanding. The message to me is that we as a profession are always looking at how we can get to the next level of our expertise, our professionalism. This is what moves me every day in my position as the Executive Director. Where else can I grow and contribute to our members, the Chapter, and the Association. Looking forward to hearing from you.