This webinar will describe how current Washington state social workers, agencies and sites are crucial partners in social work field education and student learning. There are innovative ways to support these goals for sites, students and supervisors even if you don’t currently have access to an MSW—and you don’t have to live in Seattle!
This presentation is targeted to people working in the state of Washington as information is specific to this area.
Field education or practicum is the cornerstone of social work education, where students experience a supervised and supportive learning opportunity where social work knowledge, values and skills are put into practice. We work closely with community agencies and organizations to ensure that real-world experience complements classroom theory and research. Practicum facilitates professional social work competencies and practice behaviors that support a successful career promoting social, racial and economic justice. Field education sites provide rich learning opportunities for our students who bring the latest social work thinking and research to their positions. Field Instructors are needed in our BASW or MSW degree programs, and MSW students need placements in Clinical Social Work, Administration/Policy, or Community-Centered Integrative Practice settings.
Join the Office of Field Education staff and field faculty from the University of Washington School of Social Work as we share how we can partner with you as a field instructor, task supervisor, practicum site or other professional opportunities to be involved!
Supervising social work students is a fulfilling learning experience that can develop future leaders in a team, organization or community. Offering supervision and mentorship to students supports our field’s dedication to public service and UW SSW offers training and ongoing connections for practicum instructors including onboarding training, ongoing consultation and other opportunities.
Learning Objectives:
We hope you can join us--if for any reason you cannot attend (or you want to do your homework!) please note the following resources and look forward to hearing from you! We will also record this for later viewing.
Christina Clayton has been in the behavioral health field since 1993, primarily serving adults who live with severe mental health issues, substance use, experience chronic homelessness, suffer from poor physical health, trauma and any number of co-occurring issues. Christina has education and licenses/credentials in clinical social work, mental health and substance use, and highly values her direct service experience. Prior to joining the MHTTC in 2018, she spent 25 years working in and managing numerous clinical programs. She has provided licensure supervision, training and consultation, and has been a SW Field Instructor since 2000 She is Co-Director for the Northwest Mental Health Technology Transfer Center and Interim Assistant Dean & Director of Field Education for the UW School of Social Work.
Arden Hellmann serves as a lecturer and faculty member in the Office of Field Education, working with graduate and undergraduate students. Arden’s work in higher education includes field instruction, lecturing graduate courses, organizational and program development support for the HealthyGen Center, and worked with the Intergroup Dialogue Education & Action program (IDEA). Most recently, she provided offsite field instruction for students placed throughout the Puget Sound region, partnering on students’ learning and teaching teams, helping students link their classroom learning with their applied practice, and supporting and mentoring undergraduate and graduate students. Arden received her MSW from University of Washington and BA from University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Washington.
Mark Bello is the Program Operations Specialist for the UW School of Social Work's Office of Field Education where he has worked since 2018. He helps coordinate field instructors, sites and partners to establish relationships to facilitate practicum placements. He works closely with sites and stakeholders to collaborate on practicum opportunities meeting the diverse and mutual needs of agencies, students and communities. His skills and duties are too numerous to list, but he plays a crucial role in the operations of the Practicum office and answers everyone's questions with efficiency and grace. He is in contact with all the field faculty, students and other SSW units to assist with data tracking, decision-making, strategic planning, managing our opportunities website and more.
