Social Work, M.S.W.

Program Description

Clinical social workers are mental health professionals who bring a holistic perspective to work with individuals, groups, and communities. Clinical social workers use a person-in-environment approach to consider how the micro, mezzo, and macro systems interact to influence the client system’s lived experience. All clinical work, including diagnosis and treatment, considers the biological, psychological, and social aspects of individual functioning as well as the cultural and spiritual aspects of the person, group, and community.

The Clinical Social Work program at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota places particular emphasis on the profession’s call to act in solidarity with the community to address social injustice. The curriculum incorporates tools to identify and respond to individual and community needs related to the adverse effects of poverty and oppression on mental health and well-being. The MSW Program is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education.

Mission

The Master of Social Work Program (MSW) at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota prepares social work practitioners to partner with individuals, families, and communities to respond to societal and personal challenges. From a grounding in the Lasallian core principles and virtues of responding to the needs of the disadvantaged, the MSW Program instills social work knowledge, values, and skills to serve the community and work toward social justice.

Vision

We envision a world where all individuals’ material and emotional needs are met, and individuals and families live in communities that are supportive, focused on the common good, and allow all members to thrive.

Values

The MSW program at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota espouses values and practices that echo Lasallian principles:

• Cultural respect based on personal reflection, acknowledging, engaging, and celebrating all differences.
• Actions to be “in solidarity with the poor and advocate for those suffering from injustices.
• Respect for and honoring of the dignity of all individuals, families, and communities.
• Perspective of bio/psycho/social/spiritual/cultural health, functioning, and interactions of systems at the individual, family, and community levels.

Program Outcomes and Indicators

The following outcomes and indicators outline the competencies for the Master of Social Work Program at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. The outcomes follow the Council on Social Work Education’s (CSWE) generalist practice competencies and the clinical competencies that extend into a clinical specialization. Generalist level indicators (G) primarily outline the learning focus for the program’s first 30 credits; the Clinical (C) level indicators focus the learning for the final 30 credits.

Upon completion of the program, graduates are expected to be able to do the following:

1.   Demonstrate ethical and professional behavior. 

Social workers demonstrate the following foundational knowledge and skills (G):

1. Make ethical decisions by applying the standards of the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics, relevant laws and regulations, models for ethical decision making, ethical conduct of research, and additional codes of ethics within the profession as appropriate to the context;
2. Demonstrate professional behavior; appearance; and oral, written, and electronic communication;
3. Use technology ethically and appropriately to facilitate practice outcomes; and
4. Use supervision and consultation to guide professional judgment and behavior.

Advanced practitioners in clinical social work demonstrate the following specialized knowledge and skills (C):

1. Demonstrate professional use of self with client(s).
2. Understand and identify professional strengths, limitations, and challenges.
3. Develop, manage, and maintain therapeutic relationships with clients within the person-in-environment and strengths perspectives.
4. Apply ethical decision-making skills to issues specific to clinical social work.
5. Identify and use knowledge of relationship dynamics, including power differentials.
6. Recognize and manage personal biases as they affect the therapeutic relationship in the service of the clients’ well-being.

2.   Advance human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice.

Social workers demonstrate the following foundational knowledge and skills (G):

1. Advocate for human rights at the individual, family, group, organizational, and community system levels; and
2. Engage in practices that advance human rights to promote social, racial, economic, and environmental justice.

Advanced practitioners in clinical social work demonstrate the following specialized knowledge and skills (C):

1. Use knowledge of the effects of oppression, discrimination, and historical trauma or injustice on clients and client systems to guide treatment planning, intervention, and delivery of services.
2. Use knowledge of the effects of oppression, discrimination, and historical trauma on clients and client systems to guide treatment planning and intervention.
3. Advocate at multiple levels for mental health parity and reduction of health disparities for diverse populations.

3.   Engage Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ADEI) in Practice

Social workers demonstrate the following foundational knowledge and skills (G):

1. Demonstrate anti-racist and anti-oppressive social work practice at the individual, family, group, organizational, community, research, and policy levels; and
2. Demonstrate cultural humility by applying critical reflection, self-awareness, and self regulation to manage the influence of bias, power, privilege, and values in working with clients and constituencies, acknowledging them as experts of their own lived experiences.

Advanced practitioners in clinical social work demonstrate the following specialized knowledge and skills (C):

1. Apply an intersectional understanding of diversity and difference in practice with clients and constituencies
2. Apply diverse frames of reference to generate and evaluate practice decisions and actions.
3. Recognize and act to correct misapplication of culturally bound practice knowledge, models, and structures at the micro, mezzo, and macro levels of practice.

4.   Engage in practice-informed research and research-informed practice.

Social workers demonstrate the following foundational knowledge and skills (G):

1. Apply research findings to inform and improve practice, policy, and programs; and
2. Identify ethical, culturally informed, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive strategies that address inherent biases for use in quantitative and qualitative research methods to advance the purposes of social work

Advanced practitioners in clinical social work demonstrate the following specialized knowledge and skills (C):

1. Contribute to the generation of new research by engaging in critical assessment, reflection and research of one’s own social work practice.
2. Use research methodology to evaluate clinical practice effectiveness and outcomes.
3. Use the evidence-based practice process in clinical assessment and intervention with clients.
4. Participate in the generation of new clinical knowledge, through research and practice.
5. Use research methodology to evaluate clinical practice effectiveness and/or outcomes.

5.   Engage in policy practice.

Social workers demonstrate the following foundational knowledge and skills (G):

1. Use social justice, anti-racist, and anti-oppressive lenses to assess how social welfare policies affect the delivery of and access to social services; and
2. Apply critical thinking to analyze, formulate, and advocate for policies that advance human rights and social, racial, economic, and environmental justice.

Advanced practitioners in clinical social work demonstrate the following specialized knowledge and skills (C):

1. Apply critical thinking to analyze, formulate, and advocate for policies that advance human rights and social, economic, and environmental justice with sensitivity to diverse cultural contexts.
2. Anticipate how policy change at organizational, community, state, and federal levels is likely to impact client and constituency well-being, service delivery, and access to social services.
3. Communicate to stakeholders the implication of policies and policy change in the lives of clients.
4. Use evidence-based practice and practice-based evidence in advocacy for policies that advance social and economic well-being.
5. Advocate with and inform administrators and legislators to influence policies that impact clients and service.

6.   Engage with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

Social workers demonstrate the following foundational knowledge and skills (G):

1. Apply knowledge of human behavior and person-in-environment, as well as interprofessional conceptual frameworks, to engage with clients and constituencies; and
2. Use empathy, reflection, and interpersonal skills to engage in culturally responsive practice with clients and constituencies.

Advanced practitioners in clinical social work demonstrate the following specialized knowledge and skills (C):

1. Develop a culturally responsive therapeutic relationship.
2. Attend to the interpersonal dynamics and contextual factors that both strengthen and potentially threaten the therapeutic alliance.
3. Establish a relationally based process that encourages clients to be equal participants in the establishment of treatment goals and expected outcomes.

7.   Assess individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

Social workers demonstrate the following foundational knowledge and skills (G):

1. Apply theories of human behavior and person-in-environment, as well as other culturally responsive and interprofessional conceptual frameworks, when assessing clients and constituencies; and
2. Demonstrate respect for client self-determination during the assessment process by collaborating with clients and constituencies in developing a mutually agreed-upon plan.

Advanced practitioners in clinical social work demonstrate the following specialized knowledge and skills (C):

1. Establish fluency in use of the DSM-5 to create diagnostic and clinical formulations and critically reflect on the social-cultural context of its use.
2. Use multidimensional bio-psycho-social-spiritual assessment tools.
3. Assess clients’ readiness for change.
4. Assess client coping strategies to reinforce and improve adaptation to life situations, circumstances, and events.
5. Select and modify appropriate intervention strategies based on continuous clinical assessment.
6. Utilize research-supported diagnostic protocols, the DSM-5, and current research in psychopathology in identifying differential diagnoses and constructing clinical formulations.

8.   Intervene with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

Social workers demonstrate the following foundational knowledge and skills (G):

1. Engage with clients and constituencies to critically choose and implement culturally responsive, evidence-informed interventions to achieve client and constituency goals; and
2. Incorporate culturally responsive methods to negotiate, mediate, and advocate with and on behalf of clients and constituencies.

Advanced practitioners in clinical social work demonstrate the following specialized knowledge and skills (C):

1. Demonstrate the use of appropriate clinical techniques for a range of presenting concerns identified in the assessment, including crisis intervention strategies as needed.
2. Build awareness of the skill sets and competencies comprising a scope of practice.
3. Critically evaluate, select, and apply best practices and evidence-based interventions.
4. Collaborate with other professionals to coordinate treatment interventions.

9.   Evaluate practice with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

Social workers demonstrate the following foundational knowledge and skills (G):

1. Select and use culturally responsive methods for evaluation of outcomes; and
2. Critically analyze outcomes and apply evaluation findings to improve practice effectiveness with individuals, families, groups, organizations, and communities.

Advanced practitioners in clinical social work demonstrate the following specialized knowledge and skills (C):

1. Evaluate effectiveness in research and practice, including how therapeutic outcomes are defined, measured, and communicated.
2. Contribute to the theoretical knowledge base of the social work profession through practice-based research.
3. Use clinical evaluation of the process and/or outcomes to develop best practice interventions for a range of bio-psycho-social-spiritual conditions.

Program Structure and Delivery

The Master of Social Work program is offered fully online.