Teaching Students Counseling Skills: Training in MSW Field Work

Abstract

In an accredited Master of Social Work (MSW) field placement site, MSW students are given the opportunity to practice what they learn in the classroom and apply it to real-life situations. What these placement sites are doing to make sure that students get the right training is essential to students' professional development. The field placement sites that were focused on were either currently active (with students) or had trained students within the last three years. The sites accepted MSW interns with a concentration in Mental Health. What exactly did these sites do to develop students’ counseling skills? What sort of training did they offer MSW interns? What can these sites do to improve their counseling skills training? This paper offers an analysis of responses to an online survey that was completed by the field site supervisors. The survey questions were emailed to the field site supervisors via Qualtrics, an online survey software program. The responses are a way to gain valuable information regarding: 1. what students learned about counseling skills at their field placement sites, and 2. what specific training, if any, did they receive that enhanced their counseling skills. The findings suggest that the agencies provide various interventions through different teaching methods. Also, these agencies provide training that helps students to develop counseling skills. Inconsistencies in the study contribute to the low percentages of training that needs to be improved.Ope