On the Importance of Direct Practice Experience Among Clinical Social Work Faculty: A Recent Graduate’s Perspective

Abstract

Clinical social work is a mature specialty within the profession of social work, with its own distinct knowledge base, array of theories, and approaches to practice. Schools of social work are tasked with educating clinical social workers to practice competently, effectively, and ethically. One vital pedagogic tool that faculty members employ is drawing from their own direct practice experience, in order to provide guidance and context to students' questions related to practice. This application of direct practice experience is fundamental to the development of novice clinical social work practitioners. Recent trends in social work education have led to a decline in the number of full-time professors at schools of social work who possess direct practice experience. At the same time, the number of faculty engaged in externally funded research, with limited direct practice experience, is increasing. In this paper, the author critically explores this changing paradigm from the perspective of a recent Masters-level social work graduate currently engaged in direct social work practice, and argues that faculty with extensive practice experience are an invaluable and necessary resource towards the formation of competent, effective, and ethical clinical social work practitioners.

Graduate training in psychotherapy: The importance of ongoing clinical activity for the training faculty

“…According to the Aristotelian model, technical skills ( techne ) represent the pragmatic knowledge often tied to a specific career (Billsberry & Birnik, ). These practical skills and the associated procedural knowledge are dependent on the context and situation (Golia, ; Salloum, ). The training can be more sophisticated when the instructor has attained a level of competence.…”

“…According to the Aristotelian model, technical skills (techne) represent the pragmatic knowledge often tied to a specific career (Billsberry & Birnik, 2010). These practical skills and the associated procedural knowledge are dependent on the context and situation (Golia, 2015;Salloum, 2017 Basic technical skills can be conveyed through simple step-bystep recipes (Wears, 2004). Structured treatment manuals can help the novice therapist begin to learn some of the basic procedural steps involved in psychotherapy.…”

“…University professors often lecture about psychotherapy while not engaging in these activities themselves (Ridley & Laird, ). Many members of the academic faculty discontinue their involvement with clinical services, making it more difficult for them to teach or serve as effective role models for clinical work (Golia, ). Psychotherapy training suffers if there are few academic role models who integrate the science and practice of psychology.…”

“…Without a sincere integration, research and practice can become compartmentalised in many training programmes. Although tenured faculty members have the security to develop their clinical skills (Golia, ), most graduate training programmes in clinical and counselling psychology seem to have a bias towards research productivity.…”

“…Although tenured faculty members have the security to develop their clinical skills (Golia, 2015), most graduate training programmes in clinical and counselling psychology seem to have a bias towards research productivity.…”