What to expect as an MSW Student?

[MUSIC PLAYING] SASHA AARONSON: If you’re watching this video, you probably have a passion for helping those in need and making positive change in your community. And if you do have that passion for helping vulnerable people and communities, you probably know how difficult that work is. But that’s exactly why we need more social workers equipped with the knowledge, the skills, and the values to successfully intervene with individuals, with families, with communities, and with larger social structures to create a more just society.

Our goal here at Sacred Heart is to equip you with the tools to intervene, while learning about the nature and the extent of systemic oppression. We all know that exploring systems of privilege and oppression can be challenging work, but so necessary to make the impact that we know we all want to make. This program will teach you the skills necessary to do this important work. It ultimately becomes quite empowering to know that you can use the knowledge to make a positive impact on society.

So here’s how the Master’s in Social Work online program works. We’re a part time, totally online, completely asynchronous program. This means you’ll never have to work in a live class into your busy schedule. All of the information you need for the entire semester will be available to you on your first day of classes. This means you can get your work done when it’s convenient to you, within the deadlines of the course provided by your professors.

We use Blackboard here as a platform for your courses, and it’s very user friendly. Even my technology-challenged mother can navigate it. The program starts with coursework in human diversity and social justice and social welfare, generalist practice, research, and then continues with courses in clinical and community assessment, anti-racist social work practice, and specialized practices, to just name a few. You actually get to choose from many of our electives to round out your education.

You’ll start your field placement in the second year of the program, and complete two totally different placements. If you’re admitted as an advanced standing student, then you would only do one placement. And this is where everything that you’ve learned and are still learning will be applied in a real life practice setting. You’ll get to work with clients and communities in a variety of settings based on your interest. And you’ll also have a field liaison that will help you through this whole process of finding and securing the field placement. Applying your knowledge to practice in a structured setting with supervision creates the perfect opportunity for you to advance your skills and feel prepared to practice a successful master’s level social work.

And although you may feel alone at your computer, you won’t be alone in this program at all. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to engage with your instructors and your colleagues, as well as your faculty advisor. We offer a Connect to Success program that provides guest lectures on different topics relating to social work practice and success in the program. And the University also offers many live lectures and colloquia that are broadcast online. You’ll also be required to engage in weekly online discussions and activities that make you connect to your classmates. In our program, just remember that we’re all really just a phone call or email away. So come join us in tackling injustice and creating a positive change we all want to see in the world.

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