Practicum Education Office

Location: Orlando House, 144 Farnham Ave, New Haven, CT 06515

Faculty and Staff

Nicole Paul, LCSW
Associate Director of Practicum Education

Carlos Galarza, LMSW
Interim Assistant Director of Practicum Education

Emma Scanlon, BA
University Assistant of Practicum Education Office
(203) 392-6575

Ashley Lowe, MS
Administrative Assistant of Practicum Education & Graduate Admissions

The Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) has adopted a competency-based education framework for its EPAS. A competency-based approach identifies and assesses what students demonstrate in practice. In social work, this approach involves assessing students’ ability to demonstrate the competencies identified in the educational policy.

1. Demonstrate Ethical and Professional Behavior
2. Advance Human Rights and Social, Racial, Economic, and Environmental Justice
3. Engage Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (ADEI) in Practice
4. Engage in Practice-Informed Research and Research-Informed Practice
5. Engage in Policy Practice
6. Engage with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
7. Assess Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
8. Intervene with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities
9. Evaluate Practice with Individuals, Families, Groups, Organizations, and Communities

Professional ethics are at the core of social work. The profession has an obligation to articulate its basic values, ethical principles, and ethical standards. The NASW Code of Ethics sets forth these values, principles, and standards to guide social workers’ conduct. The Code is relevant to all social workers and social work students, regardless of their professional functions, the settings in which they work, or the populations they serve.

The NASW Code of Ethics serves six purposes:

1. The Code identifies core values on which social work’s mission is based.
2. The Code summarizes broad ethical principles that reflect the profession’s core values and establishes a set of specific ethical standards that should be used to guide social work practice.
3. The Code is designed to help social workers identify relevant considerations when professional obligations conflict or ethical uncertainties arise.
4. The Code provides ethical standards to which the general public can hold the social work profession accountable.
5. The Code socializes practitioners new to the field to social work’s mission, values, ethical principles, and ethical standards, and encourages all social workers to engage in self-care, ongoing education, and other activities to ensure their commitment to those same core features of the profession.
6. The Code articulates standards that the social work profession itself can use to assess whether social workers have engaged in unethical conduct. NASW has formal procedures to adjudicate ethics complaints filed against its members.* In subscribing to this Code, social workers are required to cooperate in its implementation, participate in NASW adjudication proceedings, and abide by any NASW disciplinary rulings or sanctions based on it.

The Code offers a set of values, principles, and standards to guide decision making and conduct when ethical issues arise. It does not provide a set of rules that prescribe how social workers should act in all situations. Specific applications of the Code must take into account the context in which it is being considered and the possibility of conflicts among the Code’s values, principles, and standards. Ethical responsibilities flow from all human relationships, from the personal and familial to the social and professional.

Handbook

BSW Handbook

Hours Requirement

Required to complete a minimum of 400 internship hours for the academic year at the same agency for two semesters.  The internship is approximately 14 hours per week where students will be engaged in a generalist practice internship through various agency tasks and experiences to meet the CSWE competencies.

MSW Handbook

MSW Handbook

MSW Traditional Requirements

Required to complete a minimum of 400 internship hours for the academic year at the same agency for two semesters.  The internship is approximately 14 hours per week where students will be engaged in a generalist practice internship through various agency tasks and experiences to meet the CSWE competencies.  

MSW Advanced Standing Requirements

Required to complete a minimum of 550 internship hours for the academic year at the same agency for two semesters. The internship is approximately 18 hours per week where students will be engaged in a clinical or community practice internship through various tasks and experiences to meet the CSWE competencies and behaviors.

Students who wish to use their place of employment as a field placement site must apply to the Field Education office for an employment-based field placement. An employment-based field placement may be approved for one of the student’s two field placements. For Advanced Standing students, an employment-based field placement may be approved either for their BSW or MSW field practice. Students may only apply for employment-based field placements if they have been at the job a minimum of 90 days and are in good standing with the employing agency.

Policy and Application Form

The Department of Social Work partners with a number of agencies including, but not limited to Yale, New Haven Public Schools, Elm City Community Housing Authority, Cheshire Senor Center, Hartford Health Hospital, The Village, Boy and Girls Club, Wellmore.