Everything about Clinical Social Work.

An introduction

Clinical social work is a sub-discipline of the larger field of social work. Clinical social work is defined by the American Board of Clinical Social Work (ABCSW) as "a healthcare profession centered on prevention and treatment theories and practices in providing mental-health/healthcare services, with special focus on behavioral and bio-psychosocial issues and disorders." Clinical social work is defined by the National Association of Social Workers as "a branch of social work that focuses on the assessment, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of mental illness, emotional disturbances, and other behavioral problems. The individual, group, and family therapy are some of the most prevalent treatment options ".. Clinical social work incorporates social work theory and expertise from the fields of human biology, social science, and behavioural science.

History

Many people believe that clinical social work has its origins in the social casework procedures used by Charity Organization Societies between 1877 and 1883.

The New York Charity Organization Society presented the first social work class in the United States at Columbia University in 1898. The Boston School for Social Workers was founded in 1904 by Simmons College and Harvard University in partnership. In addition, Columbia University established the first graduate program in social work in 1904, while the New York School of Social Work was not established until 1917. In her book Social Diagnosis, published in 1917, Mary E. Richmond defined social casework.

After 1920, the word social casework began to disappear from use, and the phrase psychiatric social work, as well as the application of psychoanalytic theory, became more widespread. According to Ehrenkranz, the phrase clinical social work was first used in 1940 at the Louisiana State University School of Social Work, which offered a clinical program. 1940 The Clinical Social Work Association was founded in 2006 after the National Federation of Societies for Clinical Social Work was founded in 1971. The Clinical Social Work Journal was founded in 1973, shortly after the National Federation of Societies for Clinical Social Work was established. The Task Force on Clinical Social Work Practice of the National Association of Social Workers published the first working definition of clinical social work in 1978. The Diplomate in Clinical Social Work (DCSW) was founded by the National Association of Social Workers in 1986. The Board-Certified Diplomate in Clinical Social Work (BCD) credential was developed in 1987 by the American Board of Examiners in Clinical Social Work, which later became the American Board of Clinical Social Work in 2020. Clinical social work is now licensed in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the United States Virgin Islands, all ten Canadian provinces, Guam, and the United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, as well as other countries throughout the world.

Clinical Social Work Practice

Clinical social work's fundamental methods necessitate "the use of social work theory, knowledge, methods, ethics, and the professional use of self to restore or improve the social, psychosocial, or biopsychosocial functioning of individuals, couples, families, groups, organisations, and communities Clinical social work practise necessitates the application of advanced clinical skills and specific clinical knowledge in the areas of assessment, diagnosis, and treatment of mental, emotional, and behavioural diseases, ailments, and addictions. Individual, marital, relationship, family, and group counselling and psychotherapy are among the treatment options. In evaluation, diagnosis, treatment, and other tasks, clinical social workers are certified to diagnose using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), the International Categorization of Diseases (ICD), and other diagnostic classification systems. Clinical social work practise can include private practise as well as clinical supervision."

A biopsychosocial assessment, clinical interview, direct behavioural observation, and/or the administration, scoring, and interpreting of numerous tests, inventories, questionnaires, and rating scales are all examples of assessment methodologies.

Clinical social workers also provide advice, programme and practise review, and clinical programme and service administration.

Clinical Social Work Education

The minimal education required in clinical social work is a Master of Social Work (M.S.W.) degree, which is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education.

These M.S.W. degrees usually take two full years to complete and entail 900 to 1,200 hours of the internship experience. If a student possesses a Bachelor of Social Work (B.S.W.) degree from a school authorized by the Council on Social Work Education, they may be eligible for "advanced standing," which reduces their M.S.W. program to one year of full-time study

The advanced practice professional degree in social work is the Doctor of Social Work (D.S.W.). At some universities, the D.S.W. may be specialized in one or more fields of social work practice, one of which may be clinical social work.

The Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in social work is usually thought of as a "research degree," but certain colleges may provide a Ph.D. in social work with a clinical social work practice specialty.