[Music] this presentation is about the school of social works philosophy of generalist and advanced generalists and explaining why we are an advanced generalist program let's start with just some basic understanding of generalist versus advanced generalist generalist and advanced journalist practice evolved out of a century-long debate about what constitutes social work practice so generalist practice currently refers to the practice of a bachelor level social worker who demonstrates basic competencies in multi-level multi-method approaches this generalist practice is not only at the bachelor's level but at what we call the generalist or the foundation year of an msw program advanced journalist practice refers to the practice of a master social worker who possesses advanced competencies in multi-level multi-method approaches and is equipped to work independently in complex environments that may require specialized skill sets so in that fashion when you talk about advanced generalists we're talking about specific skills perhaps to help you in some type of medical setting or school setting or an aging setting or a child welfare setting those are could be some examples about how to hone your skills at an advanced level the definition and educational content of generalist and advanced generals practice are poised to be influenced by a national debate once again because of the types of social workers that were trying to educate and train and prepare about how we can actually help society and as the profession examines the merits of evidence-based practice and implementation science and their implications for social work education and this definition basically is taken from the encyclopedia of social work nesw and oxford press to help give some context about well if we're an advanced generalist program then what are we not and so let's talk a little bit about clinical social work because most students are interested in doing something that they would think of as clinical especially if they're thinking about getting their license a little bit later okay so clinical social work is a specialty practice area of social work which focuses on the assessment diagnosis treatment and prevention of mental illness emotional and other behavioral disturbances individual group and family therapy are common treatment modalities social workers who provide these services are required to be licensed or certified at the clinical level in their state of practice like california clinical social workers perform services in a variety of settings which can include private practice hospitals community mental health agencies primary care and other types of agencies and this is taken from the national association of social workers as i'll explain in a moment it doesn't mean that you cannot do clinical social work in our program in fact we'll explain about certain types of opportunities we still provide in our advanced generalist format but clinical social work often has programs that focus specifically in that specialty let's also briefly talk about macro social work so some social workers focus on the macro level and these social workers work primarily with large groups of people communities cities and major institutions and so macro level social work does not typically involve working directly with individual clients in a patient social worker relationship per se however the social workers may work with individual community members as part of a research or interventions design to address large-scale problems affecting the community so in macro level social work practitioners may serve several roles like leadership roles in organizations may involve leading non-profit organizations or government agencies designed to address larger scale and system problems macro social work may also involve organizing community efforts leading community development initiatives or planning interventions so social work practicing social practice or social workers practicing at the macro level may also be involved in advocacy and policy work from grassroots advocacy to large-scale political lobbying so you also see social workers who may actually hold legislative positions or political office as well as working in large scale efforts in terms of doing a systemic change and so similar to what we had explained in the clinical social work situation our advanced generalist perspective here at the school doesn't mean that we don't do any macro social work it's just that you will find other schools or universities that specialize specifically in macro social work and offer a track in that in that way whereas we offer some opportunities in that but again we have an advanced generalist perspective [Music] so let's go back and visit the advanced journalist focus here at san jose state so sjsu school of social work has an advanced generalist focus we definitely have opportunities for clinical internships and training as well as some opportunities for macro practice preparation but we are not a clinical program per se that offers an entire set of specialized courses and therapy techniques and counseling skills we also do not offer a specific macro track which prepares students exclusively for that kind of practice because we believe that a social worker should be well-rounded and prepared for a wide range of problem settings and situations the populations and problems we face are no longer restricted to a specific parameter for example in child welfare you will encounter multiple generations of family members and you will need to understand not just the child but the dynamics affected across the lifespan mental health issues are not just mental health issues these intersect with poverty with culture with substance use and many other type of systems and situations so specializing in mental health is not really specializing in mental health anymore it's really having needing a broader a more diverse perspective about how you're going to deal with situations and clients and community members who are facing mental health issues so working in a school similarly can also mean interfacing with other types of agencies and services including social services medical settings juvenile justice etc and so our curriculum plan also reflects this in that students have more choice compared to previous year students in the advanced practice policy and general elective courses that they can take in their specialized year in your final year of the msw program in order to experience this range of problems systems and populations so then let's brainstorm a little bit about next steps hopefully you had read about our program did your research ahead of time to think about what type of msw program you're looking for and hopefully you had found our material on advanced generalist and how our school has an advanced generalist focus but let's say you're you're rethinking some of that or you need still need some clarification so let's brainstorm about some next steps so first of all all of you in our program you're still earning an msw degree on your transcript and on your diploma it's not gonna say advanced generalists it's not going to say clinical it's not going to say macro it's a masters of social work degree so you're burning still an msw and remember that everyone with an msw is still eligible for licensure so licensed clinical social workers or lcsw you finish your master's degree and then you file for starting the process of the licensure preparation and anyone with an msw of which all of you will earn your msw will then be eligible for licensure you can also consider the advantages of an advanced generalist program again the part that we've described earlier in this presentation is describing our philosophy and why we would like to prepare social workers for a broad range of experiences which we think that social workers really should be prepared to do and understand multiple systems how they interact how particular communities populations and problems they're no longer specified for particular parameters but it's very intersecting as well as very multi-system involved also you can think about learning and professional development as a lifelong journey even though you're thinking that i want to finish school and i want to get out there and get to work your learning and your preparation is really a lifelong journey so think about how you're going to be continuing to learn because you're not going to be able to learn every single thing while you're in school and so your education training and that process continues even after you graduate also social workers often develop new interests or adjust their focus while they're on this journey of their career and you will still hopefully maintain your passion for the profession but sometimes social workers as they develop new interests or understand different types of circumstances whether it's working with clients or a community or some other type of issue or problem becomes of interest to you even social workers change their areas or change what it is that they want to specialize or focus on because people change they develop and they will modify what it is they want to focus on as part of their career so if you think about well i still need some additional guidance you will always have your professors the ones that you have in your classes as well as anyone here that's at the university and in the school for professional advising they all have office hours they all have contact information go and meet them go and ask them questions about what type of career aspirations you have and finding maybe professors or other experts on campus or who are professors here at the university who might have some experiences that are similar to what you're aspiring to so use those professors as professional advisors your graduate student association swixa is there also for professional development and also advocating for you in terms of maybe other types of resources or ideas that might be beneficial national association of social workers or nasw visit their website think about how you can join as a student at the nasw and use them also as a resource for understanding your career development and then also use your colleagues your classmates other people that you meet in the field in the agencies and the internships all this is part of your professional network so i hope that you will think about um just not finishing your msw and that's it or that you're only going to restrict yourself to a clinical focus or to a macro focus or any type of that advanced generalists we think has huge advantages and if you want to choose to specialize more as you move along there are still opportunities for you to do that in the future thank you for listening to this short presentation we hope it's helpful and that you will thrive in our program which has an advanced generalist focus [Music] [Music] you