Boston College School of Social Work

Introduction to the Master of Social Work (M.S.W.)

The M.S.W. Program offers students a choice of specialized practice. Students select either Clinical Social Work Practice or Macro Social Work Practice.

Clinical Social Work is the process of working with individuals, families, and groups to help them deal with intrapersonal, interpersonal, and environmental problems. The process utilizes a bio-psychosocial assessment and intervention model to increase an individual’s well-being. Each person, family, or group has a unique story to share, one that is shaped by cherished beliefs, values, and traditions, one that is connected to the larger stories of communities and nations. The complex process of helping others is, fundamentally, one of empowerment. In practicing clinical social work, the aim is to strengthen, support, and accompany clients in their healthy efforts to repair their past and build a future that honors their uniqueness and brings into reality their personal dreams. Our challenging, dynamic, and contemporary program of professional formation transforms compassion into therapeutic empathy. We integrate social work’s enduring values, theories, and skills with bold and innovative ways of helping others. This fusion of old and new creates an environment where students learn that interventions, guided by evidence-based practice, become powerfully therapeutic when embedded in a relationship of respect and authentic concern.

Macro Social Work Practice aims to affect change within large systems at the community, organizational, and policy levels. It focuses on social innovation and leadership, emphasizing the development of ideas, mechanisms, and new social arrangements to enhance community capacity to address complex social challenges. Students train in the foundations of participatory community-based social work practice and research and learn recent advances in human-centered design, systems thinking, and other analytical tools to drive innovation, address complex social problems, and enable sustained social impact.

In their coursework and field internships, students gain practice skills that focus on advocacy, leadership and administration, financial management and resource development, and novel approaches to drive social change and advance the common good.

The M.S.W. Program is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education and is designed for completion in either two full-time academic years of concurrent class and field work or in a Three-Year or Four-Year Program. All degree requirements must be fulfilled within a period of five years.

The M.S.W. curriculum is divided into four overlapping components: Foundation, Specialized Practice, Field-of-Practice, and Electives. This configuration allows students to establish a solid foundation in social work practice, choose either Clinical or Macro Social Work Practice as their area of specialized practice, and then choose a Field-of-Practice to gain advanced practice skills in a particular area. The Field-of-Practice choices are: Black Leadership in Social Work; Children, Youth, and Families; Global Practice; Health; Latinx Communities; and Mental Health.

Specialized Practice Courses

Students select one of two areas of specialized practice to focus their acquisition of practice skills: Clinical Social Work or Macro Social Work. Required Clinical courses include an advanced human behavior course, SCWK7722 Psychosocial Pathology, and two methods courses that focus on clinical assessment, practice theory, and evidence-based practice interventions for a variety of problem areas and populations utilizing various treatment modalities—individual, family, and group.

The required Clinical courses are as follows:

• SCWK7722 Psychosocial Pathology
• SCWK8855 Clinical Practice with Children and Families: Assessment, Intervention, and Evidenced-Based Practice
• SCWK8856 Clinical Practice with Adults: Assessment, Intervention, and Evidenced-Based Practice
• SCWK8841 Program Evaluation
• One Advanced Policy Course (SCWK8802 Policy Issues for an Aging Society, SCWK8805 Policy Issues in Family and Children, SCWK8806 Global Policy Issues, or SCWK8817 Health and Mental Health Policy)
• SCWK9932 Field Education II—Clinical Social Work
• SCWK9933 Field Education III—Clinical Social Work
  
• SCWK9934 Field Education IV—Clinical Social Work

Required Macro courses include an advanced human behavior course, SCWK8889 Social Innovation, and two method courses that focus on organizational functioning with a focus on leadership for change and skill development in bringing about social change through collective action.

The required Macro courses are as follows:

• SCWK8833 Leadership and Social Transformation
• SCWK8888 Community Engagement for Social Change
• SCWK8889 Social Innovation
• SCWK8841 Program Evaluation
• One Advanced Policy Course (SCWK8802 Policy Issues for an Aging Society, SCWK8805 Policy Issues in Family and Children, SCWK8806 Global Policy Issues, or SCWK8817 Health and Mental Health Policy)
• SCWK9942 Field Education II—Macro Social Work
• SCWK9943 Field Education III—Macro Social Work
• SCWK9944 Field Education IV—Macro Social Work

Fields-of-Practice

Students entering their final full-time year will choose a Field-of-Practice. Each Field-of-Practice consists of an advanced practice course. All Fields-of-Practice require either SCWK9933–9934 Field Education III–IV—Clinical Social Work or SCWK9943–9944 Field Education III–IV—Macro Social Work.

Black Leadership in Social Work

The Black Leadership in Social Work Field-of-Practice centers on the African Diaspora and Black experiences, inclusive of continental Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America, Central America, and the United States. The Afrocentric perspective places African people as participants and agents shaping their life chances and experiences. It will equip M.S.W. students with a holistic approach towards a critical examination of social work from an African-centered perspective. Students will be exposed to Afrocentric thinking and practice modalities—clinical and macro—that function as staples of social work with Black communities. Required course includes

Clinical Social Work and Macro Social Work

• SCWK8846 Advanced Practice in Afrocentric Social Work

Children, Youth, and Families

The Children, Youth, and Families Field-of-Practice prepares students for professional practice with children, adolescents, and families seen across multiple settings. Clinical students will be proficient in practice with child and adolescent mental health intervention, including individual, group, and family modalities. Macro students will develop competence in leadership and administration, including personnel management, grant writing, and financial management within the context of community-based nonprofit organizations and public systems. Required courses include:

Clinical Social Work

• SCWK8872 Advanced Clinical Practice with Children, Youth, and Families
   

Macro Social Work

• SCWK8885 Management of Organizations Serving Children, Youth, and Families
   

Global Practice

The Global Practice Field-of-Practice prepares students to become effective international social workers. Students learn how to collaborate with local partners around issues of humanitarian aid, social development, and capacity-building. Guiding principles are human rights, global justice, and diversity. Final year field placements will be managed in partnership with international organizations. Required course includes:

Clinical Social Work and Macro Social Work

• SCWK7797 Frameworks and Tools of Global Practice
   

Health

The Health Field-of-Practice prepares students for clinical or macro practice in healthcare settings by providing specialized knowledge and skills in assessment, interventions, and health and mental health policy.

Clinical Social Work students, with knowledge of diagnostic assessment and evidence-based interventions, will focus on treatment with individuals, couples, families, and small groups that are aimed at dealing with the impact of illness on the client system in culturally diverse environments within medical/healthcare settings.

Macro Social Work students, with knowledge of community engagement, leadership, and social innovation, will focus on skills in planning, designing, and funding for innovating and sustaining current programs within medical/healthcare settings. Required courses include:

Clinical Social Work

• SCWK8873 Integration of Behavioral Health and Medical Care Practice
   

Macro Social Work

• SCWK8897 Planning for Health and Mental Health Services
   

Latinx Communities

The Latinx Communities Field-of-Practice trains M.S.W. students to work with Latinx communities in the U.S. and around the world. Our innovative program includes: culturally-centered coursework and field placements, tailored mentoring, self-advocacy training, and career development guidance.

From an asset-based approach, students will develop a nuanced understanding of the barriers Latinx populations encounter in accessing equitable education, social services, and health care, as well as a deep understanding of how to implement evidence-based interventions that address systemic inequities.

Following a cohort model, students will take core classes taught in Spanish and intern at a field placement with one of our many partners in the Greater Boston area that serve the legal, medical, behavioral health, immigration, and educational needs of the Latinx community. Required course includes:

Clinical Social Work and Macro Social Work

• SCWK8837 Social Services with Latinx Populations in the U.S.
  
  

Mental Health

The Mental Health Field-of-Practice prepares students for clinical or macro practice in mental health settings by providing specialized knowledge and skills in assessment, interventions, and health and mental health policy.

Clinical Social Work students, with knowledge of diagnostic assessment and evidenced-based interventions, will focus on trauma in culturally diverse environments within mental health settings and select from a broad range of elective courses in various practice modalities.

Macro Social Work students, with knowledge of community engagement, leadership, and social innovation, will focus on skills in planning, designing, and funding for innovating and sustaining current programs within mental health settings. Required courses include:

Clinical Social Work

• SCWK8874 Adult Psychological Trauma
   

Macro Social Work

• SCWK8897 Planning for Health and Mental Health Services
  

Electives

Students take five electives to round out their knowledge and skill-building with courses that offer advanced training in a particular area or provide new knowledge and skills in an area of interest to the student. The required Field-of-Practice advanced practice courses may be taken as electives by students from other Fields-of-Practice on a space-available basis. Elective courses are offered pending sufficient enrollment. The following courses may be offered as elective options:

• SCWK7719 Group Independent Study: International Policy
• SCWK7724 Neurobiology of Stress and Resilience in the Life Course
• SCWK7725 Families Impacted by Military Service
• SCWK7726 Neuroscience of Human Relationships and Development
• SCWK7727 Substance Use Disorders
• SCWK7729 Public Health Social Work
• SCWK7733 Working with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Questioning Youth, Families, and Adults
• SCWK7735 Social Determinants of Health and Mental Health
• SCWK7777 Services to Migrants: A Border Perspective
• SCWK7794 Immigration and Refugee Issues
• SCWK8807 Global Migration and Forced Displacement: Debates and Responses
• SCWK8820 Trauma Informed Psychological Perspectives in Settings of Adversity: Global and Domestic Perspectives
  
• SCWK8822 Child and Adolescent Trauma: Clinical Assessment and Treatment
• SCWK8823 Practice in Health and Mental Health Setting with Older Adults
• SCWK8828 Wraparound Systems of Care for Youth and Families
• SCWK8830 Social Work and Spirituality
• SCWK8831 Dying, Grief, and Bereavement
• SCWK8836 Psychodynamic Theories of Individual Development
• SCWK8838 Dismantling Organizational Bias through Evidence-Based Practice
• SCWK8840 Climate Change and Environmental Justice: Implications for Social Work
• SCWK8843 Theories in Design Thinking for Social Change
• SCWK8844 History of Activism in the Black Community
• SCWK8845 Afrocentric Organizations
• SCWK8847 Creating the Inclusive Workplace: Concepts in Organizational Justice
• SCWK8848 Practicing Design Thinking for Social Change
• SCWK8853 Global Humanitarian Practice
• SCWK8854 Advanced Clinical Practice with Latinx Populations
• SCWK8857 Group Therapy for Children and Adolescents
• SCWK8858 Clinical Practice in Schools
• SCWK8860 Couples Therapy
• SCWK8862 Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
• SCWK8863 Cross-Cultural Social Work
• SCWK8864 Group Therapy
• SCWK8865 Family Therapy
• SCWK8867 Internal Family Systems Therapy
• SCWK8868 Dialectical Behavioral Therapy
• SCWK8876 Solution-Focused Therapy
• SCWK8877 Narrative Therapy
• SCWK8879 Advanced Trauma Theory and Treatment Modalities
• SCWK8880 Social Work Practice in Child Welfare
• SCWK8881 School Social Work: Program Development and Educational Policies
• SCWK8884 Strategic Planning for Public and Nonprofit Organizations
• SCWK8886 Financial Management and Resource Development
• SCWK8887 Global Child Protection

Dual Degree Programs

The Boston College School of Social Work has instituted three dual degree programs with other graduate departments of Boston College and one dual degree program with the undergraduate Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences and the Lynch School of Education and Human Development. A description of the programs is available from the respective admission offices. Candidates must apply to, and be accepted by, each of the relevant schools independently.

Established in 1980, the M.S.W./M.B.A. Program, in cooperation with the Carroll School of Management Graduate Programs, involves three full-time years—one each in the foundation years of both schools, and the third incorporating joint class and field education.

The four-year M.S.W./J.D. Program, inaugurated in 1988 with Boston College Law School, requires a foundation year in each school followed by two years of joint class and field instruction with selected emphasis on such areas as family law and services; child welfare and advocacy; and socio-legal aspects and interventions relating to poverty, homelessness, immigration, etc.

The three-year M.S.W./M.A. (Theology and Ministry), in conjunction with the Boston College’s Clough School of Theology and Ministry, began in 1989. Two options for completing the M.S.W./M.A. include a foundation year in each curriculum with a third year of jointly administered class and field instruction; or an integrated program of study with courses taken in CSTM and the SSW during three years of study. Areas of focus include clinical work in hospitals and prisons, organizational services/administration, and parish social ministry.

In cooperation with the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences and the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, the Boston College School of Social Work has instituted an accelerated B.A./M.S.W. Program that enables Psychology, Sociology, Neuroscience, Applied Psychology and Human Development and Transformative and Educational Studies majors to complete the Social Work foundation courses during their junior and senior years. Students receive the B.A. at the end of four years, and then apply for admission to the School of Social Work for a final year of study in the M.S.W. Program. For sophomore prerequisites and application information, undergraduates should call the School of Social Work Associate Dean of Enrollment Management at 617-552-4025.

The school also offers an upper-division introductory course that is not applicable to the M.S.W. degree: SCWK6600 Introduction to Social Work is cross-listed with the departments of Psychology and Sociology in the Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences.