The Practicum Companion for Social Work: Integrating Class and Field Work

The Practicum Companion for Social Work: Integrating Class and Field Work is the ideal companion for the field/practicum experience. Filled with practical applications, in-depth case scenarios, and thought-provoking examples, this comprehensive text integrates theory with practice and guides students through their placement. Using a strengths-based perspective, it reinforces the link between classroom learning, practice behaviors, and competencies. Readers will learn about practice with individuals, families, groups, communities, and organizations within the concepts of planned change, encompassing engagement, assessment, intervention, evaluation, termination, and follow-up.

Every chapter in the Fourth Edition reflects and integrates the core competencies in the 2015 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards (EPAS) set by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Case scenarios and practice applications are woven throughout each chapter to help students apply their knowledge, skills, and values. Enhanced values and ethics material, detailed learning plans, and additional cultural competence, safety, and humility content help prepare readers for contemporary practice.

Julie Birkenmaier, PhD, LCSW, is a Professor in the School of Social Work at Saint Louis University. Her research focuses on financial capability, financial access, credit, and community development. Her recent publications include Financial Capability and Asset-Building in Vulnerable Households with Drs. Margaret Sherraden and J. Michael Collins (forthcoming, Oxford University Press), and Financial Capability and Asset Development:  Research, Education, Policy, and Practice with Drs. Margaret Sherraden and Jami Curley, Eds. (Oxford University Press, 2013). With Dr. Marla Berg-Weger, she has written The Practicum Companion for Social Work. At the undergraduate level, she teaches community and financial capability practice.  At the graduate level, she teaches community and policy practice.

Marla Berg-Weger, PhD, LCSW, is a Professor in the School of Social Work, Saint Louis University, serves as the Executive Director of the Geriatric Education Center, and is a Fellow in the Gerontological Society of America. Her scholarly work has focused on aging, family caregiving and social work practice.  With Dr. Julie Birkenmaier, she has co-authored The Practicum Companion for Social Work. She is also the author of Social Work and Social Welfare–An Invitation as well as seventy book chapters and journal articles. In addition to working as a social work scholar and educator, Dr. Berg-Weger has been a social worker for over thirty five years and worked in the areas of gerontological practice, medical social work, domestic violence and mental health services. 

Brief Table of Contents

Before You Head into the Field: A Prepracticum Guide

1. Getting Started on Your Social Work Practice Career

2. Socialization into the Social Work Profession

3. Safety in Social Work Settings

4. Making the Most of Your Practicum Supervision

5. Organizational Context

6. Social Work Practice in the Field: Working with Individuals and Families

7. Social Work Practice in the Field: Working with Groups

8. Social Work Practice in the Field: Working with Organizations, Communities, and Policy

9. Social Work Practice and the Law

10. Termination: The Beginning of an End (or the End of a Beginning?)

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