Help! Clinical MSW or Generalist Program

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Azgirl1024

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Hello,

I am an older student finishing up my BSW within the next year and a half. My end goal is to get my LCSW and become a therapist. Arizona State University is the only school in the area that has an.MSW program. It offers a mental health concentration, but is a generalist program. I found what seems like a great clinical MSW program through the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, but I would have to attend online. Although I would be able to complete my internship with a local organization, I wonder if I would be better off simply attending ASU. I just want to make sure I'm prepared for the type of work I want to do, and I'm not sure a generalist program will provide me with the tools I need in order to be a confident, competent therapist. I would appreciate any advice, insight, or wisdom any of you can provide. Thanks for your help!

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There are lots of threads on here that touch on this topic. I know they can be a little tricky to find, but if you type in online, online msw, clinical online, etc., things like that, you'll find loads of opinions. The conversation generally goes with most people saying any professional hoping to do clinical work should be trained brick and mortar, not online (I tend to fall into this camp) - some people argue as long as you have good internship placements with solid supervision it doesn't really matter. No one has really provided evidence for either camp - it's just opinion at this point - but I still tend to think you'd be putting yourself at a disadvantage taking away the resources available to a student at an actual institution as opposed to on their computer.

some threads that popped up:
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/online-msw-or-campus-msw.1070132/
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/msw-online.865523/
http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/online-msw.999815/
 
Your training in grad-school isn't going to be the end all be all. It does set a strong foundation for your knowledge base I agree. You can also carefully craft you knowledge by your practicum placements as well, if you like mental health make sure they have good mental health placements with good supervisors. Theory needs the real experience as well, it not just about the class-room, some even say they have learned most from their internships.

I hear alot about generalist this vs clinical that, thats small-talk in my opinion even the "generalist" skill-set is used on a constant clinical basis in your everyday interactions and work in the field. But yes you can get more specialized training by having more clinical focused specialty, do not under-estimate the strengths and knowledge you gain from a generalist perspective.

Eco
 
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