Institute of Clinical Social Work

[wesleysmith]

Anybody attend, know someone who's attended/attending, or know anything about this school (ICSW)? I was just searching for post graduate training for MSW's (I haven't even started mine yet as you may gather from other posts, just searching for fun) and it seems too good to be true. It's a purely clinical focused PhD for social workers with classes on Friday afternoons and alternating Saturdays, it takes 4 years to complete and it seems HEAVILY focused on Psychodynamic Theory, although they state they do have a short term CBT certificate as well. I don't know if this will be a growing trend in the field (clinically orientated PhD programs) but for all the extra training social workers seem to seek, a part time program that provides just that and culminates with a PhD that is entirely psychotherapy/research orientated seems like a great option (or a financial black hole). What do you guys think?

---

Members don't see this ad.

 

[socwrkr]

I had PM'ed an ICSW doctoral student about their program a while back. He reported liking it very much; psychodynamically-oriented, with occasional on-campus meetings. He was in the distance program, attending classes via video conference. You can actually attend one of their online classes as a preview. Their faculty is very active in the psychodynamic community, including AAPCSW.

 

[ikibah]

It looks like fun but almost $80,000 if I'm understanding their tuition correctly.

 

[submarine1991]

Have you all seen this thread?

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/institute-for-clinical-social-work.598055/

If you have, I apologize for being redundant. Its a few years old and I wonder if opinions have changed.

 

[wesleysmith]

Have you all seen this thread?

http://forums.studentdoctor.net/threads/institute-for-clinical-social-work.598055/

If you have, I apologize for being redundant. Its a few years old and I wonder if opinions have changed.

I have no idea how I didn't find that when I first searched/title the thread before posting... sorry guys, my mistake.
Thanks for the heads up submarine!

 

[wesleysmith]

It looks like fun but almost $80,000 if I'm understanding their tuition correctly.

Any idea what the normal cost of a Phd in Social Work costs off hand? It seems like if that's the norm it would still be a great way to further your clinical skills, keep up to date on your CEC, and end up with a PhD. I wonder if it being so clinically focused would have any affect on your ability to earn a tenured position at a University being that most PhD's are more macro/research oriented...

 

[submarine1991]

I am not sure how much PhD programs normally cost. I know my MSW program is expensive and so is its PhD program. Maybe $80,000 is the norm? Does this program have funding? Most do. I haven't put much effort into researching PhD programs because I can obtain my career goals with my MSW and I can supplement what I am not well versed in with graduate certificates. That may change in a few years
I hope somebody will chime in and share whether they think a tenure could be affected by a clinically focused doctoral program.

 

[ikibah]

That's an interesting question. On one hand this is the first of it's kind, I don't believe there are any other fully accredited clinical social work PhD programs out there so this makes it hard to predict how it would be looked upon in academia. On the other hand I have definitely seen DSW's (which is basically a clinical social work doctorate) as college facility. I think it's safe to say you would find work in some smaller, private colleges with this PhD, but I'm not sure how it would look at large, public state schools. Putting the degree aside, I'm pretty certain research and publications are a necessity for most of those spots anyway (although I go to a very large state school now and I recently discovered one of my professors only holds an MSW, graduated about 5 years ago and has absolutely no publications so I don't really know).

 

[submarine1991]

I too have an adjunct professor who graduated two years ago

 

[socwrkr]

Smith College offers a clinical social work PhD, along with Simmons. Clinical social work doctoral programs are not many, but they are important in our field. University of Pennsylvania will start offering their clinical DSW via distance education this fall, similar to ICSW. Kinda validates the ICSW model, I think They cost the same, too.

University of Tennessee has offered a clinical DSW via distance for a few years. Rutgers has one which is hybrid in nature. If you're in California, there's also the Sanville Institute. I think there's a real need to have doctoral-level social work faculty who can teach the clinical courses. I remember in my state school program, the clinical courses were primarily taught by adjunct or contracted MSW's who were practicing LCSW's.

Perhaps these clinical social work doctoral programs are a good way to get into academia. Consider the fact that social workers deliver most of the mental health services in this country. However, there is a view by some social work faculty that these programs are too "clinical."

 

[wesleysmith]

"However, there is a view by some social work faculty that these programs are too "clinical." "
This was a concern; most clinical courses ARE taught by MSW adjuncts (which is a good thing), so what would be the role in academics for a clinically trained PhD. I personally think it would be good to introduce these as a basis for clinical research as opposed to macro level issues, which seems to be the predominate area of research, but that's my view, no idea how Universities look at them.

 

[Shrink1982]

It is a very rigorous program. I completed the first four years of the program while also working on my dissertation and case consultations. I took a leave of absence as I was completely spent after going from my BSW > MSW > PhD with no down time. The program is a 100% psychodynamic therapy program and there is no real "social work" component, at least not in the traditional sense. They also have an LPC masters degree but it does not have a distance component. The distance component is very much a hybrid as we attend two classes two night per week for 16-weeks, alternating between 4 courses. The two residencies each semester allow us to keep in touch with our cohort and meet face-to-face although the webcam format is face-to-face. You get four years of psychodynamically oriented courses, complete a total of over 150 hours of one on one consultation with several different faculty members, complete a case conference class each semester with your cohort, are required to have so many hours of research consultation with members from your dissertation committee. Also, completing the dissertation is no walk in the park. While it is a clinical program, they do take the research component very seriously and we do take research courses. All of the faculty are excellent clinicians and researchers. We have such notable faculty as Christopher Bolas, Constance Greenberg (the wife of Arnold Greenberg) and many adjunct faculty members from the Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute.