Social Work Internships |
JBFCS has developed distinctive partnerships with more than a dozen schools of social work throughout the tri-state area, and hosts more than 100 social work interns throughout every division of our agency. JBFCS offers placement opportunities for students training to become clinicians, case managers, administrators, policy-focused practitioners, and community organizers.
Field placement is the core of social work education. At JBFCS, we view field learning as a three-way partnership between the student, agency, and school, with the goal of providing the student with the best possible social work education.
Social work intern training at JBFCS follows our agency practice model by understanding the socio-cultural impact of race, culture, sexual orientation, class, gender, and ability on the clients and communities we work with. Social work interns are taught to conduct assessments and provide services through a lens that fully appreciates the nuances of diversity and oppression. Additionally, we expand the conventional treatment notions of social context to include an emphasis on understanding how socioeconomic factors, racism, and structural oppression influence us as social workers and impact the relationship we develop with those we serve.
Our overall objective is to help the student integrate theory and practice. An internship with JBFCS provides students with the opportunity to have real life experiences with individuals, families, communities and organizations. Field instruction, provided by experienced and highly skilled social work student supervisors/field instructors, helps students connect these experiences to their academic training.
We carefully match students with placement sites, and assignments are varied to offer each intern the highest quality learning opportunity and environment. Our aim is to expose students to the range of problems that lead clients to our doors in the many diverse settings JBFCS operates in. Students spend 21 hours per week in field placement, which allows them to develop meaningful relationships with clients and coworkers and make significant contributions to the program.
Two Specialized Field Placement Components:
Student Group Training Supervision Seminar
All student placements are coupled with twice monthly seminars on multicultural/anti-racist group work training. Students are assigned to a local student group, which is mandatory
The Student Group Training Supervision Seminar is part of an agency-wide initiative to provide group work training to MSW interns and other students. This program helps students improve their group leadership skills and hone their cultural competence and responsiveness through two types of experiences.
In the didactic part of the seminar, students read and discuss articles on group leadership techniques; theories of group therapy; and oppression related to race, culture, sexual orientation, and gender as they learn to deal with other challenging group dynamics.
The experiential part of the seminar, usually the second half of each session, is run as a group whose goals are to teach our extremely diverse group of students what it is like to be in a group. Members are encouraged to focus on discussing their immediate feelings and thoughts about being in the group with each other. The facilitator keeps the group safe by helping members process feelings and experiences as they arise.
Members are not encouraged to discuss deep personal issues that are therapy material or individual supervision issues best discussed with the supervisor involved. Students do discuss their group work.
The seminar is led by JBFCS staff members with advanced group therapy training.
The Bicultural Institute
The Bicultural Institute is a supportive and affirming program for MSW Interns Of Color that is designed to help students bring their full and authentic cultural selves to the workplace. As they take steps toward a deepening professional commitment to social work, these interns explore professional bi-cultural issues with peers, while obtaining guidance from senior staff members of color.
The stated goals of the Bicultural Institute are to help students to:
- Incorporate their bicultural/bilingual skills into their work with clients
- Bridge cultural differences between themselves and their supervisor
- Successfully manage a workplace where they may be the only or one of a few people of color
- Network with senior staff and managers
- Prepare for interviewing and the LMSW social work license exam
This monthly discussion/support group is co-facilitated by experienced social work supervisors of color.
Contact: Shirley de Peña 212-632-4666
