51Æ·²è

M.S.W. traditional students are required to complete sixty (60) credit hours of graduate course study. Additionally, students are required to complete two (2) separate practicum placements (internships) that consists of four (4) semesters of supervised practice in approved social work settings. Generalist placements will be at least four hundred (400) hours and specialization will be at least five hundred (500) hours.

M.S.W. Advanced Standing students complete thirty (30) credit hours and one (1) practicum placement consisting of two (2) semesters. Students coming from programs outside of 51Æ·²èare required to take SSWO 526 as a requirement of the M.S.W. program. Students coming directly from UNE’s B.S.W. program are exempt from taking SSWO 526 and must take an additional elective in its place.

Focus Areas

The program offers focus areas in Trauma-Informed Practice, School Social Work, Medical Social Work, LGTBQIA+ Social Work, Substance Use, and Advanced Clinical Practice. Focus areas are integrated into the M.S.W. degree curriculum and completed within the required credit course structure (see individual focus area pages for more detail).

Generalist Curriculum

Generalist social work courses emphasize an integrated social work perspective involving the social context and its impact on social policy, programs, and the social work profession. Courses include: Anti-Oppression Social Work Practice; Human Behavior and the Social Environment; Social Work Research; Community Engaged Research; Social Work Practice with Substance Use Disorders; Social Work Policy and Advocacy; Social Work Practice I and II; and Integrating Seminar and Practicum I and II. In addition, students spend four-hundred (400) hours in a practicum setting, in social agencies and programs with structured on-site professional supervision.

Specialization Curriculum

Specialization social work courses prepare students for a wide range of advanced practice roles. Students learn clinical skills necessary for advanced social work practice with individuals, families, groups, and communities within their advanced courses, Advanced Social Work Practice I and II; Leadership and Supervision; The DSM: A Social Work Perspective; Seminar and Practicum III and IV, and advanced electives.

Students also have the opportunity to develop skills for self-reflection, self-awareness, and reflexivity, and to broaden and deepen their understanding of social work’s inherent values such as honoring the dignity and worth of each person, clients’ right to self-determination, social justice, equity and inclusion, honor and respect for diversity, and cultural humility in social work practice.

Traditional Requirements

*Advanced Standing curriculum is the Specialization year required curriculum with the addition of SSWO 526 Integrating Clinical/Community Practice Frameworks (for non-51Æ·²èBSW students), and three (3) electives.

Advanced Standing Requirements

**This course is only taken by non-51Æ·²èB.S.W. students. 51Æ·²èB.S.W. students take an additional elective in its place.

Graduation Requirements

Students must successfully complete all courses with a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 prior to graduation and fulfill all curriculum requirements.