School of Social Work - Simmons College

SIMMONS SCHOOL OF SOCIAL WORK 17
M.S.W. CLINICAL SPECIALIZATIONS
Meeting the demands of
contemporary practice
Clinical specializations build on Foundation Year required courses and the first-year field
placement to expand a student’s assessment, intervention, and practice evaluation skills.
Students may choose from four different specializations, each addressing the specific needs
of particular client populations. Although electing a specialization is not required, SSW
concentrations allow students to delve deeply into an area of interest and related skills development
through a combination of electives taught by faculty experts and a second-year field
placement working in a related practice setting.
CHILD AND FAMILY SPECIALIZATION
This specialization educates students for careers
in schools, child protection settings, hospitals, and
community-based mental health centers that include,
though are not limited to, residential services, outreach,
health and education services, and home-based
therapy. Child and family social work practitioners
endeavor to improve child and family well-being by
seeking out protective factors that exist within individuals
and in the social contexts (e.g., family, school,
work, neighborhoods, and communities) where
children and families live.
Through this process, child and family practitioners
work with people in their communities to draw on
protective factors as a means to build capacity. As a
result, children and their families learn how to succeed
in social environments challenged by stress,
poverty, disorganization, and/or oppression. Students
in this specialization will learn skills in collaboration,
assessment, child and family therapy, and multisystem
interventions.
Sample Electives for Child
and Family Specialization:
SW-425 Family Approaches in Clinical Social Work
SW-595 Child and Adolescence Assessment
and Diagnosis
SW-539 Social Work in Schools
SW-566 Play Therapy: Theory and Practice
SW-482 Social Work Practice with Domestic Violence
TRAUMA AND INTERPERSONAL
VIOLENCE SPECIALIZATION
Viewing early-attachment disruptions, neglect,
trauma, and family, community, and global violence
as a spectrum, this specialization prepares students
to practice with victims and survivors, as well as their
families and communities. Students also gain skills
to work in settings such as courts, jails or prisons.
Electives and field placements educate students to
develop their competency and comfort level with a
range of clients.
Students learn the social ecology of the criminal justice
system, how to be an effective “guest” in a “host”
environment (e.g., prison, court, police station,
district attorney’s office, etc.), and the assessment
and treatment of involuntary clients informed by
strengths-based models that embrace social justice.
Students become equally equipped to work with juvenile
and adult clients; males and females; victims and
offenders; and individuals, families, and groups. The
specialization also provides post-graduate opportunities
for learning in specialty areas of intervention.
Sample Electives for Trauma and
Interpersonal Violence Specialization:
SW-482 Social Work Practice with Domestic Violence
SW-528 Child and Adolescent Trauma
SW-529 Forensic Social Work
SW-582 Attachment and Neurobiology in
Social Work Practice
SW-588 Case-Based Learning in the Treatment of
Childhood Trauma