SSW Gateway

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Welcome

Welcome to the MySimmons School of Social Work Gateway. The Gateway includes information to help you plan your education and meet degree requirements. It also has useful resources for enhancing your experience at Simmons SSW.

School of Social Work Mission Statement

The mission of the (MSW) program is to prepare masters level practitioners with the knowledge and skills for clinical social work practice in a multicultural world. The program is grounded in a values perspective that emphasizes client strengths and diversities, and actively opposes all forms of oppression and injustice. The educational experience is designed to help students develop critical thinking and problem-solving abilities as well as ethical and cultural sensitivity, self awareness, and a professional identity as a social worker.

Students will learn multiple social work roles and skills necessary to be effective within evolving fields of practice. Graduates will be able to work with a variety of populations and social issues, using a broad and flexible array of interventions at an advanced level. They will be able to work with individuals, families, groups, and communities to facilitate development and change in the service of social justice.

Definition of Clinical Social Work

A disciplined process for collaboration in service of social, emotional, and behavioral change for individuals, groups, families, organizations, and communities. Clinical social work draws on knowledge of human development, relational and group process, cultural learning, and social policies and practices. It employs evidence informed methods which facilitate change through dialogue and collective action. It is grounded in a history of commitment to social justice and guided by a professional code of ethics.