Training Program
Field Placement Sites
Field instruction is an integral part of a social worker's training. It involves a close mentoring relationship with a clinical supervisor, multi-faceted clinical experiences, consultation with other discipline faculty and staff, team collaboration, and coordination of care with community professionals. Field placements occur in several different settings in the Department of Psychiatry, also known as Mental Health and Wellness. Placements are systematically designed, supervised, and evaluated on the basis of how successful the intern is at achieving their learning objectives.
The following sites offer placements. All sites are housed at Strong Memorial Hospital Mental Health and Wellness, located at 300 Crittenden Boulevard, unless otherwise specified.
Psychiatric Emergency Department
Strong Memorial Hospital is home to the Monroe County Comprehensive Psychiatric Emergency Program (CPEP) which is located in the Emergency Department. This is a busy environment that operates 24/7. Interns are exposed to a broad range of mental health issues and diagnoses. Students will be trained to complete emergency psychiatric evaluations, psychosocial risk screens, and complex discharge planning. They will also have the opportunity to develop crisis intervention skills and safety planning skills with patients who are experiencing acute psycho-social or psychiatric crisis. A preceptor model of supervision is used, along with a team approach. This placement is a good match for a motivated student with some mental health experience, a positive attitude and interest in learning emergency assessment, diagnostic and crisis intervention skills with an acute psychiatric population.
Accepts 2nd year MSW students.
Rochester Mobile Crisis Team
The Mobile Crisis Team is stationed at Brighton Heath Center. They work as a team of mental health professionals to assist individuals and families within Monroe County who are experiencing a crisis in mental health. There are no age restrictions. The team serves children, adolescents, adults, and older adults. They intervene in a crisis situation to prevent the crisis from having bad consequences. Crisis intervention is provided to the patient at their location as without intervention, the crisis could poorly, ie, suicide, homicide, child abuse, domestic violence, or some maladaptive strategy that leaves the family and/or the individual vulnerable and at-risk to future crises. The team also helps divert non-lethal individuals from the county’s psychiatric emergency departments.
Accepts 2nd year MSW students
Child/Adolescent Inpatient Psychiatry (4-9000)
This is a short-term diagnostic and acute intervention unit for children and adolescents located on the fourth floor. The unit provide crisis stabilization for patients who are typically suicidal or homicidal.
Interns will be part of an interdisciplinary team that meets daily to review cases and discuss treatment planning. They will learn to complete social work assessments, identify appropriate interventions, participate in family/agency meetings, and provide continuity of care with outside agencies for discharge planning. No previous experience is necessary, as there is significant support for students developing the necessary skills to function in this fast-based rapid turnover unit. Previous child/adolescent experience in a crisis setting is helpful.
Accepts BSW and MSW students
Adult Inpatient Psychiatry (2-9200; 3-9200, 3-9000)
Adult psychiatric inpatient beds are located on the second and third floor of the psychiatry wing of the hospital. Students will work on an interdisciplinary team and learn to complete psychosocial risk screens and assessments, participate in DSM diagnostic formulations, implement treatment interventions, provide crisis intervention, discharge planning and education. Discharge planning includes contact with community providers as well as with patients, families and other inpatient staff. Students will participate in interdisciplinary treatment team meetings, case conferences, and patient rounds.
Accepts MSW students
Child and Adolescent Partial Hospital Service (4-9200)
The Child and Adolescent Partial Hospital Service (CAPHS) treats youth ages 12-18 who do not require inpatient treatment, but are not able to manage in the community. The CAPHS is an interdisciplinary team. There are internships available for Bachelor and Master’s level social work interns. The Master level interns primarily focus on group therapy skills (both psychoeducation and psychotherapy). Learning how to connect theory and practice is a primary focus and clinical supervision occurs daily. Bachelor level interns partner directly with our clinical staff completing diagnostic evaluation to engage in extensive preadmission facilitation and communication. Students are exposed to family systems, CBT, DBT and crisis intervention. The CAPHS provides individual and family therapy, as well as group interventions.
Accepts BSW and MSW students
Adult Partial Hospitalization Program
This off-site program, located at Brighton Health Center, offers a group oriented treatment approach to patients 18-65 who have acute psychiatric symptoms but do not require inpatient treatment. For hospitalized patients preparing for discharge, the PHP can also assist in their transition back into the community by offering a higher level of outpatient care. Patients respond favorably to this day long program that provides individual therapy, group therapy and resource coordination and liaison. This program is considered an “inpatient unit without walls”. Patients who are treated in this program have a variety of psychiatric diagnoses.
Accepts BSW and MSW students
Pediatric Behavioral Health & Wellness Outpatient Services
An outpatient clinic serving a diverse range of children, adolescents, and families with various emotional and behavioral challenges. Interns in this placement will act as the primary therapist for a caseload of their own. Over the course of the internship, they will learn to conduct diagnostic evaluations, devise treatment plans, provide individual therapy with family involvement, and co-facilitate group therapy. In their role as primary therapist, interns will be a part of a dynamic interdisciplinary team which includes social workers, mental health counselors, marriage and family therapists, creative arts therapists, psychologists, nurse practitioners, psychiatrists, and case managers. To help meet the needs of their clients, interns will also collaborate with others involved in their clients’ lives, including schools, pediatricians, community agencies, and other service providers. Interns will receive individual and group supervision, participating in weekly treatment team meetings and diagnostic clinic.
Accepts 2nd year MSW Students.
Outpatient Adult Psychiatry
The students in this practicum complete comprehensive diagnostic assessments and treatment planning, and provide outpatient psychotherapy for patients requesting help with depression, anxiety, personality disorders and other mental health disorders. The student is exposed to a wide range of patients, and learns the theory and practice of various psychosocial interventions, including cognitive-behavioral treatment, interpersonal psychotherapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and brief psychodynamic psychotherapy. The students primarily provide treatment to individuals and groups. Modalities include the most sophisticated and advanced psychopharmacological treatments as well as time-honored psychotherapeutic ones. Opportunities for research experiences are also available. Specialized areas for focus include: Deaf Wellness Center and Lazos Fuertes.
Accepts BSW and MSW students.
Strong Ties Community Support Program
Strong Ties is an off-campus community-based outpatient program, located at the Brighton Health Center, for the serious and persistently mentally ill population focusing on schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses. An internship at Strong Ties offers students’ exposure to wellness self-management, family psychoeducation, and integrated dual diagnosis treatment. The program utilizes the McFarland Model and operates from an illness management and recovery philosophy. Their treatment strongly emphasizes helping each client set and pursue personal goals and to implement action strategies in their everyday lives. They teach recovery strategies, provide psychoeducation about mental illness and how to build social supports, focus on reducing relapses and coping with stress, problems and symptoms, as well as getting one's needs met in the system. This is accomplished through a combination of group and individual treatments, as well as medication and case management. The interns function as primary therapists under social work supervision and assume the role of coordinating a comprehensive plan for the patient and ensuring treatment goals and objectives are met.
Accepts MSW students
Older Adult Services
Interns will be part of an interdisciplinary team that provides specialized mental health treatment to adults 65 and older or to patients under 65 who have evidence of geriatric syndromes that complicate psychiatric illness. They will learn to complete comprehensive diagnostic assessments, identify appropriate interventions, and engage in treatment planning. They will also provide outpatient psychotherapy for patients requesting help with depression, anxiety, issues related to grief and loss, and age-related transitions. The student is exposed to a wide range of patients, and learns the theory and practice of various psychosocial interventions, including cognitive-behavioral treatment, interpersonal psychotherapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and brief psychodynamic psychotherapy. The students primarily provide treatment to individual patients and will also assist with group therapy.
School Based Health Centers
The Centers at Frederick Douglass and East High School represent a collaboration between the City School District and the University of Rochester School of Nursing. The health centers provide free and comprehensive medical and mental health services to students. The health center’s team include Nurse Practitioners and Licensed Clinical Social Workers.
Social workers provide insight oriented, behavior modification and supportive mental health counseling, providing various levels of interventions to students and families and school staff/administration.
Accepts BSW and MSW students