Motivation

[srichard]

It's that time of year, and I have three seminar papers due in fifteen days (curse you, coursework, when will you be done?). I'm maybe a third of the way done, and am putting off doing any more substantive writing until the end of this week, when classes will be finished

Comments

[jr0124]

Social Work does not have MA programs. The master's level degree in Social Work is an MSW. Most people with MSWs take the licensure exams and become LSWs (The TLA varies by state - NY has the LMSW, NJ has the LSW). A couple years later master's level Social Workers can be eligible to sit for another exam to obtain their LCSW. Most insurance companies require an LCSW credential in order to reimburse an individual practitioner for psychotherapy services.

And just to add some more cofusion, some states allow licensure of Bachelor's level Social Workers, with a CSW credential. Then you have folks who have ACSW and QCSW credentials, but how one gets those is akin to magic.

Then we get to the doctoral level. Some programs offer a DSW (Doctor of Social Work), which is akin to psychology's PsyD, kind of. Other schools offer a fullly academic, research and teaching-oriented PhD.

The PhD level has a diss requirement just like any other PhD. I'm not sure about the DSW, though. At the master's level the licensure exams take the place of the diss, I guess.

I was SO confused about the credentialing annd the letter-salad well into my first year. Even now, some credentials are mystifying (ACSW and QCSW, for example). A lot of that came about because Social Work is regulated at the state level. The national exam for master's level and clinical level Social Workers just came out a few years ago.