Field Directors

Hi folks, 

I have a student who was recently impacted by Typhoon Sinlaku in the Northern Marianas Islands. This happened in the middle of April, and the islands continue to be in recovery mode. The student is short 29.25 hours of her total 400 to complete the practicum, and her placement is with the school district. The school itself is not reopened, and not sure if they will open before the end of the official school year.  My question is, do you have policies related to any natural disasters impacting student placements, and/or just major personal events that might be out of the student's control? Would CSWE accreditation allow for finalizing the practicum at 370 hours in this circumstance? 

What are people's experiences with this, and how have you managed it? 

Thanks for any ideas or shared policies.

Retchenda

------------------------------
Retchenda George-Bettisworth
Department Chair, Clinical Professor and Statewide Coordinator for the UAF Department of Social Work
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Fairbanks AK
907-474-7025
------------------------------

Hi Retchenda. I'm so sorry to hear about this impact on your student and the overall community. Our program developed a policy during Covid to help provide some guidelines about how to handle these situations which is included in our Internship Manual and which I've copied below: 

MSU Denver Plan for Interruption of Internship Due to National or Local Events

MSU Denver has developed a plan to address temporary disruption to students' social work Internships due to national or local events such as communicable diseases, natural disasters, and/or civil unrest.

If students are advised by their agencies and agency supervisors, and/or government to not attend their internships, or if safety concerns warrant a temporary disruption in internships, students should immediately consult with BOTH their MSU Denver Faculty Internship Liaison and their Supervisor(s) (Task Supervisor and/or Social Work Supervisor). 

In efforts to fulfill the intern's hour requirements and educational competencies during temporary internship stoppages, the Office of Social Work Internships can provide alternative internship learning activities that can be completed off-site, asynchronously, and/or remotely.

This policy is meant to address short term internship disruptions, with a maximum of 30 days. If the internship stoppage continues beyond a 30-day period, a review will be conducted by the MSU Denver Office of Social Work Internships to determine the most appropriate response to support students in completing their internship requirements. In many cases, students may be able to continue portions of internship work remotely using technology. See Section IV. B. 9. "Confidentiality and the Use of Technology" for more information.

Our office then has some resources that we share with students and agencies to support any remote learning needs to help them finish out their required hours. We have not allowed students to finish with fewer than the required number of hours per CSWE. If students need more time to complete them, however, we've used an Incomplete to give them some additional time to satisfactorily complete the internship requirements. I hope this helps!

Best,

Amanda

------------------------------
Amanda Campbell
Associate Director of Social Work Internships
Metropolitan State University of Denver
+1 (303) 615-1835
------------------------------

Thank you for sharing!

------------------------------
Retchenda George-Bettisworth
Department Chair, Clinical Professor and Statewide Coordinator for the UAF Department of Social Work
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Fairbanks AK
907-474-7025
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: May 05, 2026 16:31
From: Amanda Campbell
Subject: Policies for natural disasters?

Hi Retchenda. I'm so sorry to hear about this impact on your student and the overall community. Our program developed a policy during Covid to help provide some guidelines about how to handle these situations which is included in our Internship Manual and which I've copied below: 

MSU Denver Plan for Interruption of Internship Due to National or Local Events

MSU Denver has developed a plan to address temporary disruption to students' social work Internships due to national or local events such as communicable diseases, natural disasters, and/or civil unrest.

If students are advised by their agencies and agency supervisors, and/or government to not attend their internships, or if safety concerns warrant a temporary disruption in internships, students should immediately consult with BOTH their MSU Denver Faculty Internship Liaison and their Supervisor(s) (Task Supervisor and/or Social Work Supervisor). 

In efforts to fulfill the intern's hour requirements and educational competencies during temporary internship stoppages, the Office of Social Work Internships can provide alternative internship learning activities that can be completed off-site, asynchronously, and/or remotely.

This policy is meant to address short term internship disruptions, with a maximum of 30 days. If the internship stoppage continues beyond a 30-day period, a review will be conducted by the MSU Denver Office of Social Work Internships to determine the most appropriate response to support students in completing their internship requirements. In many cases, students may be able to continue portions of internship work remotely using technology. See Section IV. B. 9. "Confidentiality and the Use of Technology" for more information.

Our office then has some resources that we share with students and agencies to support any remote learning needs to help them finish out their required hours. We have not allowed students to finish with fewer than the required number of hours per CSWE. If students need more time to complete them, however, we've used an Incomplete to give them some additional time to satisfactorily complete the internship requirements. I hope this helps!

Best,

Amanda

------------------------------
Amanda Campbell
Associate Director of Social Work Internships
Metropolitan State University of Denver
+1 (303) 615-1835
------------------------------

This is an interesting question Retchenda, we don't have a specific policy for natural disasters, but I would be inclined to handle this much like when students were pulled out of placements for Covid. I would provide some options of virtual activities related to competencies that she could spend the 29.5 hours on. If the field instructor is still willing/able to provide some level of supervision and complete an evaluation, that would be great, but if not we would probably just handle that with the student through our program. These suggestions are all under an assumption that the student is safe and able to spend time on this, if not, we would probably have to issue an incomplete so that she could still finish once she was in a position to do so, without having to enroll in another semester.

I hope that helps!

Best,

------------------------------
Lindsey Rinehart
Field Education Director
West Virginia University
Morgantown WV
304-293-3501
------------------------------

Hi all, 

WCU is in Western North Carolina (the Asheville area) which was severely impacted by Hurricane Helene in the fall of 2024. The University was closed for three weeks, and depending on specific location many of my students' agencies were closed for longer. We made a decision to allow the students to count any volunteer hours they had done during the time WCU was closed towards field hours - it was, to be honest, an incredible learning experience for many of them, with micro, mezzo, and macro work happening across the region and countless ways to tie those volunteer activities into the competencies. 

Would there be an opportunity for this student to be involved in recovery efforts at all? Or, if not, to develop an assignment for her final 30 hours that relates to the lessons learned in the recovery? We found this book the semester after the storm and have used it quite a bit since: Social Work Practice During Times of Disaster: A Transformative Green Social Work Model for Theory, Education and Practice in Disaster Interventions

Routledge & CRC Press		remove preview
Social Work Practice During Times of Disaster: A Transformative Green Social Work Model for Theory, Education and Practice in Disaster Interventions Disasters affect people individually and collectively in their communities, national societies, and the international sphere and in any setting from the home to the planetary level. Furthermore, these disasters can be complex, multi-layered and what happens in one location can affect sentient beings elsewhere directly and/or indirectly. View this on Routledge & CRC Press >

Thanks, and best of luck! I hope the student and her family & community are doing okay!

Katy 

------------------------------
Katy Allen
Director of Field Education
Western Carolina University
828-227-2094
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: May 05, 2026 08:56
From: Lindsey Rinehart
Subject: Policies for natural disasters?

This is an interesting question Retchenda, we don't have a specific policy for natural disasters, but I would be inclined to handle this much like when students were pulled out of placements for Covid. I would provide some options of virtual activities related to competencies that she could spend the 29.5 hours on. If the field instructor is still willing/able to provide some level of supervision and complete an evaluation, that would be great, but if not we would probably just handle that with the student through our program. These suggestions are all under an assumption that the student is safe and able to spend time on this, if not, we would probably have to issue an incomplete so that she could still finish once she was in a position to do so, without having to enroll in another semester.

I hope that helps!

Best,

------------------------------
Lindsey Rinehart
Field Education Director
West Virginia University
Morgantown WV
304-293-3501
------------------------------

I will consider getting this book! Between Western Alaska and having students in CNMI being impacted this year from natural disasters, it sure seems like this may be happening more and more.  This text seems like it is especially relevant right now!

Our student already works in the mayor's office, and she has been integral to the recovery team on the island, and maintains updates on their social media. A whole number of activities we determined are completely appropriate to count for practicum. So, thankfully, we were able to make it work out.

Thank you!

Retchenda 

------------------------------
Retchenda George-Bettisworth
Department Chair, Clinical Professor and Statewide Coordinator for the UAF Department of Social Work
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Fairbanks AK
907-474-7025
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: May 07, 2026 18:59
From: Catherine "Katy" Allen
Subject: Policies for natural disasters?

Hi all, 

WCU is in Western North Carolina (the Asheville area) which was severely impacted by Hurricane Helene in the fall of 2024. The University was closed for three weeks, and depending on specific location many of my students' agencies were closed for longer. We made a decision to allow the students to count any volunteer hours they had done during the time WCU was closed towards field hours - it was, to be honest, an incredible learning experience for many of them, with micro, mezzo, and macro work happening across the region and countless ways to tie those volunteer activities into the competencies. 

Would there be an opportunity for this student to be involved in recovery efforts at all? Or, if not, to develop an assignment for her final 30 hours that relates to the lessons learned in the recovery? We found this book the semester after the storm and have used it quite a bit since: Social Work Practice During Times of Disaster: A Transformative Green Social Work Model for Theory, Education and Practice in Disaster Interventions

Routledge & CRC Press		remove preview
Social Work Practice During Times of Disaster: A Transformative Green Social Work Model for Theory, Education and Practice in Disaster Interventions Disasters affect people individually and collectively in their communities, national societies, and the international sphere and in any setting from the home to the planetary level. Furthermore, these disasters can be complex, multi-layered and what happens in one location can affect sentient beings elsewhere directly and/or indirectly. View this on Routledge & CRC Press >

Thanks, and best of luck! I hope the student and her family & community are doing okay!

Katy 

------------------------------
Katy Allen
Director of Field Education
Western Carolina University
828-227-2094
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: May 05, 2026 08:56
From: Lindsey Rinehart
Subject: Policies for natural disasters?

This is an interesting question Retchenda, we don't have a specific policy for natural disasters, but I would be inclined to handle this much like when students were pulled out of placements for Covid. I would provide some options of virtual activities related to competencies that she could spend the 29.5 hours on. If the field instructor is still willing/able to provide some level of supervision and complete an evaluation, that would be great, but if not we would probably just handle that with the student through our program. These suggestions are all under an assumption that the student is safe and able to spend time on this, if not, we would probably have to issue an incomplete so that she could still finish once she was in a position to do so, without having to enroll in another semester.

I hope that helps!

Best,

------------------------------
Lindsey Rinehart
Field Education Director
West Virginia University
Morgantown WV
304-293-3501

thank you!

------------------------------
Retchenda George-Bettisworth
Department Chair, Clinical Professor and Statewide Coordinator for the UAF Department of Social Work
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Fairbanks AK
907-474-7025
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: May 05, 2026 08:56
From: Lindsey Rinehart
Subject: Policies for natural disasters?

This is an interesting question Retchenda, we don't have a specific policy for natural disasters, but I would be inclined to handle this much like when students were pulled out of placements for Covid. I would provide some options of virtual activities related to competencies that she could spend the 29.5 hours on. If the field instructor is still willing/able to provide some level of supervision and complete an evaluation, that would be great, but if not we would probably just handle that with the student through our program. These suggestions are all under an assumption that the student is safe and able to spend time on this, if not, we would probably have to issue an incomplete so that she could still finish once she was in a position to do so, without having to enroll in another semester.

I hope that helps!

Best,

------------------------------
Lindsey Rinehart
Field Education Director
West Virginia University
Morgantown WV
304-293-3501
------------------------------

Hi Retchenda,

This isn't an answer to your overall question (though some of the documents below seem like they were created for this kind of circumstance)- but I think if someone is just 30 hours short, especially given the extenuating circumstances- that this could be a reasonable use of project-based learning activities or activities similar to the alternative learning assignments that had to be used more often in the early pandemic! Below are some examples I've found online hoping they might be helpful to you!

https://csw.osu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CSW-Optional-Virtual-Activity-and-Instructions.pdf

https://www.csustan.edu/sites/default/files/2022-06/alternate_remote_learning_activities.pdf

https://socialwork.uiowa.edu/sites/socialwork.uiowa.edu/files/2022-01/Field%20Education%20Remote%20Activity%20Options%20by%20CSWE%20Competency.pdf

------------------------------
Laura Krishnan-Mackie, MSW, LICSW (she/her)
Assistant Professor & Director of Online MSW Practicum Education
Colby-Sawyer College
laura.krishnanmackie@colby-sawyer.edu
------------------------------

Thank you for the resources! I appreciate it. 

------------------------------
Retchenda George-Bettisworth
Department Chair, Clinical Professor and Statewide Coordinator for the UAF Department of Social Work
University of Alaska, Fairbanks
Fairbanks AK
907-474-7025
------------------------------

Original Message:
Sent: May 05, 2026 11:17
From: Laura Krishnan-Mackie
Subject: Policies for natural disasters?

Hi Retchenda,

This isn't an answer to your overall question (though some of the documents below seem like they were created for this kind of circumstance)- but I think if someone is just 30 hours short, especially given the extenuating circumstances- that this could be a reasonable use of project-based learning activities or activities similar to the alternative learning assignments that had to be used more often in the early pandemic! Below are some examples I've found online hoping they might be helpful to you!

https://csw.osu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CSW-Optional-Virtual-Activity-and-Instructions.pdf

https://www.csustan.edu/sites/default/files/2022-06/alternate_remote_learning_activities.pdf

https://socialwork.uiowa.edu/sites/socialwork.uiowa.edu/files/2022-01/Field%20Education%20Remote%20Activity%20Options%20by%20CSWE%20Competency.pdf

------------------------------
Laura Krishnan-Mackie, MSW, LICSW (she/her)
Assistant Professor & Director of Online MSW Practicum Education
Colby-Sawyer College
laura.krishnanmackie@colby-sawyer.edu
------------------------------

Hi Retchenda,

I think my first attempt to respond didn't save! I think this would be a good use of project-based learning or alternative learning assignments given the circumstances and the small number of hours remaining.

Here are some examples I found online that might be helpful! 

https://csw.osu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CSW-Optional-Virtual-Activity-and-Instructions.pdf

https://www.csustan.edu/sites/default/files/2022-06/alternate_remote_learning_activities.pdf

https://socialwork.uiowa.edu/sites/socialwork.uiowa.edu/files/2022-01/Field%20Education%20Remote%20Activity%20Options%20by%20CSWE%20Competency.pdf

------------------------------
Laura Krishnan-Mackie, MSW, LICSW (she/her)
Assistant Professor & Director of Online MSW Practicum Education
Colby-Sawyer College
laura.krishnanmackie@colby-sawyer.edu
------------------------------