Responding to Coronavirus (COVID-19)

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  • 1.  Internship hours in social distancing times?

    Posted Mar 19, 2020 09:36
    I am posting here, because I posted on your Facebook page and received no response. First let me say I am a MSW student who is performing her internship hours at a men's homeless shelter. I am pursuing the social work field because of the idea of advocating for people and making a difference. That being said, I am really concerned with your policy regarding this health scare we are all facing as human beings and feel that you need to make a uniformed response that takes into consideration all your interns and that they are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters. Over the past few days I have been in contact with a few people and are worried about there hours that need to be completed for their studies and the confusion over this requirements. Yes, I understand that this has to do with state requirements, but I feel in these times some flexibility on completion of hours needs to be a must. Some people have spoken about completing hours via Skype, but we all can't do that. Social workers who are at school sites are worried about graduating, because they don't have all there semester hours in, others are told by their institutions to stay home and don't worry about their hours. My institution is telling me as long as my site is open that I can keep on going in, and as a wife to someone who is medically compromised I am worried to bring something home with me. Many of my clients have medical issues and as they are homeless don't have access to all the medical care they need. The other interns who worked with me were recalled for their own safety by their institutions, because their school made the call , but my school is going by your guidelines, so I use hand sanitizer and hope I am healthy. I would think that you would be concerned with physical and mental well-being our us students, and that doesn't feel to be the case. Please take into account of what the medical experts are saying regarding the spread of this virus and the idea of social distancing and make a uniformed decision that will put into effect rules for completing required hours in a manner that doesn't compromise students and their families. Thank you for your attention to this matter and have a good day.

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    Cheryl Velasquez
    NC
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  • 2.  RE: Internship hours in social distancing times?

    Posted Apr 10, 2020 17:41
    Edited by Katie Gibson-Ledl Apr 10, 2020 22:34
    ​Hello Cheryl,


    Thank you for reaching out, and I hope that you and yours are healthy and well.

    We recognize that this is a stressful time for all stakeholders in higher education. CSWE's first priority is the health and safety of its program members, volunteers, staff and social work faculty, staff, students, field personnel, and the clients, constituents, and communities they serve daily across the nation. We are all working diligently – at both CSWE and educational institutions across the US – to respond to the rapidly changing COVID-19 pandemic. The Commission on Accreditation and accreditation staff have been working together and monitoring emerging information to respond accordingly. Updates are posted publicly on our main CSWE response page, on the accreditation response page, and emailed to each social work program.

    Please keep updated on our response to COVID-19:  


    The FAQs (highlighted in bullet point #2 above) provide detailed responses to our constituents' most pressing questions. Please note the FAQs also contain information about an option for reduced field hours and examples of virtual field education activities.

    Thank you for your patience and understanding in receiving our response as we are managing a high volume of communications.

    Kindly,

    Kat

    Katie Gibson-Ledl, LLMSW-Macro | (she/her/hers)
    Accreditation Specialist
    Department of Social Work Accreditation
    Council on Social Work Education
    1701 Duke Street, Suite 200
    Alexandria, VA 22314
    Phone: 703.519.2063
    E-mail: kgibson@cswe.org

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    Katie Gibson-Ledl
    Accreditation Specialist
    CSWE
    Alexandria VA
    (703) 519-2063
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