In the Field - CALM: A High-Impact MSW Field Internship Experience

by Fredi Giesler, MSW, Ph.D.

     I want to take this opportunity to tell you about a new project on our campus at University of Wisconsin Oshkosh that is facilitated by the Department of Social Work. We know that MSW students often struggle to balance school, employment, family, and the field internship. Few social work internships are paid. Whenever possible, we look for opportunities to support MSW students financially to allow them more opportunity to balance these competing responsibilities and improve their ability to focus on their education.   

     In the fall of 2016, we were awarded a grant from the Aurora Better Together Fund. This foundation supports physical and behavioral health services in the upper Midwest. One of the foundation’s funding opportunities is specifically directed at violence prevention on college campuses (see more information at: https://www.aurorahealthcare.org/better-together/better-together-fund). This grant provides an outstanding opportunity to enhance services to students on our campus, engage in primary prevention research, and provide creative and challenging MSW field internships. 

The CALM Project

     The Department of Social Work has partnered with the campus counseling center and a local sexual assault resource center to implement a comprehensive violence prevention program we call CALM: Caring, Action, Leadership, Mindfulness. Over the next four years, this project will engage students across campus in effective interpersonal communication and provide a funded opportunity to promote the development of competent MSW professionals. CALM actively promotes inclusion, civility, and caring. More details about CALM can be found at: https://sites.google.com/a/uwosh.edu/sw-calm-project/  

     Our campus is typical of other liberal arts colleges across the United States. The counseling center sees 15% of the student body for mental health concerns, and many students identify interpersonal violence as a personal issue. The students who completed the 2015 National College Health Assessment by ACHA-NCHA reported that stress (27.5%), anxiety (25%), and depression (15%) significantly affected their academic performance. These students also reported experiencing verbal threats (17.5%) and emotionally abusive intimate relationships (8.1%). We know that substance misuse and emotional stress put college students at risk for sexual violence. These interpersonal issues interfere with students’ abilities to complete their degrees and become fully prepared for the next phase of their adult responsibilities.  

     For several years, the counseling center has offered a field internship opportunity for MSW students, as well as for students in the professional counseling program. These graduate students work with students and staff to address their interpersonal concerns. However, primary prevention resources have been extremely limited and primarily reliant on volunteers. The counseling center does partner with a local agency to provide sexual assault advocacy services, but these services are offered on a limited basis.  

     The Aurora Better Together grant has allowed our campus to provide $5,000 stipends annually to two MSW students who are completing their field internships at the campus counseling center. These students have the primary responsibility for implementing the CALM violence prevention project. 

     The primary focus of CALM is prevention of violence and promotion of effective interpersonal communication and interactions for students living on campus. The CALM project will engage all students living on campus and primarily focuses on first- and second-year students through a variety of classroom, public education, and intervention efforts. CALM is part of existing efforts on campus to raise awareness of interpersonal violence issues and offers resources to students through required communications classes, the counseling center, residence hall programming, student advocacy volunteers, student health advocates, and athletes. Students will be educated on what to do when they witness violence; how to assist their peers; and how to prevent violence through effective interpersonal communication, interaction, and conflict resolution. 

The CALM Field Internship

    The Department of Social Work MSW program offers an emphasis on mental health care practice, and the CALM project facilitates the professional development of two MSW student interns annually through their efforts to provide project leadership, classroom presentations, peer training, public education, support group facilitation, mindfulness group facilitation, and crisis intervention. The MSW students are supervised by a counseling center professional who has an MSW. Through this professional development process, MSW student interns provide basic interpersonal communication training in all introductory communications classes; recruit and train additional students for the Campus for Awareness and Relationship Education (CARE) team; facilitate implementation of bystander intervention strategies to prevent sexual assault, dating violence, and stalking; and facilitate residence hall support and mindfulness groups. The residence hall support groups facilitate problem-solving, stress management, interpersonal communication, conflict resolution, healthy sex practices, substance abuse harm reduction, self-care, and social skill building.   

     MSW student interns will also teach students to use mindfulness practices to improve their well-being. Student interns will develop and distribute evidence-based materials and resources for students living on campus. A local sexual assault resource center will train MSW student interns in crisis intervention, and student interns will provide crisis intervention to students on campus.   

     The strength of this project is that MSW student interns are situated as project leaders and are able to use their knowledge, creativity, and initiative to lead the implementation of the project. This opportunity will facilitate their development as competent professionals and community leaders. The specific leadership activities will promote practice competency as social work professionals; facilitate diversity practice; promote social justice; apply evidence-based approaches; influence campus policies; and foster engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation of practice competency (see Council on Social Work Education 2015 Educational Policy and Accreditation Standards at https://cswe.org/Accreditation/Standards-and-Policies/2015-EPAS).  

     This comprehensive violence prevention and social well-being approach (CALM) supports college students to communicate effectively, develop problem-solving skills, make safe and healthy choices, and achieve academic success. MSW student interns will connect and engage with student athletes, health advocates, pre-college counselors, and residence hall advisors to increase advocacy resources and bystander intervention. The CALM project will increase student access to information and resources to prevent violence on campus. This coordinated effort will raise awareness and promote a caring and active campus climate.   

     Because MSW student interns act as project leaders, they are in a position to recruit additional volunteers who will present information to campus and community groups and better facilitate bystander education and a call to action. Interns also collect, organize, and distribute materials across campus via print and social media. MSW interns collaborate with the campus marketing department, with course instructors, counselors, security, athletic coaches, program directors, and administrators to facilitate project implementation. Stress management, mindfulness, interpersonal communication, bullying, self-care, suicide prevention, Title IX, and conflict management skills training for residence hall Community Advisors and CARE volunteers is facilitated by MSW student interns.  

     CALM invites college students to become advocates for a violence-free and inclusive campus. This opportunity affords MSW students the ability to develop both micro and macro practice competencies, while making a significant impact on campus.

Project Outcomes

     Annually, MSW interns will engage at least 50% (about 3,000 students) of first- and second- year undergraduate students in at least one CALM activity, train all residence hall Community Advisors and CARE students, provide support groups and mindfulness sessions in the residence halls, provide targeted media campaigns and public education efforts, increase participation in campus inclusiveness rallies/marches, and increase the number of CARE volunteers.   

      The CALM project was initiated January 1, 2017, and will continue uninterrupted through December 31, 2020. We are evaluating the impact of this project on student attitudes and behavioral outcomes. We plan to present our results at professional conferences.  

     For more information about the CALM project, visit the CALM website at: https://sites.google.com/a/uwosh.edu/sw-calm-project/

Fredi Giesler, MSW, Ph.D., is chair of the Department of Social Work and MSW program coordinator at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. She has been on the faculty for nearly 15 years and department chair since 2012. Dr. Giesler is a prevention scientist and has more than10 years of practice experience in the area of prevention of child maltreatment and family support.