MSW Practicum Placements

We Find Your Placements, You Focus on the Work

Over the course of the program, you’ll complete two placements totaling a minimum of 900 site-based hours at human service agencies near where you live. A dedicated coordinator handles the logistics so you can put your energy into the work.

Adelphi has spent more than 75 years building a network of 1,000+ agencies across New York, the country’s largest social services ecosystem, and that reach extends to students across the country.

Beyond site-based hours, students also complete professional development activities and a social action initiative each academic year as part of their practicum education.

Here’s What to Expect From the Placement Process

What You’ll Do in Your Practicums

“Generalist Year Placement (Minimum 450 Site-Based Hours)”

Your first placement focuses on developing foundational practice skills across a broad range of settings and populations. You’ll work directly with individuals, families, groups and communities, with assignments that may include:

• Face-to-face interviews with clients individually and in group settings
• Crisis assessment and case management
• Community outreach and organizing
• Program development and social action
• Documentation and clinical record-keeping

“Specialized Year Placement (Minimum 450 Site-Based Hours”

Your second placement builds on your generalist experience with a focus on advanced direct practice with individuals, couples, families and small groups. You’ll take on more complex cases and develop the clinical skills you’ll carry into your career.

In your specialized year, you have more input into the placement process, with the opportunity to indicate preferences for up to three agencies through Adelphi’s practicum management system.

Planning for Your Practicum

Practicum placements take place in person at agencies during regular business hours, Monday through Friday.

This means you’ll need to plan for weekday availability, three days per week. All students complete 15 hours per week at their placement site. Placements run from September through June.

Some daytime weekday availability is required. This is important to factor into your plans before you begin the program. Most students travel no more than 45 minutes to reach their site. There are no remote placements.

Where Online MSW Students Are Placed

Adelphi is affiliated with more than 1,000 human service agencies across the New York metro area. Placement site settings can include:

Child welfare agencies

Community centers

Detention centers and correctional facilities

Domestic violence agencies

Mental health clinics

Medical and psychiatric hospitals

Nursing homes and extended care facilities

Residential treatment facilities

Schools

Substance abuse treatment programs

Veterans’ programs

Youth service agencies

“

Adelphi’s social work program came highly recommended… The faculty were very hands-on and passionate about social work. There are professors who really took me under their wing, and for that I am truly grateful.”

Lauren Weissler

Online MSW Student