Social work info sheet

SOCIAL WORK

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The Dordt Difference As a social work student at Dordt, you will be equipped to become a professional social worker and learn what it means to live a life of service and to answer God’s call in Matthew 25 to serve and walk alongside the most vulnerable members of our society.

You’ll work closely with your professors as you learn how to think and practice as a Christian social worker. Our small classes give you daily access to your professors’ expertise. They teach from experience, having spent years in the field.

Social workers need skills to help them relate to, communicate with, and advocate for vulnerable people here and around the world. Classes are focused on building these skills so that you can be an effective agent for change with individual clients, groups, and communities.

And like students in all majors at Dordt, you will take a series of core education courses taught from a Christian perspective that will help shape your view of the world and your place in it.

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT Dordt College’s social work program provided me with a holistic, well-rounded framework with which to enter the world of social work. The professors were knowledgeable, well versed, and came from a variety of backgrounds and professional experiences. My fellow students are still some of my closest friends today. I felt very prepared as I earned my M.S.W. from the University of Minnesota and received a full scholarship. Most importantly, I feel like I am able to serve and walk alongside people in need. Thank you, Dordt, for your great preparation and teaching.

Cassie (Lane) Zonnefeld (’06) is working in Nicaragua, teaching conflict resolution. Most of her professional experience has been in the child welfare system.

BSW CAREERS

THE PROGRAM Our program is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education, which means that you will earn a bachelor of social work (B.S.W.) degree. Students from accredited B.S.W. programs have an advantage over students from non-accredited programs in the job market, and they often are able to complete a master’s degree in an accelerated program within one year.

Our social work courses apply social work knowledge and skills in real life settings. You’ll visit agencies, explore local communities, help social service organizations, conduct research, and volunteer.

In addition, you will take elective courses that focus on areas such as community mental health, mental disabilities, and the elderly.

Child protection worker • Family welfare advocate • Mental health worker • Advocacy coordinator for people with disabilities • Residential treatment counselor • Family preservation worker • Early Headstart program worker • Individual and community preparedness specialist • Community living coach • Home visitor for health families • Medical social worker • Juvenile and family court officer • Domestic abuse coordinator • Program evaluator for community mental health center • Intake worker • Group leader and facilitator • Adoption worker • Patient advocate • Long term care social worker • Peace Corps volunteer • Community developer

MSW CAREERS Clinical counselor • School counselor • Mental health therapist • Child play therapist • Hospital social worker

You will spend the last semester of your senior year in an internship, working four days a week in a social service agency under the supervision of both your professor and a practicing social worker. You will discuss your experiences and explore what it means to be a Christian social worker in the agency setting during a weekly seminar. Internship sites are available locally and regionally, as well as in Chicago, Nicaragua, and Uganda.

You can also participate in Social Workers of Tomorrow (SWOT), a student-led group that actively raises awareness about social problems and builds relationships among social work students.

The bachelor of social work major at Dordt College will prepare you to: identify and conduct yourseld as a professional social worker • apply ethical principles to professional practice • use critical thinking to inform and communicate professional judgments • engage diversity in practice • advance human rights and social and economic justice • engage in research-informed practice and practice-informed research • apply knowledge of human behavior and the social environment • engage in policy shaping that advances social and economic well-being • develop skills in engagement, assessment, intervention, and evaluation • articulate and understand a Reformed Christian response to social work and social welfare.

CAREER OPPORTUNITIES Demands on the social work profession continue to grow. Increasing numbers of people with mental illness or developmental disabilities live on their own or on the streets, creating a need for more workers. Non-governmental agencies are adding social workers and counselors to their staffs, and aging services continue to grow.

Our placement rate is nearly 100 percent. Generally, 75 percent of each year’s graduating seniors find jobs immediately and the other 25 percent enter graduate school. In the past 10 years, almost every student who has applied to graduate school has been accepted by at least one school, including top social work schools in the United States.

THE FACULTY Tara Boer, L.I.S.W., University of South Florida. Therapist, specializing in child trauma.

Tara.Boer@dordt.edu

Abby Foreman, M.S.W., University of Michigan. Previously worked as a regional faith outreach organizer (Bread For The World) and as a social service coordinator.

Abby.Foreman@dordt.edu Erin Olson, L.I.S.W., University of Nebraska-Omaha. Has experience as a home-based family counselor and a hospital social worker.

Erin.Olson@dordt.edu September 2015