Field work allows our MSW students to expand their education beyond the classroom. Your practica or field work helps you apply the knowledge learned in the classroom in real-world settings, shape leadership skills, and create professional connections within specific areas of interest.

Our practicum program allows you to exercise options regarding the location and timing of your field work. We require 960 hours of practicum that are divided between foundation and concentration practica. You must complete a minimum of 360 hours in the foundation practicum and 600 hours in the concentration practicum. A one-credit integrative seminar is taken concurrently with your foundation practicum.

You can complete your concentration practica outside of St. Louis. Our Office of Field Education maintains a list of more than 400 approved sites locally, nationally, and internationally.

Our Field Education staff, along with your academic advisor and other faculty members, will help you identify and locate sites that meet your professional interests and personal needs. The Office of Field Education also sponsors a Practicum Fair to help you find the right field placement.

The Brown School offers a variety of skill-building labs to help you integrate the knowledge gained in classroom settings with skills needed to succeed at their practica and in professional roles.

We offer the labs, including labs in grant writing and effective negotiation, each semester.

We also encourage you to build a portfolio of your work, which is helpful in applying for practica and professional positions.

Portfolios can include:

• Video/audio tapes of interpersonal counseling (individual, family or group), case presentations/conferences, and other oral presentations;
• Unpublished documents such as agency reports, internal studies, grant proposals, policy statements, program plans and budgets;
• Published documents such as journal, magazine, newsletter or newspaper articles.