Field Education

Governor Gretchen Whitmer has signed Michigan Senate Bill 1012 into law. The legislation provides for the creation of a Student Mental Health Apprenticeship Retention and Training grant program (SMART), paying graduate social work students $25 an hour for their field education in public schools settings.  The legislation was supported by The School’s Joint Task Force on Stipends and the social work student campaign Payments for Placements in partnership with the Michigan Chapter of the National Association of Social Work.  

"As this legislation demonstrates, paid fieldwork is a win-win. The

Assistant Dean of Field Education Dan Fischer’s Interprofessional Education (IPE) team has won a 2022 bronze award from 1EdTech for their collaboration with U-M Informational & Technology Services.  Their project, Competency-Based Tracking for Interprofessional Education Leveraging Institutional Data, will leverage data to track competencies across U-M’s approximately 35 IPE offerings, which involve 5,000 students from 10 schools across 3 campuses. The team is in the final stages of preparing this project for launch and utilization on the U-M campuses.

Field Faculty and Lecturer Stacy Peterson has received the 2022 Distinguished Lecturer Award. For more than twenty years, her exceptional dedication and commitment to social work values have made a positive impact on both students and the field. Peterson has presented at multiple national Council on Social Work Education conferences on innovative field practices.

"Thank you for this wonderful recognition of my work. It is an honor and privilege to be in the company of great leaders and teachers. I am passionate about my work and use the core values of social work (service, social justice

Clinical Assistant Professor Daicia Price discusses mental health in the community in the latest Mental Minute with Michigan Medicine. The Mental Minute discusses a variety of prescient mental health topics and features expert interviews from within and outside the U-M community.

Field Faculty Rosalva Osorio and Field Instructor Meghan Thiel have been selected as U-M Interprofessional Leadership Fellows. The program provides faculty members with opportunities to learn from and work with health sciences academic and practice leaders, at both the university and national level, and equips them to be interprofessional educator scholars, effective leaders and change agents.

Via the Virtual Therapy Collaboration for Wayne County, the School of Social Work’s Detroit Clinical Scholars and Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) Scholars have been providing low-cost/no-cost mental health support to callers, age 14 and up, who are suffering from COVID-related distress. Clinical Assistant Professor Daicia Price serves as the collaboration’s clinical consultant, leading training and support. This collaborative, called ReachUs Detroit, offers up to twelve sessions of virtual therapy via telehealth and chat functions, at any time, twenty-four-seven. 

 “Many

Community Volunteer Opportunities Guide

During times of uncertainty and crisis, people come together to support one another. COVID-19 is a new test of our collective strength. The Community Engagement team and the Office of Field Education have created a webpage that includes a list of volunteer opportunities to support community members and organizations as well as additional resources.

"The partnership, collegiality and collaboration between the Community Engagement Team, the Office of Field Education, and our students is an extraordinary example of teamwork at its best in this time of

Field Faculty Rosalva Osorio has been appointed to the Task Force on Infant and Early Childhood Mental Health and Developmental Neuroscience, a collaborative project between the Council on Social Work Education and the Erickson Institute.

Field Educator William Vanderwill was recognized by the Detroit City Council for his outstanding leadership in the field of social work in sports.

The Alliance of Social Workers in Sports established “The Bill Vanderwill Award” for outstanding leadership in sport social work.  The new award was announced at the Fourth Annual Social Work in Sports Symposium in Orlando, Flordia. This is an annual award and Bill Vanderwill, SSW Field Educator is the first recipient of this honor.