Essential Knowledge for Clinical Social Work Practice: Social Work Faculty Perspectives

ABSTRACT Clinical social work educators have a critical role in defining clinical social work and conveying their understanding through their teaching. While there have been a few conceptual articles that have defined clinical social work, there is little empirical research conducted on this topic. In this study, we asked 15 social work faculty teaching advanced clinical social work practice how they defined clinical social work, particularly what core concepts, principles, and theories or frameworks that guided clinical social work. The results indicate that participants conceptualized clinical social work drawing upon the concept of person-in-environment and the therapeutic relationship. Furthermore, participants identified teaching a range of psychological theories but emphasizing a psychodynamic orientation. Furthermore, participants identified multi-level analysis and a commitment to diversity and social justice as important concepts that they wanted students to recognize about clinical social work. This article, through the voices of clinical social work faculty, challenges the field of clinical social work to define what their commitment to social justice means and reflect on how we are responding to criticisms and moving forward as a field.