Giving social work practicum students broader experience

Crisabel de Vega didn’t set out to be a social worker. She became interested in the field after working as a nursing attendant at the Misericordia Community Hospital, an acute care Covenant Health facility in Edmonton.

“While working as a nursing attendant, I saw how vulnerable seniors are and I wanted to advocate for them. That’s not what a nursing attendant does, so I did some research and learned about social work,” says Crisabel, who explored the field at Norquest College before enrolling in the bachelor of social work program at the University of Calgary.

Crisabel was one of four fourth-year social work students who were part of an innovative instructor-led rotational practicum piloted this winter at the Misericordia hospital and Villa Caritas, a Covenant Health psychiatric care centre for seniors in Edmonton. Unlike conventional practicums where students spend their time in one unit with one social worker as their instructor, the pilot allowed them to work in two or three different units to gain experience with different social workers and learn what they do. The social workers acted as preceptors (i.e., tutors), providing direct supervision to the students, and a social work lead, Andrea Oiffer, served as their instructor

Crisabel started her practicum with Justin Lorne, a social worker who supports medicine units, the emergency department and other areas at the Misericordia hospital. Her second experience was with Marita Gronberg and Dilpreet Sidhu on unit 2 West, a mental health unit.

Simran Gill, another student who participated in the pilot, says she appreciated the support she received from Andrea, the social work lead. Every week, the four students met with Andrea for two hours to discuss their progress, get feedback and talk about theory and practice. Andrea also did the paperwork for the students and was the contact with their school.

Simran’s path to social work was different from Crisabel’s. After high school, she started a bachelor of education program, and after taking a psychology class, she moved to Edmonton to begin a bachelor of psychology, but it wasn’t quite right either.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, I moved back to Grande Prairie and worked as a dietary aide in a long-term care centre,” says Simran. “I met my first social worker and saw what she did. I thought, ‘This seems like the kind of thing I would like to do.’ I got to shadow her and then enrolled in a bachelor of social work program at MacEwan University.”

Simran began her practicum on unit 2A at Villa Caritas, a unit that supports patients who are getting close to being discharged. She then worked on unit 3B, which supports patients who have just been admitted to the site. The final part of her rotation was with the Community Geriatric Psychiatry Program, which supports seniors in the community from offices at Westmount Shopping Centre.

“In the students’ final practicum, we ask them to take on a small caseload,” says Manoj Sebastian, a social worker on unit 2A at Villa Caritas who was Simran’s first social work preceptor during the pilot. “After this practicum, they’re graduating and going into the field. We are equipping them to be a professional social worker. We want them to be independent.”

The social work preceptors monitor everything the students do and make sure they know about important resources, says Manoj.

“We need more social workers, and they need more experience. We’re helping them build their future. When our students are interested in working here, they could get hired here.”

Both Crisabel and Simran liked the instructor-led rotational pilot practicum model.

“This way of doing the practicum is good for students and the social workers,” says Simran. “By having the social work lead doing the paperwork and being the school contact, students and preceptors can have more of a collegial relationship.”

Simran says having all her experiences in geriatric psychiatry will help her be a “bit of an expert” in that area.

Though both students say being placed in the pilot was a surprise for them, they’re grateful for the opportunity. They had broader experiences and the chance to work with different social workers.

“I’ve learned a lot about legal directives;” says Simran. “I didn’t realize how intricate they can be. I talk about it so much in my day-to-day work that I’ve even started asking my family if they have their legal directives in place.”

Through Simran’s practicum in geriatric psychiatry, she’s learned how to converse with patients and clients who have mental health issues. She says you must learn how to talk to people and judge what kind of conversation to have with them. You even need to determine whether they’re in a place to have a conversation with you.

“I think all students should get to have this kind of practicum,” says Crisabel. “By working in different environments, getting different perspectives and seeing different social workers’ practices, I’ve enhanced my judgment and critical thinking skills. I can appreciate the strengths of the social workers I have worked with, learn from their expertise and put it into my practice as well.”