Social work and counselling placements

The School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work has a number of field work courses which are offered as part of the Bachelor of Social Work (Honours), Master of Counselling, and Master of Social Work Studies.

The School's Field Education Unit is responsible for organising and matching students with practical placements. The Unit strives to provide the necessary balance between support and challenge in order to maximise a student’s learning opportunities whilst on field placement. The Field Education Unit is available for the duration of a student’s program, for consultation and assistance regarding placement and field education issues.

Placement experience - Rachael Roberts

I feel very fortunate to have been allocated to the Mater Hospital Brisbane for an 18-week placement, where I gained valuable experience to support my journey in becoming a professional in the field. The placement was well structured with a variety of opportunities for experiential learning, weekly education sessions and regular supervision that all helped support my developing practice knowledge and skills.

Throughout my placement, I was predominantly based in the adult’s hospital with half of my time spent in a general medical ward and the other half in the emergency department.

I was also lucky enough to spend a day per week working in the Health Advocacy Law Clinic. This clinic is run by a community based legal service and is unique in the way that it brings together students from a variety of disciplines including Law, Social Work, Nursing & Medical students to help provide legal support and advice to patients and families at the hospital.

Through my experiences on placement I have gained a deeper understanding about the role of Social Work in a health setting and learnt a lot about working within a multi-disciplinary team, particularly noticing the value that Social Work can add to such a team environment.

I am extremely grateful to the wonderful Social Work department at the Mater who were so welcoming and particularly to my supervisors who supported and encouraged me through the challenges, helping me to link theory with practice and gain new insights to inform my own practice framework. I have come away from this placement experience feeling inspired about working in a health focused area and confident that Social Work is a good fit for me. I am curious and exited to find out where this role will take me in the future.

InPlace - student placement management system

Hours of placement and requirements

Semester 1

Field Placement 1 SWSP3155 (Bachelor of Social Work (Hons)) SWSP7155 (Master of Social Work Studies)	Attend compulsory Pre-Placement Workshop prior to placement Commence Placement two weeks before the start of semester 1 A minimum of 500 hours, 18 weeks, 4 days per week
Field Placement 1 SWSP7366 (Master of Social Work Studies) #24 unit program only	Attend compulsory Pre-Placement Workshop prior to placement Commence Placement four weeks before the start of semester 1 A minimum of 600 hours, 21 weeks, 4 days per week
Field Placement 2 SWSP4266 (Bachelor of Social Work (Hons)) SWSP7266 (Master of Social Work Studies	Attend compulsory Pre-Placement Workshop prior to the start of placment Commence Placement two weeks before the start of semester 1 A minimum of 500 hours, 18 weeks, 4 days per week

Semester 2

Field Placement 1 SWSP7155 (Master of Social Work Studies)	Attend compulsory Pre-Placement Workshop prior to placement Commence Placement two weeks before the start of semester 2 A minimum of 500 hours, 18 weeks, 4 days per week
Field Placement 1 SWSP7366 (Master of Social Work Studies) #24 unit program only	Attend compulsory Pre-Placement Workshop prior to placement Commence Placement four weeks before the start of semester 2 A minimum of 600 hours, 21 weeks, 4 days per week
Field Placement 2 SWSP4266 (Bachelor of Social Work (Hons)) SWSP7266 (Master of Social Work Studies)	Attend compulsory Pre-Placement Workshop prior to placement Commence Placement two weeks before the start of semester 2 A minimum of 500 hours, 18 weeks, 4 days per wee

Master of Counselling

The placement component of the Master of Counselling program is undertaken through the 6 unit course COUN7020, a year-long course occurring over consecutive semesters.
Students complete this placement course in the second year (or equivalent) of their program. Students are only able to undertake this placement course following successful completion of all first year courses and evidence of competency in basic counselling skills.
Placements usually commence in February/March each year and finish in October/November. Students enrol in COUN7020 in Semester 1 and Semester 2.
Students complete a minimum of 182 placement hours (this is equivalent to 2 days per week for 13 weeks) each semester.
Students are required to attend a compulsory Pre-Placement Workshop in August of the year previous to undertaking placement.

Field placement manuals and fact sheets

Pre-Placement requirements

There are a number of pre-placement requirements that must be completed prior to placement. Go to the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences (HABS) Placement Ready website for further details. Please note there are generic requirements for all students in the HABS Faculty. Further information regarding specific pre-placement requirements for social work and/or councelling student placements will be made available closer to placement semester.

Deferring placement

Placement opportunities

Below are some of the fields that may be suitable for a social work and/or counselling placement:

Category	Description
Aged	Non-government support services, residential facilities and HACC services for individuals aged 65 years and older. *NB: options are extremely limited in this category.*
Alcohol & Drugs	Non-government support services for individuals and their families affected by drug and alcohol misuse/addiction. May include residential rehabilitation facilities.
Centrelink	Centrelink – placements based in offices with variety of opportunities depending on office – usually a combination of direct client work and a project / policy focus. *NB: options are extremely limited in this category.*
Child Protection	This includes foster care services in NGOs. It also includes Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services: based in service centres working across variety of teams including intake and assessment, parenting under orders team, long term orders, foster carers etc. *There is currently a centralised intake / interview process for some regions.*
Community Mental Health	Non-government services supporting a variety of clients and their carers/families with mental health issues and concerns.
Community Development	Non-government agencies with a ‘grass roots’ approach, often involving group and community level interactions rather than individual support models. This includes centre based work based in local communities e.g. neighbourhood centres.
Disability	Includes both government (Department of Communities, Child Safety and Disability Services) and non-government services: providing supports to individuals with a disability, their families and carers (NB: primary disability is not a mental health diagnosis). Work ranges from children to adults depending on service.
Education	School or TAFE / University based support services – ranges from primary schools to tertiary facilities. *NB: options are extremely limited in this category.*
Family and Children	Non-government services that support children and families in a broad range of areas including parenting, welfare, housing and familial conflict issues. Often working across diverse populations and cultures.
Housing	Government and non-government support services with predominant focus on homelessness and welfare.
Indigenous	Range of non-government services providing a range of support options to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families (e.g. housing, welfare, education, parenting, mental health etc.) *NB: this category is different to multicultural.*
International	Overseas based placements only available to final placement students who meet criteria for international placement (policy available on website). Usually based in Indonesia, Nepal & India.
Rural & Remote	Placements of significant distance away from UQ and as such attendance on campus is not possible during placement (e.g. Cairns, Roma) available to final placement students who meet criteria for rural and remote placement (policy available on website). Usually in government agencies such as Qld Health, Child Safety etc.
Legal	Non-government legal services with a focus on advocacy, information and advice to clients with a broad range of legal issues or concerns. *NB: options are extremely limited in this category.*
Local Government	Placements based with local city councils – focus on macro level work: policies, procedures, funding, grants and working with community partners.
Multicultural	Non-government support services working alongside diverse cultural groups on a range of issues including resettlement services, counselling, refugee support, advocacy and welfare. *NB: this category is different to Indigenous*
Policy & Research	Placement with sole focus on policy development and research on topics in the human services field (limited 1:1 work in this area), often consultative with groups and agencies.
Queensland Health & Hospitals	Government department: wide range of Qld Health run services including - aged care (acute/community), child & youth mental health (acute/community), adult mental health (acute/community), community health (acute/community), drug and alcohol (acute/community), child health (acute/community) and all inpatient health settings (e.g. hospital based with various focuses – oncology, surgical, maternity etc) NB: limited options for Human Services placements. There is currently a centralised intake / interview process for all regions/areas managed by a local Clinical Educator (employed by Queensland Health). Some opportunities also exist for placements in private hospitals for Social Work students.
Women’s Services	Non-government agencies providing services and supports exclusively for women (and children). These agencies often request female students only. Includes DV shelters/hostels and women’s health and wellbeing services.
Youth	Wide range of non-government services offering support to young people (usually aged between 12-25 years) across broad areas of need such as parenting, housing LGBTI, youth participation, drop in centres etc.
Youth Justice / Corrections	Department of Justice and Attorney-General: responsible for statutory case management and community reintegration support for young offenders on orders/parole. Includes court work. This may also include opportunities for placements in the area of corrections/recently released prisoners. *N.B. placement options are extremely limited in these services*.

Rural, remote, interstate and international placements

There are opportunities for students to complete their final placement in a rural/remote area, in another state of Australia, or even in another country. An application needs to be lodged with the Field Education Unit around the time that students are being interviewed for placements in the following semester. Emails will be sent out to all relevant students at this time, setting out the steps to take. Lodging an application does not guarantee that you will be accepted for a rural, remote, interstate or international placement. Certain travel requirements must be completed well in advance of the placement commencing:

Policy on Rural, Remote, Interstate and International Placements (PDF, 114KB)
International Student Placement - Acknowledgement Form (PDF, 170.6 KB) - International placements also require a Travel Checklist (Student Placement International Travel Acknowledgement form), which can be downloaded and lodged with the Field Education Unit once completed by the student.
Travel insurance - The UQ travel insure website includes information on eligibility for insurance and how to make a travel insurance claim.

Social work and counselling placements

Placement experience - Rachael Roberts

InPlace - student placement management system

Hours of placement and requirements

Semester 1

Semester 2

Master of Counselling

Field placement manuals and fact sheets

Manuals

Fact sheets

Pre-Placement requirements

Deferring placement

Placement opportunities

Rural, remote, interstate and international placements

Policies, procedures and forms

Recognition of Prior Learning

Placement in Workplace

Contact