Social work, human services 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.
Field education online database
The Field Education Unit utilises an online database for the organisation and assessment of student placements.
Students are provided with internet portals that enable them to have easy access to information about the agency that they are placed with and evaluation forms to be used to assess the students’ progression on placement.
Students will be provided with a username and password during the placement organisation process.
Hours of placement and requirements
Semester 1, 2019
Field Placement 1 |
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Field Placement 1 |
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Field Placement 2 |
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Practicum 1 |
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Semester 2, 2019
Field Placement 1
SWSP7155 (Master of Social Work Studies)
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Field Placement 1 |
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Field Placement 2 |
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Practicum 2 |
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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 (usually 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
Placement opportunities
Below are some of the fields that may be suitable for a social work, counselling and/or human services placement:
Category
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Description
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Aged
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Non-government support services, residential facilities and HACC services for individuals aged 65 years and older.
NB: options are extremely limited in this category.
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Alcohol & Drugs
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Non-government support services for individuals and their families affected by drug and alcohol misuse/addiction. May include residential rehabilitation facilities.
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Centrelink
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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.
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Child Protection
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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.
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Community Mental Health
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Non-government services supporting a variety of clients and their carers/families with mental health issues and concerns.
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Community Development
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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.
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Disability
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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.
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Education
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School or TAFE / University based support services – ranges from primary schools to tertiary facilities. NB: options are extremely limited in this category.
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Family and Children
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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.
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Housing
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Government and non-government support services with predominant focus on homelessness and welfare.
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Indigenous
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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.
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International
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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.
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Rural & Remote
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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.
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Legal
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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.
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Local Government
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Placements based with local city councils – focus on macro level work: policies, procedures, funding, grants and working with community partners.
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Multicultural
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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
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Policy & Research
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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.
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Queensland Health & Hospitals
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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.
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Women’s Services
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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.
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Youth
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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.
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Youth Justice / Corrections
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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.
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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:
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Policy on Rural, Remote, Interstate and International Placements (PDF, 114KB)
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Travel Notification Form - A UQ Travel Notification Form (spreadsheet) needs to be completed before travel to a rural, remote, interstate or international placement commences. This spreadsheet needs to be emailed to fielded@uq.edu.au.
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International Student Placement - Acknowledgement Form - 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.
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Travel insurance - The UQ travel insure website includes information on eligibility for insurance and how to make a travel insurance claim.
Contact
If you would like to make an enquiry please email fielded@uq.edu.au or phone (07) 3365 2462.