Training MSW Students for Integrated Behavioral Health Care During COVID-19: Lessons Learned from Two Programs

ABSTRACT

This article describes how two Southeastern social work programs delivered integrated behavioral healthcare training to MSW students and social work practitioners during the COVID-19 pandemic. COVID-19 posed challenges across five domains, including (a) adaptations to course curricula;(b) adaptations to field education curricula;(c) experiences of grief, distress, and behavioral health issues by stakeholders;(d) organizational strain to universities and departments;and (e) effects on clients and the community. This article describes specific ways in which these two training programs were impacted in these five areas and modified in response, as well as similarities and differences experienced across institutions. Implications for these training programs, and social work education programs in general, are offered.