Researching Veterinary Social Work schools and programs-UTK

University of Tennessee Knoxville

When I started researching Veterinary Social Work (VSW) there was one primary program that came up and that was the University of Tennessee Knoxville's VSW certificate training.  This link will take you directly to their website where I found several pages including services, education, people, resources, summits, and upcoming events.  Their tag line reads: Attending to human needs at the intersection of veterinary and social work practice.  The four main areas of study are:

• Compassion Fatigue and Conflict Management
• Animal-Assisted Interventions
• The Link Between Human and Animal Violence
• Animal Related Grief and Bereavement

Scruffy

Dr. Elizabeth Strand LCSW is the Director of the program and she also coined the term in 2002.  The school offers a concurrent MSSW/VSW (Master of Science in Social Work/Veterinary Social Work) certificate, a post VSW certificate, and specialty-focused continuing education hours.  Having just graduated with my Master's in Social Work from the University of Washington in Tacoma, I would be interested in the post VSW certificate.  This curriculum is pretty straight forward and a student has up to 5 years to complete.  This includes:

• 4 online modules (9-22 contact hours each)
• A 2-day Animal Assisted Intervention (AAI) workshop (available in the spring)
• A 5-day Veterinary Social Work Intensive (available in the spring)
• A 2-day International VSW Summit (biennially in the fall)
• 250 hour service learning project
• 8-two hour long group supervision sessions

Criteria to applying includes having graduated from a Council of Social Work Education (CSWE) accredited school and being registered with the health related boards in the applicants state of residence.  Application documents include a letter of intent, a resume or curriculum vita (CV), and official transcripts showing a social work degree.

I've identified a social worker who has completed this training and will find out more information about it when we talk.  I will add a specific post to reflect what I have learned.