Supervision of Social Work Interns as Members of a Multidisciplinary Team

Social work students placed on a multidisciplinary team will be exposed to diverse ways of interpreting a case, which is an invaluable experience. Placement in a multidisciplinary setting can be an excellent way to engage students in teamwork. Supervisors need to adequately address various aspects in working on a team with students. A survey of 44 bachelor of social work students placed in an internship designed to help them learn about community organizing, program development, or fund-raising revealed that 41 students wanted to better understand the roles of different disciplines in service provision. Although 33 students reported participating in multidisciplinary team meetings and 23 reported discussing working on a team in supervision, less than half (21) reported that they discussed how different disciplines work together to assist clients. This article will discuss the importance of learning to work with other disciplines during training to prepare students for future work in social services.