Social Work
The Department of Social Work at Mount Sinai Hospital offers internships to first and second year Master of Social Work (MSW) students. Students have the opportunity to experience working in different areas of the Hospital, while learning how to provide the best patient and family centered care to patients.
Practicums are offered in several different models. Students may work in one area of the hospital for the entire practicum, or complete a shared or rotational model placement (working in two or more areas in the hospital).
Year 2 MSW students complete required practicum placements from September to April and become immersed in their area of care.
Year 1 MSW students complete required practicum placements from January to May for three days per week, changing to four days per week in April.
All of Mount Sinai’s Social Work students have the opportunity to:
- Become integrated as a member of an inter-professional team and participate as learners in content specific inter-professional education modules
- Observe and work with Mount Sinai Hospital’s Bright Minds and Big Hearts
- Work directly with patients to provide interventions, individual and family counselling, group work, discharge facilitation and advocacy
- Contribute to research, program development, group projects, and community development
Examples of Past Social Work Practicum Placements
- Students in Women’s and Infants Health care for antepartum (pregnant) and post-partum (newly delivered) mothers dealing with issues such as: mental illness, child protection concerns, intimate partner violence, infants in the Neo-Natal Intensive Care Unit, poverty, and the impact of illnesses such as HIV. Other areas included work in the Special Pregnancy Program—maternal diseases in pregnancy/ fetal medicine unit, pregnancy loss, and bereavement. Students were responsible for providing psychosocial assessments, counselling, discharge planning, referrals and liaising with community partners.
- With an inter-professional team in the Departments of General Internal Medicine and Orthopedic Surgery, Social Work students focused on patients admitted from the Emergency Department or ICU who were suffering from fractures, mental illness, as well as chronic and terminal diagnoses. Students provided psychosocial assessments, crisis intervention, advocacy and counselling to both patients and their families.
- Working in Mount Sinai’s Sarcoma Clinic, students cared for patients who have been diagnosed with Osteosarcoma – the type of bone cancer that Terry Fox had. The Clinic is the only one of its kind in Canada, and students had the opportunity to counsel patients and families through diagnosis, surgery and chemotherapy. They also worked with a multidisciplinary team of Medical, Nursing and Allied Health colleagues while collaborating with community partners such as Community Care Access Centres and rehabilitation facilities.
- In the Reconstructive Orthopaedic Service, Social Work students helped patients that would soon be admitted for a hip or knee Replacement or revision. Students had the opportunity to assess patients prior to admittance, and monitor them throughout their stay at Mount Sinai. Dealing with a variety of psychosocial needs, students provided Social Work assessments, brief therapeutic counselling, referrals to inpatient Ortho-Rehabilitation and community resources, and facilitated safe discharges.
How to Apply
If you are a University of Toronto student, please follow the University’s application guidelines. Find more information on the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Toronto.
For inquiries, please contact:
Mary-Katherine Lowes MSW, RSW
Educational Coordinator
Department of Social Work
Mount Sinai Hospital
Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Health Complex
600 University Avenue
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M5G 1X5
t 416 586 4800 x5214
f 416 586 8791
[email protected]
