The comprehensive community mental health center as a field placement for graduate social work students

The comprehensive community mental health center, as a new organization, has many characteristics that make it a unique setting for the training of social workers. The organization's struggles for identity create a fluidity that requires the development of flexibility greatly needed in the mental health professions. Students can make valuable contributions to the functioning of the center if allowed to become fully involved in its activities. A generation gap may exist between senior staff, trained in traditional settings, and new staff and students whose orientations are more relevant to community practice.