Mental health service priorities and the BSW

New Priorities in mental health service delivery call for the exploration of previously overlooked sources of mental health personnel whose preparation for practice is adapted to historically underserved populations and service delivery approaches geared to their special needs. One such source are baccalaureate level social workers. This exploratory study of 29 purposively selected baccalaureate social work education programs observes and describes their extensive mental health field instruction, in which the predominant student assignments include case management and related functions stressed in current mental health policy. Implications are drawn regarding the allocation of federal training funds and labor force issues.