Clinical social worker, hospital social worker, and school social worker are just some of the positions available to those with a Master's of Social Work (MSW) degree. With a wide range of specialties and employment opportunities, year after year the social work field attracts new students eager to enter this diverse helping profession. But what does it take to be a social work student?

Judith Smith's Becoming a Social Worker: Real Students, Real Clients, Real Growth presents an engaging and comprehensive look at the field through the eyes of several new social work students.

The students share their reasons for entering the field, their first experiences with clients, and their reactions to the sometimes overwhelming responsibilities of the social work profession. Though juggling their intern caseloads and dealing with emotional experiences often leads to stress, it is balanced by intrigue and excitement about their dynamic new field.

Key lessons of the social work master's program are covered in this video, including managing caseloads, running groups, and working toward termination with clients. The students are also seen struggling with boundaries—a common lesson for those new to the social work field. In addition, the video illustrates the importance of using the supervision experience to its fullest potential. The coverage of students' meetings with their seasoned supervisors offers a candid look at their own personal journeys of self-discovery.

With the help of his supervisor, one student, Kevin, realizes his innate desire to "fix" every client he meets. He soon learns to slow down and guide his clients to help themselves. A talkative student, Leora, gains valuable insight from her supervisor when she recognizes the power of "just listening" to her clients. And another student, Anicka, is helped by her honest supervisor when she faces racial discrimination in her internship and is forced to work through her personal anger. These enlightening clips of the students' supervision meetings illustrate how important it is for social workers to examine their own thoughts and feelings in order to help their clients do so.

Straightforward and all-encompassing, this video presents an accurate example of the first year of social work school and a sample of the skills later mastered by professionals in the field.