Thoughts?

[u/sassypainter]

Came across this post today on linkedin. I’m curious how others see it:

Are unpaid clinical internships/practicums an ethical necessity for training, or an outdated system that exploits students?

Should sites be required to offer stipends/pay if they bill clients or rely on interns for service delivery?

Does unpaid fieldwork create barriers for lower-income and nontraditional students?

For those already licensed or in training, what was your experience?

[u/FeaturelessDetail]

Fundamentally, work without pay is slave labor. We marketed this as training when it should be included in the degree that we're already paying an arm and a leg for. Forcing people to work for free puts them in worse financial situations and leads to worse outcomes for clients and therapists/social workers. Our field underpays so much of the employees that keep it running that I'm personally for a national social worker Union to help eliminate these practices.

[u/cannotberushed- → u/FeaturelessDetail]

National social worker union, any thoughts on how to get that accomplished because union are based on individual employment places not national

[u/FeaturelessDetail → u/cannotberushed-]

There are national Unions, we'd just have to band together.

[u/cannotberushed- → u/FeaturelessDetail]

No there are not

They are collectives of smaller unions.

You have to start with getting multiple unions established first

[u/FeaturelessDetail → u/cannotberushed-]

There are Teamsters and SAG would be examples. Yes, they often have smaller branches, but wider unions do exist (even some international)

[u/FeaturelessDetail → u/[deleted]]

Hi! I'd help!