PhD in Clinical Social Work

ICSW’s full-time three-year PhD program in clinical social work offers both onsite and offsite learning, allowing you to get your PhD in clinical social work on your own time. Designed for working clinicians, our graduate school PhD in clinical social work focuses on three things:

Practice Settings

With students having previous experience working in the field of clinical social work, it is important for students to use their own cases as the basis for their three-year graduate school experience.

Classroom Discussions

With small class settings and a tight-knit cohort, students discuss with one another their personal experiences working in social work. Through this environment, students, as well as faculty, learn from one another. 
Dissertation 

After completing the required coursework for the online or offline PhD in a clinical social work program, doctoral students are required to write a dissertation on a topic of their choosing, usually focusing on work they have previously engaged in. 

THREE YEAR FULL TIME PROGRAM

 

Year 1 - Fall

RM 601: Traditions of Inquiry in the Social Sciences I

CP I: Clinical Practicum I

CL 601: Case Conference I

CF 621: Developmental Theory I

CF 611: Psychodynamic Psychology I

Year 1 - Spring

RM 602: Traditions of Inquiry in the Social Sciences II

CL 602: Case Conference II

CF 622: Developmental Theory II

CF 612: Psychodynamic Psychology II

Year 1 - Summer

CL 721: Beyond the Fifty Minute Hour

CL 612: Perspectives on Trauma and Neuropsychology

CL 611: Clinical Process and Technique I: The Therapeutic Situation

 
 

Year 2 - Fall

RM 701: Research Methods I

CP II: Clinical Practicum II

CP III: Clinical Practicum III

CL 711: Clinical Process and Technique II: The Therapeutic Attitude

CL 701: Case Conference III

CF 711: Psychodynamic Psychology III: Freud

Year 2 - Spring

RM 702: Research Methods II

CL 702: Case Conference IV

CF Psychodynamic Psychology V: Self Psychology

CF 712: Psychodynamic Psychology IV: Object Relations

Year 2 - Summer

RM 801: Research Methods III

CL 712: Perspectives on Attachment, Loss and Grief

CF 821: Psychodynamic Perspectives on Difference I: Race, Racialization, and Social Class

 
 

Year 3 - Fall

CP IV: Clinical Practicum IV

CP V: Clinical Practicum V

CL 811: Clinical Process and Technique III: The Therapist’s Subjectivity

CF 822: Psychodynamic Perspectives on Difference II: Gender and Sexuality

CF 812: Psychodynamic Psychology VI: Relational Theory

Year 3 - Spring

CL 813: Clinical Process and Technique IV: The Clinical Unconscious

CL 801: Case Conference V

CF 911: Psychodynamic Psychology VII: Capstone Theory

RM 901: Dissertation Seminar I

Year 3 - Summer

RM 902: Dissertation Seminar II

CL 802: Case Conference VI

CF 721: Psychoanalytic Social Theory

 

PHD ADVANCED

ESRM 800: Advanced Research Seminar

This seminar is a required elective for all advanced students. The seminar meets in a monthly format throughout the year, and functions as a group consultation on the research process. Students will present their evolving data analysis to the seminar participants and leader. For students matriculating in 2014 and beyond: The seminar is required by all qualifying advanced candidates until the completion of the dissertation, and will operate in two segments (proposal and data analysis), depending on where the student is in their research. Prerequisites: all courses, Case Presentation, Qualifying Theory Examination (for students matriculating 2014 and beyond)