MSW Practicum Session — Audit Record

There were four important administrative items that needed to be handled for Jose's practicum placement at Alliant International University: • Logging Hours in Time2Track: Art got Jose's first hour-entry request on June 11, but the hours didn't match up with what was on record. Jose needs to submit a complete weekly hour log right away so everything lines up correctly. • Midterm Evaluation (due June 28): Danica got the reminder email and found the evaluation form in Time2Track under the "Forms" tab. The evaluation covers nine areas of social work skills, each rated from 1 (beginner) to 4 (advanced). • Learning Contract Signature: Jose signed and sent the learning contract to his professor, but the professor is still checking with Dr. Sara Strayer (the Field Director) to see if the document meets Alliant's requirements. This is the biggest unresolved item — until it's sorted out, the placement isn't officially confirmed. • Field Visit: Everyone agreed on a date — Wednesday, June 24, from 4:00 to 4:30 PM Eastern. All three people confirmed they can make it.

Jose has already completed and submitted at least three reflections on the Voice Up learning platform, including a New Student Welcome Reflection. During this session, everyone confirmed the system is working correctly: • Art confirmed he receives an automatic email every time Jose submits something — the notification system is working. • Danica confirmed she can log in as a community admin and see Jose's work. • Danica found Jose's three submitted reflections in the grading area. • Every submission on the platform is timestamped and saved automatically. These records serve as official evidence that can be used to support Jose's midterm and final evaluations.

Between meetings, Jose had been working on his Haven Clinician app on his own. Before this session started, here's what the app had: • A client dashboard with fake (mock) client profiles — for example, a client named Marcus Torres who was marked as "high priority" because of severe depression and suicidal thoughts • A way to manually flag clients as high, medium, or low priority — but this was done by hand, not automatically • A basic area for writing case notes • A mood tracker that showed whether clients were improving or getting worse — but without using any official clinical tests • Basic information fields like name, phone number, email, date of birth, and conditions Jose based this design on his prior job experience as a case manager assistant at CMIPS (California's Medicaid system). Both Art and Danica saw this experience as a real strength — Jose already knew how case management systems work from the inside.

Danica immediately spotted the biggest gap in Jose's app: the priority system was just based on Jose's personal judgment, not on real clinical tests. She then walked Jose through adding six validated screening tools that real clinicians use every day: • PHQ-9 (Depression Test): Scores range from 0 to 27. A score of 20 or higher means severe depression — the app would automatically flag that client as high priority. • GAD-7 (Anxiety Test): Scores range from 0 to 21. A score of 15 or higher means severe anxiety — combined with PHQ-9, it helps identify clients with both depression and anxiety. • PCL-5 (Trauma/PTSD Test): Scores range from 0 to 80. A score of 33 or higher suggests the person probably has PTSD — this triggers a special trauma-focused care plan. • BAI (Beck Anxiety Inventory): Scores range from 0 to 63. Used as a backup when the GAD-7 score is borderline — a score of 26 or higher means severe anxiety. • Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale: This measures suicide risk. A concerning score triggers an immediate high-priority alert and a safety plan. • MSE (Mental Status Exam): Required by Medicaid and insurance companies before they'll pay for services. Important correction: Jose had been showing declining PHQ-9 scores as a bad thing (he labeled them "declining"). Danica corrected this — when a PHQ-9 score goes DOWN, that's actually GOOD. It means the person's depression is getting better, not worse. This is a mistake that could lead to wrong treatment decisions in real practice.

Danica taught Jose how to build a complete intake assessment form — the document a social worker fills out the very first time they meet a client. She designed this one specifically for people in prison or correctional settings. The form has 17 sections: 1. Basic Info & Legal Status — name, charges, release date 2. Mental Health History — past diagnoses, hospitalizations, medications 3. Trauma History — abuse, domestic violence, childhood experiences, PTSD triggers 4. Substance Use History — drugs, alcohol, treatment history 5. Current Medications — what they're taking and who prescribed it 6. Medical History — chronic illness, brain injuries 7. Life Background — family, housing, education, work history 8. Culture & Spirituality — beliefs and practices (required for proper care and billing) 9. Strengths Assessment — what the person is good at, what helps them cope 10. Mental Status Exam — required so insurance will pay for services 11. Diagnosis — official diagnoses using DSM-5, with billing codes (ICD-10) 12. Treatment Plan — short-term and long-term goals, what type of therapy 13. Safety Plan — warning signs, coping strategies, emergency contacts 14. Referrals — psychiatry, substance use programs, other specialists 15. Re-Entry Planning — release date, where they'll live, who will support them 16. Risk Level — Low, Moderate, High, or Critical 17. Client Signature — the client agrees to the information recorded A full intake like this takes about 60 to 90 minutes and is billable — meaning the social worker's organization gets paid for that time. Every diagnosis must have a billing code attached to it.

In just 83 minutes, Jose demonstrated learning in all nine areas that social work schools are required to teach (called CSWE competencies). Here's how each one showed up: • Ethics & Professionalism: Jose took his administrative tasks seriously and followed through on compliance items. • Human Rights & Justice: Jose designed his app for people in prison — a population that often gets overlooked. • Anti-Racism & Diversity: Danica made sure the intake includes a section on culture and spirituality — because good care means understanding someone's background. • Research-Based Practice: Every screening tool added to the app (PHQ-9, GAD-7, etc.) is backed by published research. • Understanding Policy: Jose learned how billing codes work, why a Mental Status Exam is required, and how re-entry planning connects to policy. • Engaging Clients: Danica showed Jose how to conduct an intake interview using open-ended and closed-ended questions. • Assessment Skills: Jose now understands how test scores automatically determine a client's priority level. • Intervention: The treatment plan, safety plan, and referral sections all follow evidence-based approaches. • Tracking Progress: Jose learned that when a depression score goes down over time, it means the client is getting better — not worse. This is how social workers measure whether their help is working.

Art used three specific teaching strategies during this session: 1. Letting Jose Lead: About 17 minutes in, Art asked Jose to explain the app and Base44 to Danica — who had never seen it before. This made Jose organize his thoughts and present his work to a professional expert, which is a harder (and more valuable) skill than just answering questions. 2. Treating Jose's Past Experience as Valuable: Jose's prior job at CMIPS (California's Medicaid system) wasn't treated as just background information — it was treated as real professional knowledge that Jose brought to the table. Art's approach: a student's value doesn't just come from what school teaches them. It comes from combining their past experience, what they're learning now, and the people willing to invest time in them. 3. Testing Whether Jose "Gets It": Near the end of the session (at 1 hour 12 minutes), Art asked Jose to guess what the next step would be. Jose correctly predicted that Art would create mock client profiles for practice. This showed that Jose understands how the practicum works — he's not just following instructions, he's thinking ahead.

12 action items came out of this session: • Jose — Submit a complete weekly hour log to Time2Track right away • Art — Approve Jose's hours as soon as he receives them • Art — Send Jose a PDF of all logged hours so they can compare records (this weekend) • Jose — Follow up with his Alliant professor about the learning contract signature (immediately) • Danica — Complete Jose's midterm evaluation in Time2Track (by June 28) • Jose — Confirm the field visit: June 24, 4:00–4:30 PM Eastern (already confirmed) • Danica — Send Jose the intake assessment form as a PDF (already done) • Art — Add Danica as a collaborator on the Base44 workspace (already done) • Art — Create expanded mock client profiles for Jose to practice with (before June 23) • Jose — Complete a full intake assessment using the mock clients (week of June 16–22) • Art + Danica — Prepare talking points for the June 24 field visit • Everyone — Next session is Monday, June 23, where they'll review Jose's mock client intake exercise