The Veterinary Social Work Certificate (VSW-CP) offers a comprehensive foundation in Veterinary Social Work topics focusing on the knowledge and skills needed to integrate animals into social work practice in ethically sound ways and in keeping with the values of the social work profession.
The vision of VSW-CP is to produce professional social workers knowledgeable in the practice and skills necessary to help people through human-animal relationships in a variety of settings and through a variety of micro and macro practice methods.
Admissions Standards/Procedures: Students will receive information about the certificate program at the time of their admission and in the MSW Orientation to the School of Social Work program. Interested students should contact the Veterinary Social Work Certificate Coordinator, Dr. Aviva Vincent, at a.l.vincent@csuohio.edu.
Students must be admitted and enrolled in the MSW first. Then, they can enroll in the VSW 1 (SWK 671 ) course. To earn the VSW certificate, MSW students must complete both the VSW 1 course, VSW 2 (SWK 672 ) course, and aligned field placement. The certificate uses the field practicum courses SWK 612 , SWK 618 , SWK 621 , SWK 628 (and credit hours) as part of the certificate, these too are part of the 30 or 60 credit hour degree programs.
Completing the certificate does not require additional courses to the 60 (traditional 2-year MSW) or 30-hour (advanced-standing MSW) course plan, for the VSW 1 and VSW 2 courses count as elective courses, of which every student is required to take 3 electives. These courses count as two of the three elective courses. Hence, there are no additional credits required to get to the 30 or 60 credit hour MSW mark by taking these electives.
During the final semester of successful completion of these classes and the MSW degree, students must submit a certificate completion form available here: https://cepa.csuohio.edu/sites/default/files/graduatecertificatecompletion_0.pdf