Practitioner Education in Substance Use and Misuse: COMPETENCY-BASED RESOURCES

With funding from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the CSWE Substance Use Disorder Expansion of Practitioner Education in Social Work (Prac-Ed) initiative addressed the lack of a high-quality standardized substance use disorder (SUD) curriculum in accredited schools and programs of social work. During the 2-year initiative (2019-2021), CSWE partnered with thirty-two schools of social work, with guidance and support from social work educators with expertise in the areas of substance use and misuse, curriculum and assessment design, and field education, to develop a collection of resources for Master of Social Work (MSW) programs to prepare students for specialized practice related to substance use and misuse. The participating institutions piloted the newly designed substance use and misuse curriculum, related assessment matrix, and field practice resources and shared their experiences at every stage of the initiative. Their insights drove the development and design of all the Prac-Ed materials to ensure quality and applicability. The emphasis in the Prac-Ed resources is on people at risk of or experiencing substance use disorders or problems associated with their substance use or misuse behavior. Infused throughout the materials are social work values and perspectives, including the biopsychosocial, person-in-environment, lifespan, and social justice frameworks.