Date of Paper
5-2016
Type of Paper
Clinical research paper
Degree Name
Master of Social Work (M.S.W.)
Department
Social Work
First Advisor
Lisa R. Kiesel
Department/School
Social Work
Abstract
Holistic therapies have become an integral part of everyday life in the US. We use holistic therapies for many reasons, for exercising, relaxing, and healing alternatives to the traditional. This research survey explored the use of holistic therapies by social workers who are providing clinical social work to their clients primarily in the Twin Cities region of Minnesota. Using a quantitative design, the research measured the number of clinical social workers who are now or have previously provided mental health counseling services and are using holistic therapies in addition to standard interventions. This exploratory research additionally hoped to identify the holistic therapies being used by social workers and explore the amount and type of additional education the social workers have in order to utilize each of the reported holistic therapies. A purposive sampling of licensed LICSWs since 2004, from the Twin Cities metro area of Minnesota was used. Two-hundred and seventy-four LICSW licensed social workers responded to our Qualtrics survey stating that they are all using holistic therapies in addition to the clinical social work therapeutic modalities in the care of their clients. By the response, it is obvious that all those who completed the survey have an interest in and have taken the time to learn various holistic therapies to use in the care their clients. It is critical that clinical social worker education keep up with popular methods of self-care and client care so that the social worker can best practice and have the ability to serve their clients.
Recommended Citation
Toner, Tracy A.. (2016). Social workers treating the whole person: the need for holistic therapy coursework. Retrieved from Sophia, the St. Catherine University repository website: https://sophia.stkate.edu/msw_papers/689