Riggs Welcomes Social Work Interns

Practicum education is the hallmark of social work training, connecting classroom theory to real-world practice with individuals, families, groups, and communities. At the Austen Riggs Center, we deeply value our enduring partnership with Smith College School for Social Work. Each year we welcome two MSW students for a nine-month practicum internship, during which they immerse themselves in and contribute to the essential role of clinical social work within our interdisciplinary treatment model.

This year, we are excited to welcome Deidre Murphy and Nick Paitsel. They will be supervised by two of our experienced clinical social workers, Molly Reider, LICSW, and David Rosenthal, LICSW, who will serve as their practicum instructors. We look forward to teaching them about our psychodynamic systems approach to clinical social work practice with adult patients who have complex psychiatric conditions. We also welcome learning from our interns, as the exchange of knowledge is vital to our work.

Throughout their internship, Deidre and Nick will provide group and clinical casework services to patients, conduct psychosocial assessments, assist with family assessments, and participate in multi-family educational workshops. They will be active members of an interdisciplinary team and engage in the therapeutic community in various capacities. Our status as a teaching psychoanalytic hospital offers our interns numerous learning opportunities, including participation in ongoing intern seminars, Grand Rounds, medical staff seminars, and reading groups.

Stipends for social work interns are generously provided by a former Riggs patient. This ensures continued support for the professional growth and development of the next generation of psychodynamically trained clinical social workers.