Financial Social Work Certificate Program

UMSSW’s Financial Social Work Initiative (FSWI) is offering an online version of the Financial Social Work (FSW) Certificate Program through UMSSW’s Continuing Professional Education (CPE) Office. The program meets an identified need for greater financial capability and empowerment knowledge on the part of social workers who practice in non-profit and other social service agencies, as well as in schools, medical settings, justice and court settings, and beyond.

Social workers and human service organizations have expressed a significant, ongoing need for financial social work (FSW) training and skill-building strategies to enable their ability to intervene appropriately and effectively with financially distressed individuals, families, and communities. Beyond providing resources, however, social workers must have sophisticated knowledge about issues in typical daily financial life, such as credit, debt, budgeting, and working towards identified financial goals. Social workers who work with clients on their complex financial struggles and how these intersect with other psychosocial stressors must be knowledgeable about and familiar with financial issues and behaviors, and feel comfortable in addressing these directly and effectively. From a macro, policy perspective as well, social workers who work within FSW must also be well versed in historical and current policy issues that influence and affect people’s paths towards greater financial stability; conversely, those policies that hinder financial stability and/or that perpetuate economic injustice must also be understood.

The FSW Certificate Program will run over sixteen half-day sessions. The online formatting design of the FSW Certificate Program will enable rich class discussion and learning through interaction among the macro and clinical practitioners from across the nation. Besides key educators, the program will feature guest speakers from this important practice area. In addition, three hours of social work ethics content will be included and will go towards satisfying requirements for social work ethics CEUs.

As a non-social worker, I attribute so much of my work style and approach to working with clients to the Financial Social Work Certificate program. Not only did my FSW training provide me with the tools and skills needed to center financial capability and empathy in all of my programs and services, it also compelled me to process and formulate my own financial identity, and helped me to better articulate my lived experiences until I transformed them into professional strengths.

Megan Gisela Bautista, Program Manager for Tax Partnerships at the nonprofit CASH Campaign of Maryland

I have used the information obtained through the FSWI training to enlighten my workers on the stress that financial issues can have on a family and how it can manifest itself in other ways, such as child abuse and neglect. I have also provided pointers on how clients can maximize the community resources that are provided to supplement their income and reduce financial stress.

Comments from a recent graduate of the FSW Certificate Program

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