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WHAT WE DO CLINICAL FELLOWS
Clinical Fellows
The training of graduate students has been a vital part of Family Service League's commitment to the next generation of professionals entering the field of social work for over fifty years. Each semester, the agency accepts between four and six Fellows who participate in a rigorous and challenging Internship Program with a prestigious reputation in the local academic and professional communities.
The top students form the leading schools of social work in the New York metropolitan area, including Columbia, New York University and Rutgers, vie for coveted slots to intern with Family Service League. In addition, Kean University and Seton Hall University use Family Service League as a valued training experience for their Marital and Family Therapy graduate students.
Our clinical team is led by Wally Weikert, LCSW, Clinical Director. Widely experienced and exceptionally well-trained, Mr. Weikert has been practicing therapy for 35 years and family therapy for the last 30 years. Using a time-tested approach to Family Therapy, our counseling staff trains Fellows to be able to help clients identify and use the emotional resources for healing that are available in their immediate and extended families.
The emphasis in our training is placed on seeing families as a whole so that the healing resources of the family can be actualized. The ultimate goal of our therapeutic efforts, and of the education instilled in our Fellowship program, is to have clients experience emotionally intimate relationships that are both safe and nurturing.
Students receive at least three hours of training and supervision each week, which is unusual for an Internship Program. All of our staff in the Family Counseling Program meet each week with the interns to share cases, role play, discuss issues regarding best professional practices and to develop a rapport and a sense of collegiality with one another. Our training includes direct supervision from experienced therapists as well as fellow students.
Fellows gain valuable experience with the use of one-way windows which provide opportunities for in-session consultation with an experienced therapist, sometimes present with the client and sometimes confidentially with the use of SMS texting. Many peer institutions in the area have hired graduating Fellows and our Clinical Staff includes many programs graduates as well. The Internship Program has been cognized as a vital resource for the Northern New Jersey and New York metropolitan area graduate schools for over fifty years.
"What a pleasure to have the opportunity to write about Family Service League! Columbia University School of Social Work has been collaborating for many years with FSL to provide an exemplary and elite field education internship for our second year master's level social work students. Once placed there, the social work interns are exposed to sophisticated clinical work, expert field supervision, challenging opportunities and professionalism on a scale that most of CUSSW's internship sites don't offer. The combination of support and training allows the social work interns to learn in an environment that actively encourages both personal and professional growth. It has deservedly become on the most coveted field placements that we offer, and I hope that we will continue to offer for many years to come." Leslie Chabon Wiesner, Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Columbia University School of Social Work
"Several of Kean University's Marriage and Family Therapy students have had the very good fortune of doing their internships at Family Service League. The clinical experience and the intensive supervision that they receive there is unparalleled. I often tell students that an internship at FSL is the equivalent of getting another graduate degree. I am forever thankful to Wally Weikert and the rest of the FSL team for giving our students this rich opportunity and for guiding them in their growth using the same strength-based, relational approach that they offer their clients." Muriel Singer, Ph.D., Coordinator Psychological Services, Marriage and Family Therapy Programs, Kean University
"Family Service League is the gold standard in student field education. Teaching and learning is embedded in every service the agency provides and the executive director has truly succeeded in achieving a culture of excellence. It has been a privilege to collaborate with the staff at the agency." Diane Adams, Adjunct Field Advisor, Columbia University of Social Work