MSW InternAt — CDCR CSP-Sacramento
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) provides inmates access to mental health services via the MHSDS. MHSDS is designed to treat and help incarcerated individuals living with mental illness manage their symptoms with the goal of promoting optimal functioning. The MHSDS utilizes an interdisciplinary approach to treatment by incorporating various disciplines such as custody, medical, psychiatry, recreation therapy, and mental health in order to provide quality care.
Students will gain further insight about the specialized field of forensic social work defined as the intersection between the helping profession’s theories and practice, and the legal systems. Special challenges and insights that will be faced by students in our placement include ethical dilemmas specific to the prison system, utilizing critical thinking skills to analyze macro level challenges with current prison policies and trends, the role of mental health in rehabilitation efforts, and considerations in restorative justice.
Initially they will go through our on-boarding process. Interns will receive regular in-service educational opportunities (available to all interns), and includes interns in administrative meetings, case conferences, and intake conferences. Interns receive a minimum of one hour of individual supervision and a minimum of two hours of group supervision per week.
SAC is a level IV, 180 design; maximum-security prison that currently houses approximately 1,900 inmates. SAC is known as an all-male facility, but also houses inmates who identify as transgender (male- to-female) who have not undergone gender-reaffirming surgery. SAC is also equipped to care for inmates with developmental/cognitive disabilities, physical disabilities, and mental illness. Over half of the inmate population, approximately 68% receives treatment for their mental health under the Mental Health Services Delivery System (MHSDS).