Student Support & Resources
The Student Services Department is dedicated to supporting the academic and personal journey of each and every student at the School of Social Work.
Our team is committed to providing comprehensive resources designed to enhance your educational experience and ensure your success. From personalized advising and career development to academic workshops and mental health support, we offer a range of services tailored to meet your unique needs.
Whether you’re seeking guidance on coursework, exploring professional opportunities, or needing assistance with personal challenges, our department is here to help you thrive throughout your time at the UW School of Social Work.
Mental Health Resources
The School of Social Work’s Mental Health Specialist provides free services to enrolled students, including drop-in support, referrals, and skills workshops. To connect with the Mental Health Specialist, visit this Canvas page.
Free short-term counseling plus therapy and skills groups are available to registered BASW and all MSW students through the UW Counseling Center in Schmitz Hall 401.
Free drop-in virtual support from licensed counselors is available most days of the week and in many languages using a model called Let’s Talk. Check current Let’s Talk availability and register.
Students who are in crisis and need immediate support can contact MySSP to receive same day crisis services in multiple languages via telephone or app. This service is available to all UW students.
The Crisis Clinic – not affiliated with the UW – is available for phone calls 24 hours each day. They provide immediate, confidential assistance for people in emotional distress and in need of help.
Communications Center
Program Blogs
- BASW Student Blog
- MSW Student Blog (for Day and EDP)
Program Newsletters
Facebook Groups
- MSW Entering 2014-2015 EDP Cohort
- MSW Entering 2015-2016 EDP Cohort
- MSW Entering 2015-2016 Day Cohort
- MSW Entering 2016-2017 Advanced Standing Cohort
- MSW Entering 2016-2017 Day Cohort
- MSW Entering 2016-2017 EDP Cohort
- MSW Entering 2017-2018 Advanced Standing Cohort
- MSW Entering 2017-2018 Day Cohort
- MSW Entering 2017-2018 EDP Cohort
- SSW Social Justice Group
- SSW Main FB Page
School of Social Work News & Events
- Learn more about what’s happening inside the School of Social Work with our Recent News Posts
Listservs
- SSWBASW (Mandatory for BASW Students; automatically subscribed):
- SSWMSWDAY (Mandatory for MSW Day Students; automatically subscribed):
- SSWMSWEDP (Mandatory for MSW Extended Degree Program Students; automatically subscribed):
- SSWJOBS (Optional listserv; includes Job and Volunteer Opportunities):
- SSWTALK (optional listserv):
- SSWALL (Mandatory for all social work faculty, staff and students):
Writing Center
As social workers, writing is one of our most powerful advocacy tools. Developing our writing skills can help us work more effectively to solve the demanding social problems we face each day. The Social Work Writing Center provides both hands-on assistance and reference materials to improve your writing skills.
Mission Statement
Support at Any and Every Stage of Your Writing Process
We are here to support you in all aspects of the writing process. From brainstorming together to offering feedback on revisions, we work with student-writers to develop strategies and skills that will support them in their writing. We offer one-to-one consultations, presentations on how to approach specific assignments, and other writing-related workshops and events. We strive to acknowledge the range of identities, knowledge, and experience that each student-writer brings and we use this to guide our student-centered work.
Your Peers in Learning
As peer writing consultants, we aim to increase access to meaningful and empowering education. We offer support for navigating assignment prompts and content. We offer resources to enhance our writing and research skills. And we offer space to unpack the many challenges that come with writing and learning in academic spaces. In our time together, we hope our peers will feel respected, with their dignity acknowledged, their strengths recognized, their vulnerability held, and their creativity encouraged.
Commitment to Social Justice and Equity
In our work, we are committed to continually engaging in reflection about our own identities, positionalities, and services as writing consultants. We want to continually deconstruct the multiple supremacies in Academia that impact all of us as we learn at the School of Social Work. To this end, we strive to work towards promoting inclusivity and equity in our learning spaces through both our presence and practice.
We join our colleagues at the UW Tacoma Writing Center in promising “to listen and look carefully and compassionately for ways that we may unintentionally perpetuate racism or social injustice, actively engaging in anti-racist practice.”
Student Event Calendar
Please check out the UW Academic Calendar for registration dates, add-drop deadlines, dates of instruction, and holidays.
*Disclaimer: this calendar is consistently changing and there may be events and meetings that are missed; please use this calendar as reference only.*
If you have an SSW student-oriented event to add that meets the criteria above, please send all pertinent information to sswstdnt@uw.edu.
Ombud
The School of Social Work ombud is a tenured member of the faculty elected by staff, the student body, and faculty to a term of office beginning in the fall quarter after election in the spring and serving for two academic years. While in office the ombud does not serve in an administrative post within the School of Social Work, such as associate dean or program director.
Any School of Social Work student, staff member or faculty member of any rank may approach the ombud with a complaint regarding possible infringement of rights or interests, lack of appropriate action by others, or a complaint naming another member of the School of Social Work community.
The ombud accepts academic and nonacademic complaints. Academic concerns include, but are not limited to, instructional methods, classroom interaction patterns and grading procedures. Nonacademic concerns include, but are not limited to, perceptions of discrimination and unfair treatment. The ombud role is that of mediator, not advocate.
School of Social Work Ombud position description
The current ombud is William (Bill) Vesneski
University of Washington Ombud Office
Mission
The School of Social Work ombud’s mission is to assist in the protection of the rights and interests of individual members of the student body, the faculty and the staff against arbitrary or capricious action, lack of appropriate action by the School of Social Work, the student body, the faculty or the staff, or to assist in the resolution of complaints between individual members of the community or individuals and offices within the School of Social Work community.
School of Social Work Office of Student Services
4101 15th Ave NE
Box 354900
Seattle, WA 98195-4900
mswadvising@uw.edu / 206-543-8617
BASW Program
Nicole Guenther
Assistant Director; BASW Advisor
Email / 206-685-8345
Amelia Gavin
Director, BASW Program
MSW (Advanced Standing, Day, and EDP)
Lin Murdock
Director of Student Services;
Email / 206-616-5830
Jennae Carpio
MSW Advisor – DAY, Concurrent and International Students
Email / 206-616-3646
Lissan Tibebe
MSW Advisor – EDP and Advanced Standing Students
Email
MSW Program Office
Aliyah Vinikoor
Assistant Director, MSW Programs
Email / 206-543-3416
PhD Program Office
Shirley Chu
Email