Client’ responses to separation from social work trainees

This study focuses on the process of separation from the client and termination of treatment. It relies on the results of an investigation of the perception by welfare clients of the treatment they received from social work students assigned to their case in fulfillment of the practical training requirement of the School of Social Work at the University of Haifa. A model for working through the separation phase is offered. The special significance of separation is discussed in regard to two populations consisting, on the one hand, of students in a life-transition stage. The implications of the findings are considered as these apply to the social work curriculum.