Tom Hurster has served as a full-time adjunct faculty member at ÀÏÍõÂÛ̳ Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research since 2002, where he currently teaches Group Treatment, Clinical Social Work Practice with Children and Adolescents, and Clinical Social Work in Schools. Hurster is a licensed clinical social worker and certified group psychotherapist who has extensive experience working with children, adolescents, and their families in various clinical capacities including crisis intervention, inpatient psychiatric settings, community mental health, and in the private practice of psychotherapy. His spotlight overviews his experience as a BMC faculty member and highlights his favorite course to teach in the social work program.
Having been on the faculty for over 20 years, could you expand on how your experience working at ÀÏÍõÂÛ̳ connects to your practice as a clinician?
When I joined the Faculty in 2002 I felt it to be an honor and privilege, and it fulfilled a longstanding professional goal. As an undergraduate at Beloit College in Wisconsin I came to really value the benefits of a true liberal arts education and had professors for whom teaching and helping to develop students’ critical thinking and writing skills was their passion and they believed it to be the most important part of their job. They were mentors and role models, and a couple became life-long friends. I often imagined that I too would become a professor. I took a job upon graduation at the Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital here in Philadelphia, as an activities therapist in the adolescent program. I spent four years there developing beginning clinical skills in working with emotionally disturbed youth.
In 1978, I applied to and entered the GSSWSR as a student. I chose BMC in part because it meant I wouldn’t have to relocate, but mostly because of the college’s commitment to liberal arts values, and because of the reputation for excellence and the long history of the GSSWSR. Teaching has made me a better clinician. It has pushed me towards greater clarity around the therapeutic enterprise, and a deeper conceptual understanding of what is most important to successful clinical social work. It has led me to greater awareness of new ideas and approaches to working with clients, and even more important, a greater understanding of the wider world in which my young clients lived.
Having been a clinician and faculty member for many years, what are your thoughts regarding teaching and preparing future clinical social work practitioners?
At the beginning of each of my classes (I currently teach Clinical Social work Practice with Children and Adolescents, Group Treatment, and Clinical Social Work in Primary and Secondary Schools) I openly discuss my goal to provide students with a foundation to guide their work over a long career. I spend some time briefly discussing the span of my career and the many changes that I have seen relative to how clinical practice looked when I first started, and contemporary ideas and approaches to practice today.
What is your favorite GSSWSR course to teach?
I have enjoyed teaching all my courses, in part because I have had the privilege of developing the focus and content, but perhaps my favorite is the Group Treatment course, for several reasons. I was in a therapy group for my own personal growth for many years and fully know the power of group therapy. Additionally, I have been conducting therapy and personal growth groups for youth, in residential facilities, schools, and outpatient settings, throughout my career (I have conducted ongoing therapy groups, mixed gender, for high school aged youth in my private practice since 1986- I currently have two). The American Group Psychotherapy Association has been my primary professional community, and I am very proud of my Fellowship status, as well as having served for 15 years as the co-chair of the child and adolescent special interest group; I have also served on the board of the Philadelphia Area Group Psychotherapy Society since 2008. I am very committed to expanding group therapy training and supervision opportunities for social workers and other clinicians both locally and through AGPA’s international involvement. So having the opportunity to teach Group Treatment at BMC GSSWSR has been a very important part of my professional life.