The ever changing nature of the social work profession and its projected employment growth calls for the specialized training of its professionals. This study focuses on identifying the skill sets that graduate students need to successfully transition into the Department of Mental Health. This study also focuses on identifying the benefits of developing interagency collaborations between graduate schools of social work and overarching departments in the field, like the Department of Mental Health (DMH). Existing research suggest that the profession of social work naturally evolves to accommodate contextual changes (Miller, 2013), and that social workers require training that encourages adaptation to the changing environment because continuous change is to be expected (Cohen, 2003). More recent data, such as the one analyzed for this study, indicates that the collaboration between graduate schools of social work and Los Angeles County DMH is necessary to prepare social workers for a successful transition into professional social work and for the advancement of the overall profession. The data also identified a need for the strengthening of graduate social work curricula to assist students with the development of skills surrounding documentation, "the working self," and assessment. In response, the data suggested the integration of DMH-focused skills training into school curricula.