Eugene Canotal, M.S.W. Class of 2009

I arrived at Smith College School for Social Work a year after the period of my life which I endearingly refer to as my “quarter-life crisis.”  During that time I was burnt out after working in special education for a few years, and I decided to leave, so that I could pursue work in media and TV.  I eventually found my way back to the field of social services when I took a job working as a residential counselor for children ages 7-12 with severe emotional difficulties.  Despite the fear that I was going to be emotionally fatigued once again, I was able to connect to these children’s trauma through my own lived experience.  I had grown up with an uninvolved, physically and verbally abusive father, and my mother raised my sister and me as a single parent, following their separation.  From my adversity, I have always been inspired to empathically and compassionately advocate for people who are marginalized; being accepted into this program reaffirmed that the field of social work is where I am meant to be.

The Smith College SSW program is prolific in its opportunities for students to grow tremendously on various levels: academically, professionally, socially, and emotionally.  I decided to use my matriculation as an opportunity to live someplace new.  I left my hometown of San Francisco and remained in western Massachusetts for my first placement year.  From adjusting to brutal New England winters to making friends on a local billiards league, my coping skills were put to the test.  Moreover, my internship at Child and Family Services, an outpatient mental health center in Easthampton, Massachusetts, emphasized the protean quality of the social worker role – a challenge first-year students do not typically face, but one in which I particularly thrived.

During various parts of the week I served as an adjustment counselor protégé at a local elementary school, a mentor at a neighborhood with foster/adoptive families and elders living interdependently, and an agency clinician making home visits to a couple of adult clients.  I did not take on this totality of changes all by myself for the entire eight months; I developed a latticework of "Smithie" support.  I attended monthly Smith College SSW seminars, processed the experience with my roommate and friends in Boston, who were all Smith cohorts, and received excellent supervision.  My next internship will come with a whole new set of challenges – I will be moving to Chiang Mai, Thailand to work at a child development center and an anti-human trafficking organization.  I’m honored to represent Smith, excited to fulfill a life goal of studying and living abroad, and looking forward to learning firsthand about a non-Western paradigm of clinical social work.