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For the ten years prior to my enrolling at Smith College School for Social Work, I have been working in the nonprofit sector for a variety of organizations dedicated to a range of social justice issues. Most of my positions had been in management or administration and I was moving right along on the path to nonprofit administration until I got a job offer that changed my life. I worked for a leadership development organization that enrolled a diverse group of young adults in their program to develop leadership skills through trainings and an apprenticeship in nonprofit organizations. Suddenly I was facilitating trainings and team building sessions and working with organizations across the city I lived in to create apprenticeship opportunities that would foster growth and development in the young people enrolled in our program, while also benefitting the organizations we were partnering with. And that was when it clicked for me - that working at the intersection of individual change and social change was the work I wanted to focus on. After coming to this realization social work emerged as a natural fit which would allow me to work at both the micro and macro level. Smith’s excellent clinical program, with its extensive field work experience and its anti-racism mission, distinguished it from other schools as an institution where I would get the training I needed to do the work I desired.
Classes at Smith SSW are packed full of learning opportunities - from the knowledgeable and supportive professors, to the wide variety of theoretical and practical course material, to the incredibly smart and inquisitive student body - there is never a dull moment here at Smith! We have a rich community life with a wide variety of student organizations which help connect you with others for support, discussion, or social action.
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My first year placement was at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where I worked in the partial hospitalization psychiatric unit. I learned so much from my experience there and was both humbled and awed by the amazing strength and resilience of the soldiers with whom I had the privilege of working. I had the chance to use many of the skills I gained at Smith during my time there. I conducted intake and assessment interviews and individual therapy, co-facilitated groups, and participated in treatment team meetings and planning sessions. I was also able to take three post-graduate level courses through Walter Reed’s Social Work Fellowship program.
This coming year I will be back in D.C. interning at the Washington School of Psychiatry’s Meyer Treatment Center which is an adult outpatient clinic. I look forward to deepening my clinical skills while conducting longer term treatment with clients.
I have learned so much already both personally and professionally and I am grateful to have this opportunity to learn and be challenged in an environment like Smith College School for Social Work with so many other talented and caring colleagues.
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