Spring 2018 InDepth

InDepth / SMITH School COLLEGE Works / SCHOOL FOR SO CIAL WORK

SPRING 2018

IN THI S I SSU E OUR SMITH SSW AT 100: CELEBRATING THE FIRST CENTURY, EMPOWERING LEADERS FOR THE NEXT

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Sisters and former refugees Mena and Safia Ahmed pursue new aspirations in their New Hampshire home.

Article on page 12.

InDepth is published by the Smith College School for Social Work. Its goal is to connect our school community, celebrate recent accomplishments and capture the research and scholarship at the School for Social Work.

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The premiere of a documentary short will highlight the School’s Centennial Celebration.

MANAGING EDITOR

Myrna Flynn DESIGN

Lilly Pereira Maureen Scanlon Murre Creative CONTRIBUTORS

Dawn Faucher Myrna Flynn Dane Kuttler Laurie Loisel Tynan Power Faye S. Wolfe Megan Rubiner Zinn PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Shana Sureck

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR AND ALUMNI UPDATES CAN BE SENT TO:

InDepth Managing Editor Smith College School for Social Work Lilly Hall Northampton, MA 01063 413-585-7950 indepth@smith.edu ©2018

InDepth SMI TH COLLEGE SCHOOL FOR SOCIAL WORK

Spring 2018

FEATURES

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The Second Century Advancing clinical excellence to strengthen populations most in need

12 The Fears Within

Islamophobia prompts mechanisms toward understanding FO LLOW US O N:

Facebook facebook.com/ smithcollegessw Twitter twitter.com/ smithcollegessw Instagram instagram.com/ smithcollegessw YouTube bit.ly/SSWYouTube

18 Community Epidemic Clinicians treat addiction’s growing impact

24 Heeding the Call

Responding to the needs of those who identify as trans/GNC

30 Safe Home

Helping vulnerable youth to achieve futures of promise

DE P A RT M E NTS

02 From the Dean A note from Marianne Yoshioka

03 SSWorks School News Faculty Notes

37 Alumni News Alumni Desk Alumni Lives

44 Post Script An End Note

O N T H E COV E R Recent M.S.W. grad Artie Seelig leads addiction training for front-line staff in rural Vermont. Photo by Shana Sureck.

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M ARIAN NE R .M . Y OSH IOK A, M .S.W., PH .D .

The Courage to Innovate As we look ahead, how will we continue to be bold and visionary?

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One hundred years—such an important and historic milestone for our school. As our Centennial approaches, I’ve had the chance to learn about SSW’s history and its place in shaping clinical social work.

It’s been fascinating to work with local independent film producer Julie Akeret and members of the WGBY production team as they create a documentary short that tells the school’s origin story. The piece will premiere at the Centennial Celebration kickoff event on Friday, June 29. Film research provided a unique opportunity for me to sift through archival material; it is truly a treasure of correspondence, documents and photographs that reveal the first hints of the innovative block structure, and one that would train women, to work with returning soldiers exhibiting ‘psychopathy.’ The evidence within the archives is clear: our master’s program was pioneering social worker Mary Jarrett’s revolutionary experiment.

Our Smith SSW has been unique from the start, not only in structure but in curriculum as well. Early bulletins show that the school offered courses in clinical care, ethnicity and race long before peer institutions. Our founders pressed to introduce theory and asked for depth in the curricula. All who have engaged with SSW throughout its first century have helped to realize Jarrett’s vision. Each of you plays a fundamental role in the success of the unique programs imagined in Lilly Hall; your connectedness to our school helps to create them and improve their reach.

Other social work pioneers followed

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Jarrett’s lead, filling countless pages of our school’s history. A quick review of the NASW Foundation’s Social Work Pioneers listing shows the sheer number of Smith alumni who had the knowledge, wisdom and vision to develop innovative clinical services and interventions and expand the application of clinical work to new arenas, issues and populations.

As we look ahead, how will we continue to be bold and visionary?

What I hope for this school and our community is that we will always have the courage to innovate, to be ever forwardlooking. Provost Katherine Rowe, another wise leader in Smith’s history, has said that sometimes you need to change in order to retain what is most important.

I see this clearly for our school. As social services and the demands of clinical social work evolve, we will evolve as well. We will continue to improve our curricula and programs in order to retain a clear and singular focus on clinical work using an anti-racism lens. We will maintain a focus on theory that drives comprehension of contemporary issues and which demands a depth of understanding and learning. We will shape our programs and student and faculty supports to continue to deliver a curriculum that is unique, powerful and extraordinary.

In this Centennial year, especially during the campus celebration this summer, we look forward to honoring our alumni and faculty cohorts. Because of you, our school is just as certain to succeed in its second century as it unarguably has in its first. ◆

SSWorks News from Lilly Hall IN THIS SECTION

SCHOOL NEWS FACULTY NOTES

Brian Mai, B.S. ’18, and Molly O’Connor, M.S.W. ’17 share a light moment between classes on Smith’s campus.

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I hope to use the skills learned to better support the youth who are participating in an LGBTQ social and emotional support group that I am co-facilitating.

Group Win

—JENN MOORE, A ’19

Endowed scholarships awarded to five passionate SSW group therapists

Each year, the Group Foundation for Advancing Mental Health awards endowed scholarships to social work students and recent graduates so they can attend the American Group Psychotherapy Association annual conference. The application process is rigorous and competitive, with hundreds applying. Smith students and alumni have earned several scholarships in the past but were particularly successful this year, winning five of the 18 scholarships available. “This is an extraordinary recognition of the passion, interest and ability that our students have in the clinical domain of group work,” said faculty member Kirk Woodring.

The 2018 scholarship recipients are M.S.W. students Madeline Freeman, A ’18; Jenn Moore, A ’19; Molly Moses, A ’18; Corey Datz-Greenberg, A ’19; and 2016 graduate Zach Wigham. All are passionate about their education and work in group practice.

“I am taken with the interpersonal complexities and possibilities that show themselves in group work,” said Molly Moses. “I particularly appreciate the potential for group participants to help each other feel known and esteemed, to give each other feedback, to take risks with each other and to engage in repairs.”

Madeline Freeman added, “Especially in the addiction recovery world, there is something so powerful about sitting with your peers and working through things together and being motivated by each other, rather than hearing it from a clinician or a doctor.”

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Heading into the conference, all were looking forward to what it had to offer and how it would impact their work. Freeman had attended the conference in the past and loved her experience.

“The Institute process group was one of the most intense but most fulfilling and cohesive experiences I’ve ever had, in which 11 clinicians, including me, formed a process group together for two days straight.” This year she looks forward to broadening her lens.

Corey Datz-Greenberg hoped to get a “deeper sense of what the potential in groups is, in terms of people growing, experiencing intimacy, working through their own interpersonal challenges and resistance and how that’s done.”

Jenn Moore looked forward to a workshop on ethically-informed group practices with adolescents and workshops on psychodynamic group interventions. “I hope to use the skills learned to better

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“ My folks [patients] aren’t doing heroin

because they picked it up one day. There was trauma, and the drugs are just a symptom. You can’t understand a person if you don’t know the ‘why.’”

—MADELINE FREEMAN, A ’18, as quoted in The New York Times

From top: Corey Datz-Greenberg, A ’19; Zach Wigham, M.S.W. ’16

support the youth who are participating in an LGBTQ social and emotional support group that I am co-facilitating at a San Francisco high school,” she said.

Zach Wigham, who works at the Brattleboro Retreat as well as in homeless shelters and a Suboxone maintenance program, was looking forward to attending workshops on addiction and recovery and learning how to blend relapse prevention and 12-step principles into a traditional process group.

Receiving the award has inspired Moses to think more broadly about scholarships and to help others in the SSW community benefit from similar oppor­ tunities. She hopes to take part in creating a system “where all Smith SSW students, regardless of current financial means, can attend conferences to further their graduate education without relying on a limited number of scholarships for tuition and travel.” —Megan Rubiner Zinn

“ I particularly appreciate the potential

for group participants to help each other feel known and esteemed…to take risks with each other and to engage in repairs. —MOLLY MOSES, A ’18

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Faculty Notes Recent news and accomplishments

It is a great privilege to join a community of scholars who are deeply devoted to excellence in clinical training and hold a passion and strong commitment to anti-racism.”

Welcome to Ora Nakash, Ph.D.

Following a months-long national search, SSW will welcome esteemed researcher Dr. Ora Nakash as a senior faculty member at the rank of professor, effective July 1, 2018. In the fall, she will serve as the Chair of the Human Behavior in the Social Environment Sequence.

Dr. Nakash is an internationally recognized scholar of clinical practice. Throughout her career, she has focused on integrating her clinical and research interests to advance theoretical knowledge and generate innovative research to decrease mental health service disparities with the goal of improving the access, equity and quality of care for disadvantaged and minority populations.

“I am absolutely thrilled to join the faculty of the School for Social Work at Smith College,” Dr. Nakash said.

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“It is a great privilege to join a community of scholars who are deeply devoted to excellence in clinical training and hold a passion and strong commitment to anti-racism. Both have been long-standing goals throughout my professional career.”

Nakash is currently the associate dean of the School of Psychology and the director of the Center for Cross Cultural Clinical Research at the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Herzliya, Israel. She also holds an appointment as a senior scientist at the Disparities Research Unit at Massachusetts General Hospital.

She has authored approximately 70 papers and book chapters examining the mechanisms underlying mental health disparities and eliminating inequalities in mental health services, including designing and implementing evidence-based interventions

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to decrease mental health service variations. Nakash has received multiple competitive grants from Israeli, European and U.S. agencies and has developed graduate-level academic programs for mental health clinicians and providers.

Dr. Nakash received her Ph.D. from Boston University in clinical psychology and completed postdoctoral training at the Wellesley Centers for Women and Cambridge Health Alliance/Harvard Medical School.

—Myrna Flynn A Legend Retires

Phebe Sessions is one of those lucky few who hit upon their true calling at a very young age. She remembers precisely when she first realized social work was her passion: In fifth grade, a social worker visited her class to

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talk about her work at a social service agency, where she helped families resolve conflict.

For Sessions, it was a revelation that there was such a career in the world.

She decided then that she, too, wanted this kind of job. A 1965 graduate of Smith College and 1968 graduate of the School for Social Work, Sessions announced her retirement this winter after 42 years teaching social work practice at her beloved alma mater. Set to retire June 30, she’s currently the longest-serving member of the faculty.

Associate Dean of Academic Affairs Marsha Kline Pruett said Sessions’ departure, while most certainly well-earned, is a loss for the school.

“She has been a real leader for us as a person who melds together different thoughts and theories and holds both the history of the school and is knowledgeable and open to progressive change,” said Pruett. “She’s really quite a renaissance thinker.”

Sessions said she wraps up her time at the school with mixed feelings.

“I hate to give up teaching. I really, really love being in the classroom. I’m so stimulated to learn and keep up with the students,” she said in an interview from her cozy third-floor office in Lilly Hall on a gray day in January.

As an undergraduate at Smith, she majored in religion and was also drawn to psychology and sociology. This mix of courses, she said, fed her hunger for answers about how to live a purposeful life.

“Social work represented the integration of my values and the two paths I had studied as an undergraduate—the life of the mind, the interior world and the social world.”

Sessions started at SSW when she was 21, a month after earning her bachelor’s degree. She said she feels lucky that her first placement when she was so young and inexperienced was at a family-based agency, where she received a great deal of support in working with individuals. In her

second placement, she worked in a psychiatric hospital on an inpatient unit with acutely psychotic people and their families.

Upon graduation, she began working for a psychiatric teaching hospital renowned for innovative work in seeing mental illness as brain-based rather than environmentally-caused. She also worked developing community-based mental health services for Spanish and Portuguese-speaking families. And she began what would be a career-long interest in exploring the role poverty plays in life problems.

SSW invited her to join the faculty in 1976. She learned she loved teaching, with its challenge to say ahead of the field and also engage with emerging social workers. Eventually, she earned her doctorate at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University, where she studied more deeply the role poverty plays as a variable in life outcomes.

Throughout her years working at agencies and teaching at Smith, she always maintained a private psychotherapy practice. She launched a program in Springfield Public Schools that, in its heyday, had 10 classroom interns. Working with former SSW

Dean Anita Lightburn, Sessions co-edited a textbook still in use today, The Handbook of Community-Based Practice, published in 2006 by Oxford University Press.

She developed interdisciplinary courses that integrate clinical and psychological issues with social policy and environmental factors, including Private Trouble and Public Issues: The Social Construction of Assessment.

With more than four decades at SSW, Sessions has seen many changes: in the curriculum, the way the school runs and the relationship between students and their teachers.

“I’ve seen the curriculum become much more complex as students have been assertive about what they want to study.”

Though she will miss teaching emerging social workers, at 74, Sessions said she decided it was time for a change. Looking ahead, she hopes to continue teaching and learning. She has a new area of interest: stereotypes around aging and the resulting damage to physical and mental health. She’s developed a course she’s taught for several years and hopes to continue teaching through the SSW continuing education program: Is 70 the new 50?

Social Construction of Aging.

There’s still plenty of time left to teach. After all, 70 is the new 50.

— Laurie Loisel A New Direction

It’s been a time of change for the Smith College School for Social Work Field Education Department under the interim leadership of Katelin LewisKulin. So when the opportunity arose for her to apply for the permanent post leading the department that plays such a pivotal role in the lives of emerging social workers, it seemed like a natural extension of the interim work.

Lewis-Kulin, a 2000 graduate of the School with 20 years clinical and leadership experience in community

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mental health and outpatient psychiatry, worked with former Field Director Carolyn du Bois as associate director since 2012.

“It’s truly the strongest field education program in the country,” she said.

“We want to build on that strength, innovate where we need to, expand and move forward.”

Lewis-Kulin became interim director in January 2017, after du Bois retired. She was named permanent director this January. As interim, she did a lot more than make sure the ship ran a steady course. She laid the

groundwork for substantial changes in the job descriptions of SSW faculty field advisers, created new, required field seminars and developed curriculum for those courses, and recruited new agencies in which to place SSW students as well as new field advisers to work with them.

The overall goal, she noted, was to hold social work students a little closer and more seamlessly integrate their on-campus classroom learning into their real-life work experiences while off campus.

Lewis-Kulin said she found it exciting to lead a wonderful team, which consists of Deborah Fauntleroy, a new adjunct faculty member serving as interim associate director, Maria del Mar Farina, assistant director, and

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Marybeth Stratton, field system coordinator, in making big changes. And Lewis-Kulin looks forward to shaping those changes in the months ahead.

“The four of us are a very strong team, so moving into the permanent director role will really help solidify that,” she said.

Peggy O’Neill, former associate dean for Academic Affairs and chair of the search committee for the directorship of the Field Office, said people had been encouraging LewisKulin to apply for the permanent post while she served as interim director.

“I’m so thrilled that she was selected in a competitive process through a national search. She was by far the most outstanding candidate,” said O’Neill. “She’s a very strong leader.”

Some of the changes in the works under Lewis-Kulin’s leadership come in response to feedback from students, who felt their experiences in field placements needed stronger connections to the time they spent on campus.

Lewis-Kulin and her team also aggressively worked to secure new field placements, including with agencies doing cutting-edge work with queer and trans communities. They also sought to expand the ranks of the field advisers; for example, hiring advisers who are excellent clinicians and educators and who also reflect the diversity of the SSW student body.

Also in response to requests from students, Lewis-Kulin is working hard to strengthen existing placements and introduce additional agency partner­ships in western Massachusetts, particularly for second-year students, and to increase supports for students around the placement process.

The efforts have been both gratifying and challenging, she said, as she works to listen to and balance multiple needs and perspectives that make up a vibrant campus.

“There’s a lot of new and positive energy around field education. It is incredibly rewarding for me to be doing this work with students, supervisors and field faculty,” she said.

—Laurie Loisel

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Supporting Dreamers: Professor Miller Obtains Grant to Aid Local DACA Students

SSW Professor Josh Miller won an Innovation Challenge grant from Smith College President Kathleen McCartney, his second such award.

Miller’s 2017 proposal, Supporting Dreamers: Training of Trainers to Support DACA Students Attending Smith College and Other Pioneer Valley Colleges, parallels his 2016 submission, which sought funding to train local agencies charged with refugee resettlement. With this new round of funding, The School for Social Work, Smith students’ Organization for Undocumented Students Rights and the College’s Center for Religious and Spiritual Life will train as many as 25 Smith students to act as Dreamer Supporters, who will then serve as resources for offices at Smith and at area colleges.

“I have never experienced such profound authoritarian tendencies leading to social targeting and divisions as I have witnessed since the advent of the Trump presidency,” Miller said, explaining his reasons for applying for a second grant.

“Hannah Arendt, in her classic book The Origins of Totalitarianism, describes how in the early stages of authoritarian regimes, they target, stigmatize, isolate, arrest and displace groups of people who are convenient scapegoats, while the rest of society looks on,” Miller said. “Today, we are witnessing this process in our country, particularly with immigrants of color.

We in the social work and college community must not be passive bystanders but rather contest, confront and resist the terrible damage that has already been done, and will be further enacted, unless we actively struggle to reclaim our democracy and collectively protect all who are at risk.”

The project is funded by President McCartney’s Innovation Challenge grants, which are intended to foster community-building within the Smith community or between the College and the wider community.

The purpose of this grant, Miller

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We in the social work and college community must not be passive bystanders but rather contest, confront and resist the terrible damage that has already been done and will be further enacted.”

explained, is to support foreign-born students known as “dreamers” and other undocumented students “by helping them to understand their rights, supporting their efforts to stay safe and to help to mobilize other students, College administrators and faculty to be allies and to exercise whatever responsibility we can in order to support and protect undocumented students.”

The project will engage the local community as resources and has a training-of-trainers philosophy. “If we can train, develop capacity and help to empower key people from core constituencies,” Miller said, “they, in turn, can engage and train others.”

—Myrna Flynn Megan Harding Joins Faculty as Senior Lecturer

In January, Community Practice Coordinator and Community & Agency Practice Course Coordinator Megan Harding, M.S.W. ’07, became SSW’s new chair of social policy.

Previously a member of the SSW adjunct faculty, Harding assumed the role as Assistant Professor Hannah Karpman stepped down.

“We are so pleased to have Megan’s experience and talents applied to a larger role at SSW,” said Dean Marianne Yoshioka. “As chair of social

policy, Megan’s responsibilities will include directing community practice assignments as well as the first year Agency & Community Practice course.

She will also teach social work courses in policy.”

Harding’s work has focused on policy, program design and practice within the K-12 public school setting with a particular focus on equity and reducing the opportunity gap in Massachusetts. She served as the former director of social emotional learning for Holyoke Public Schools as well as the coordinator of the Holyoke Early Literacy Initiative and has focused on strategic efforts to strengthen the “conditions for learning” in public schools. This work has included practice and advocacy to promote the Full Service Community School strategy, utilization of a Multitiered System of Supports design, integration of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) into core instruction, promotion of School-Based Health Centers as well as school climate initiatives to address trauma-sensitivity and mitigate disparities in discipline policies.

“I am thrilled to join the faculty of the Smith School for Social Work,” Harding said. “I’ve been impressed by the level of passion and expertise that exists within the faculty as well as its deep and genuine commitment to the intellectual lives of the students.”

Currently, Harding provides planning support, professional learning and technical assistance through the BRYT Network for schools in Massachusetts interested in developing bridge programs. Such initiatives serve students returning to school following extended absences due to psychiatric hospitalization. Her work includes a focus on strengthening family partnership and collaboration within the programs.

Harding received her bachelor’s in human development and philosophy from Boston College.—Myrna Flynn

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30 Safe Home 18 Community Epidemic

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12 The Fears Within

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24 Heeding the Call

THE SECOND CENTURY

A series previewing our profession’s top challenges

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As the School for Social Work looks to the past 100 years of revolutionary clinical social work education, it concurrently anticipates its second century and the many complex societal issues that await our students.

In conjunction with the Centennial Celebration, the pages of this issue relay stories of community members whose insight has led them to passionately serve some of today’s populations who are most in need of support.

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Kim Calhoun, a post-resident in the SSW doctoral program, welcomes the affection of her client, recent immigrant Hamida Alwan.

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THE FEARS WITHIN Islamophobia prompts mechanisms toward understanding

BY DANE KUTTLER / PHOTOS BY SHANA SURECK

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“

There’s conservative media in town and some town leaders who conflate Islam with foreigners, with brownness, with an outside threat of terrorism.”

—Kim Calhoun, M.S.W.

T

he term Islamophobia, though first used in Edward Said’s academic work in the 1980s, came into common use only 20 years ago. The UK-based race-equality think tank Runnymede Trust popularized the term in a groundbreaking 1997 report Islamophobia: A Challenge For Us All. The term, Runnymede argued, was needed to bring a name to an emerging and rapidly growing form of discrimination against Muslims.

As SSW 2014 alumna Anderson “Andy” Al Wazni puts it: “Islamophobia is an umbrella term that encompasses not only an irrational fear about the faith itself, but also bias against immigration, race, ethnicity, class and gender. Every Muslim will relate to bias against the Muslim community differently.”

It becomes apparent, then, that one of the primary tasks of anyone wishing to disrupt or interrupt Islamophobia is a personal one: to recognize and dismantle the internal biases that are reinforced in Western society.

For Kim Calhoun, a post-resident in the SSW doctoral program, this process of recognition and interruption played out around the 2016 election. Calhoun works as a clinical social worker in a small town in New Hampshire that sees its share of both microaggressions and overt anti-Muslim rhetoric in the local media and community. She described instances over the last several years during which she felt forced to confront more overt examples of Islamophobia, including one about the local conservative radio station.

“There’s conservative media in town and some town leaders who conflate Islam with foreigners, with brownness, with an outside threat of terrorism.

Others aren’t willing to go to such extremes but are willing to validate the ideas with statements like ‘there might be some truth to that,’” Calhoun said.

“There’s a man who goes into mosques and rates them according to how likely they are to have terrorists. The local conservative station had this man on its show, and he talked about the mosque where many of my clients and interpreters go.”

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Clockwise from top: At her practice in Manchester, New Hampshire, Kim Calhoun greets Hamida Alwan; Iraqi-born parents, Saddam Ali and Hamida Alwan, with their five children, Mena, Obada, Zaid, Talha, Safia and Saeed; Calhoun enjoys a surprise meal, lovingly prepared by Hamida and her children at the family’s home.

“ Refugees coming from Iraq are also continuing to experience trauma, as they have loved ones who are unsafe, who are still in Iraq. It’s hard to move on when you have parents, adult children and siblings who are still in danger.”

Calhoun has found herself stepping up more since the election, both as a social worker and as a community member, to confront incidents like this one. She said she feels a moral respons­ ibility to do so.

“We’re still called to—with our code of ethics—a commitment to social action and social justice,” she said.

“I think that sets us apart from other types of clinical mental health people. We need to get out of the office, and I think many of us are doing that, actually. Smith has done really well in keeping us aware of the commitments we make as social workers to social justice and social action.”

Yet, for Calhoun, the biggest change has been more personal.

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Kim Calhoun continues to help Alwan and Ali confidently navigate life in America, amidst whatever discrimination they might encounter along the way, in order to build their children’s futures.

Hamida offers a reassuring presence as her children grow accustomed to life in America.

“Before the [2016 Republican presidential] primary, I would be asked by clients ‘I’m worried, I’m scared, if [Trump] wins, he’s saying these things.’

I would hear this from my Iraqi clients, and I would say ‘oh no, no, no’ and describe in all sorts of ways how he could never be elected.”

Calhoun didn’t believe her clients’ fears were founded. In fact, she saw it as her responsibility as a social worker to help her clients “challenge their beliefs” or “check their facts,” assuming that their interpretations of the rising rhetoric were overblown. After the election, she’s had to face her own faulty interpretations.

“Now I feel like a lot of [what my clients see] is correct,” she said. “I didn’t really believe we’d be where we are. And this is the reality we’re in; the reality of their lives is that they can’t travel. There are tremendous, and justified, fears.”

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“As Muslims, we are concerned and scared,” said Hamida Alwan, an Iraqi mother of five who, with her husband Saddam Ali, immigrated to Manchester, New Hampshire four years ago.

“I know there is discrimination.

I have a friend who was fired for wearing the hijab. Many of my friends who wear the hijab don’t wear it when they go to work or go out in the community, so that they don’t face a situation where someone might bother them. I wear the hijab because it’s my religion, and I am proud. I tell my friends that you wear it for religious reasons. God is watching, and so he will protect you.”

According to Calhoun, who has worked closely with Alwan’s family since their arrival, war in Iraq prompted the family to leave Iraq for Syria 12 years ago. After spending eight years in a refugee camp, they were

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finally granted refugee status, which enabled their move to the U.S. “Refugees who are coming from Iraq have experienced a lot of trauma, and much of the trauma is very recent,” Calhoun said. “Refugees coming from Iraq are also continuing to experience trauma, as they have loved ones who are unsafe, who are still in Iraq. It’s hard to move on when you have parents, adult children and siblings who are still in danger.”

“There are two sides to Iraqis,” Alwan told Calhoun, “the one they show to others that shows a happy face and the other, which is deeply sad for all they have lost.”

Al Wazni, hasn’t practiced clinical social work since her field placements at Smith. However, she gives frequent workshops to teach those in clinical work how to check their own bias, as well as informing them about the concerns Muslim clients have brought up in the clinical relationship.

Thus far, her trainings have been limited to professional and academic arenas; she has received invitations from social work schools, mental health organizations, university programs and other related professional fields. Al Wazni has also participated in panel talks such as the Duke University of North Carolina Consortium for Middle East Studies and at the UNC

School of Public Health. Although most of her audience has consisted of social workers and other mental health clinicians, she has begun branching out to medical professionals, K-12 and university-level educators, as well as students of social work, medicine and public health policy.

“There are several clinical studies that have examined these concerns among Arab-American and Muslim clients; many interviewed felt both Islamophobic and racist bias against them on behalf of the clinician,” Al Wazni said. “For example, clinicians have refused to provide services if a woman wearing a hijab did not remove it during their sessions, or the clinician decided that the goal of therapy would be to remove the hijab instead of learning why the client was actually seeking help. There is also a lot of bias against Muslim men, as they are often assumed to be overbearing, controlling and misogynistic.”

One of the biggest challenges she sees, though, is culturally instilled.

“There is a great deal of hesitation in the Muslim community to seek outside professional help for mental health needs, and a lot of this is due to individuals being afraid that anti-Muslim bias would interfere,” Al Wazni said.

“Many Muslims feel that they are not viewed as dynamic individuals but rather have to serve as representatives for the entire Muslim faith.”

Al Wazni also cautions clinicians to understand racism that exists within the Muslim community. As a white Muslim, she acknowledges that her experience of Islamophobia is “similar, but not the same as that of an AfricanAmerican or Arab Muslim.” She warns against the trap of failing to recognize the diversity of the faith and by exclusively treating Islamophobia as a form of racism, which ignores the existence of white privilege.

Back in Manchester, Kim Calhoun continues to help Alwan and Ali confidently navigate life in America, amidst whatever discrimination they might encounter along the way, in order to build their children’s futures.

“Our dream is for our children to be safe,” Hamida said. “To get an education and to get good jobs one day.” ◆

Working to End Racism Long-required course finds established place in SSW curriculum SSW graduates have noted the need for clinical workers to examine, address and interrupt their internalized racism and Islamophobia. One of the ways the School addresses this need is through a required first-semester course on racism in the United States, which Professor Joshua Miller has taught for 25 years.

The class seeks to expose all SSW students to the full spectrum of racism in the United States: historical, structural and institutional, ideological and cultural, professional and organizational, and to do so in a theoretically informed fashion that helps students to understand the impact racism has had on them and how it shapes their social work practice.

“We want our students—whatever their racial/ethnic identities—to be able to recognize and discern the various forms and manifestations of racism and to have the tools to confront it individually, in coalition with others, in agencies and organizations, communities and to be able to work in a validating, empowering and liberating way with all clients who they encounter,” said Miller. Given the long history of racism in the U.S. and how it is in the very DNA of our society, excellent clinical social work practice cannot be separated from an understanding of racism and integrating an antiracism stance.”

Miller acknowledges that the course has changed him personally, too. “Every time I approach the topic I reevaluate the complex nature of racism, how it has affected me, what work I need to do on a personal and professional level, and how I can continue to work to dismantle racism. The relationships I have formed with my co-teachers and students are deeply enriching, inspiring and illuminating; they have been transformative.”

In early 2017, Miller and co-author Ann Marie Garran published a second edition of their book: Racism in the United States: Implications for the Helping Professions, which Milller described as a “humbling and incredibly meaningful project.”

In addition to the new edition of the book, Miller has recently engaged with two projects that both demand and showcase the antiracist work that has marked his career. The first was the project funded by President McCartney last year to deepen the capacity of local organizations, providers and individuals to support refugees being resettled in the Pioneer Valley. Miller and others trained police, social services, therapists, circles of care and others in a series of conferences and workshops, where the voices of refugees were prioritized and amplified. The second project involved Alberta Health Services and its Indigenous Services Team to examine how the provincial health service could work in a way that embodied cultural humility and social justice with a particular emphasis on helping two First Nation communities that were struggling to recover from a flood.

“Working to end racism is the highest professional, personal, political and spiritual priority of my life, and I am honored that I can play my tiny part in this centuries-old struggle,” he added.

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S M I T H COL L E G E SCHO O L FO R SO CIAL WO RK

BY FAYE S. WOLFE PHOTOS BY SHANA SURECK

COMMUNITY EPIDEMIC Clinicians treat addiction’s growing impact

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“I

magine someone drinking 20 to 30 beers a day. Are there negative repercussions? Of course, but if you can’t see beyond the next 10, 15 minutes of your life, and a beer makes you feel better, then drinking like that is a logical choice.”

Speaking is Artie Seelig, M.S.W. ’17, getting at an essential mystery of substance abuse: why do something so bad for you? Substance abuse takes many forms: binge-drinking, getting stoned on pot, shooting heroin, taking too many painkillers. At some point, it may become addiction, “a chronic, relapsing brain disease that is characterized by compulsive drug seeking and use, despite harmful consequences,” as defined by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

In 2016 there were

63,632 drug overdose deaths in the United States, up

Artie Seelig, M.S.W. ’17 trains healthcare workers whose work puts them in frequent contact with those suffering from addiction.

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21%

from 2015, according to the National Center for Health Statistics.

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It’s one of the biggest problems facing society today. According to an August 2017 article in the Washington Post, “alcoholism rose by a shocking 49 percent in the first decade of the 2000s. One in eight American adults … now meets diagnostic criteria for alcohol use disorder.”

Even more disturbing is the opioid epidemic. In 2016 there were 63,632 drug overdose deaths in the United States, up 21 percent from 2015,

“ We tend to look at substance abuse from a moralizing point of view, but changing behavior of any kind is very difficult. When I’m training, I sometimes ask the group, ‘How many of you have made a New Year’s resolution?’ And when I ask them how that went, most just laugh.”

according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Two thirds involved opioids, including heroin, methadone, prescription pain pills such as OxyContin and fentanyl. The “diseases of despair,” drug overdoses, suicides and alcoholism, were blamed for the drop in the U.S. life expectancy rate in 2015; in 2016, according to Bob Anderson, chief of the Mortality Statistics Branch at the National Center for Health Statistics, “The

key factor is the increase in drug overdose deaths.”

Addiction being so disruptive, so prevalent and so entwined with other social ills—homelessness, racism, mental illness, poverty—most Smith SSW alumni will need to address the issue professionally during their careers. Some will choose the work.

Many are on the front lines right now, tackling the problem from different angles—with passionate commitment.

“In rural America, in New England, in Vermont, people are really suffering,” said Seelig. “These are our friends and neighbors. Everyone knows someone affected by substance addiction.” He should know: Seelig is the training and quality assurance coordinator for the Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treat­ ment (SBIRT) program in Vermont.

Supported by a $10 million federal grant, its goal is to reduce rates of risky substance use and depression.

Seelig’s main responsibility is training medical staffs of ERs, community health centers, doctor’s offices and other settings in an integrative medicine-based approach that is holistic, respectful and motivational.

Historically, mental health, physical health and substance use have been siloed and, traditionally, the method of

Seelig advocates talking with addicts about the reasons they turn to substances and what scenarios might curb their use.

dealing with substance use in medical settings has been directive—“stop drinking, if you don’t want to end up diabetic”—and sometimes judgmental.

“We tend to look at substance abuse from a moralizing point of view,” said Seelig, “but changing behavior of any kind is very difficult. When I’m training, I sometimes ask the group, ‘How many of you have made a New Year’s resolution?’ And when I ask them how that went, most just laugh.”

Seelig cited discussions about cannabis, the most widely used illegal drug in Vermont, as an area where

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Top: Karin McGinty, M.S.W. ’09 applies her clinical skills to Vermont’s pioneering treatment program known as the Hub and Spokes model; Below: McGinty counsels clients at Gifford Medical Center.

“ The old ‘junkie’ stereotypes don’t fit. A nurse’s aide gets hurt on the job, takes Percoset or OxyContin for the pain, and when she can’t get that any longer, moves to heroin, which is cheaper and easier to come by.”

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telling versus listening falls short.

“Clinicians and patients tend not to see eye to eye on the subject. Each one comes to it wearing their expertise.

That means conversations often aren’t very productive. It’s a matter of asking why? versus saying don’t.”

On the other hand, Seelig believes, “It’s incredibly powerful to ask people how they’re doing, when you may be the first to have asked that question in a very long time.” By talking to patients about why they use and why they might stop, “a clinician can leave a door open, and people will walk through it when they’re ready.”

That door may lead to MedicationAssisted Treatment (MAT), which combines the use of such opioids as methadone, buprenorphine and naltrexone, with psychosocial therapy.

Consensus is growing that MAT is the most effective road to recovery from opioid addiction.

Vermont’s Hub and Spokes Model is a pioneering MAT program. Clients receive intensive treatment at the hubs, then move on to the spokes— hospitals, medical centers—for services from teams of doctors, nurses and counselors such as Karin McGinty, M.S.W. ’09, a substanceabuse clinical-care coordinator at Gifford Medical Center.

In addition to coordinating about 100 clients’ appointments with three doctors, McGinty counsels clients.

One moment during a session, she may use CBT. The next, when the client says, “Christmas is coming, and I have no money for presents,” McGinty shifts gears to identify community resources to tap for help. A strength of this model is that it offers resources to counter, in McGinty’s words, “psychosocial stresses: financial problems, strained relationships with a spouse, parents, kids, anxiety or PTSD, past abuse.” Less stress means a better chance of recovery—and less likelihood of relapse.

“Breaking through stereotypes, breaking down the stigma,” said McGinty, is key to helping her clients, “working-class men and women, in their early twenties to mid-sixties, ordinary folks.” The old “junkie” stereotypes don’t fit. McGinty described a typical client: “A nurse’s

aide gets hurt on the job, takes Percoset or OxyContin for the pain, and when she can’t get that any longer, moves to heroin, which is cheaper and easier to come by—and much stronger than it used to be.”

A firm believer in attacking the roots of addiction, Gay Lee, M.S.W. ’95 does so both as a therapist and as a Newburgh, New York, councilwoman. Newburgh struggles, said Lee, with “deep problems: unemployment, crime, alcoholism … it has its share of people dying from overdoses on the streets, and people who end up driving into the Hudson River with their kids in the car.” For Lee, substance use can’t be separated from its socio­ political context, which is why, she said with a smile, “I’ve made it my life mission to resolve poverty.”

She also believes “people are not destined to take drugs. Pain is part of life; some people just need more help to cope with an intense level of stress.”

In her clinical work, she said, “I help people develop coping skills to deal with physical and emotional pain.”

Dianne Terp, M.S.W. ’11, in California, agrees that “addiction is a political problem. As a social worker, you have to decide, whose side are you on? Do you see yourself as protecting society from ‘bad people’ or helping people who need help?”

Now in private practice, during her career, Terp has worked with women parolees, the incurably ill and, recently, elderly addicts. Of the last, some had used street drugs for ten years or more.

“They have a relationship with a dealer, they may even get drugs on credit—the dealer knows when the checks come.” Other, “late-onset” clients self-medicated for pain. Drug abuse is often missed or misdiagnosed in older generations because of a different kind of stigma: age. “Don’t assume that depression, delusions, dementia are normal for someone who is old,” she advises.

She also dismisses the notion that “substance abuse is a form of slow suicide. The people I see don’t want to die. They’re using pills, drink, drugs, to live.

She has seen addiction overcome, and while “people sometimes tell me,

Taking a Stand Dean Yoshioka partners with NASW in effort to curb addiction Last fall, with her fellow deans of Massachusetts’ nine schools of social work, Dean Marianne Yoshioka agreed that SSW would adopt core educational principles, developed by the Baker-Polito administration, that address opioid addiction and treatment.

“We are proud to partner with all of the Commonwealth’s schools of social work to ensure the next generation of providers is exceptionally well prepared to prevent and treat substance misuse,” said Governor Baker in announcing the agreement.

Toward integrating the core principles into the curriculum, Dean Yoshioka is pursuing a unique arrangement with the National Association of Social Workers to give SSW students access to its array of continuing education courses. Currently available to practicing social workers who are association members, through this partnership, online classes addressing clinical work in addictions could supplement and complement SSW offerings.

Having researched various aspects of addiction during her career, Yoshioka’s perspective is that combating the problem requires a multipronged approach, one that addresses basic human needs. “It’s been known for decades that addiction rates drop when people have decent housing, meaningful work, safety and respect,” she said.

“Healthy communities help people to thrive.”

Unfortunately, healthy communities aren’t built in a day, and people struggling with addiction can’t wait for overarching social solutions. Fortunately, SSW is already preparing its students exceptionally well, Yoshioka believes, to tackle the tasks of preventing and treating substance abuse—and other issues. As just one measure, she points to each student’s near 2,000 hours of field training, more than twice the 900 hours required for licensure.

“I stand by the deep curriculum, the quality of the education, and the fact that it calls on students to draw on their personal experience, knowledge, perspective. It’s an immersive, transformative experience.”

‘I could never do what you do,’” she says the “little successes” keep her going. “In the United States, we strive for perfection, and we like to finish things. But the fact is in social work, the work is never done. Things do move forward, but there’s still more of it.”

Even as the battle against the opioid epidemic rages, new disturbing trends emerge: increasing use of the deadly synthetic opiate fentanyl and the abuse of “benzos,” benzodiazepines, sedatives such as Valium prescribed for anxiety. As new SSW grads join the fight, they might do well to adopt Terp’s philosophical outlook and keep in mind Seelig’s approach to staying compassionate and avoiding burnout.

“I can go home to my family and be OK because I don’t see myself as the healer, I believe the patient is their own healer.” ◆

11.5 million people in the United States misused prescription opioids in 2016, as reported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

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Heeding the Call

Responding to the

BY TYNAN POWER PHOTOS BY SHANA SURECK

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needs of those who identify as trans/GNC

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H

unter Swanson, M.S.W. ’09, calls his experience of therapy during his gender transition process “a nightmare.”

Swanson, who was assigned female at birth (AFAB), paid out of pocket to see a therapist in order to obtain a letter required to begin the medical process of transition from female to male. After six months, the therapist balked at writing the letter, saying she wasn’t comfortable holding that kind of power over someone’s life.

“My decision to go into social work was largely prompted by my own mostly negative experiences in ther-­ apy, especially those having to do with transition,” said Swanson, who practices in Greenfield, Massachusetts.

“I don’t know that I’ve ever had a therapist who I would describe as totally trans-competent.”

Individual experiences prompted Hunter Swanson, M.S.W. ’09 to dedicate his social work career to those in the western Massachusetts’ trans/GNC community; opposite page: Aleah Nesteby serves an increasing number of trans/GNC clients in her office at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.

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Shannon Sennott, M.S.W. ’08, an SSW adjunct instructor, works with numerous transgender and gender non-conforming (GNC) clients in Northampton. After witnessing the ways trans/GNC people were often ostracized in queer and lesbianowned spaces in New York City, she knew she wanted to work with clients around concerns related to gender justice and the effects of transmisogyny.

“When I got to SSW, there were no institutionalized supports for trans/ GNC students or interns as they moved into their placements and navigated learning in classrooms,” said Sennott. “I started Translate Gender, Inc., as my community practice project to bring gender awareness and advocacy to institutions and organizations, particularly colleges and mental health organizations.”

“ Over time, I figured out that my experience, not so much the details, was helpful. People need a therapist who can hold their hand, hook them up with resources.”

A lot has changed. In recent years, there has been a shift in awareness and inclusion of trans/GNC individuals in social work and the culture at large. At SSW, this has included the formation of a student-faculty team to compile trans-related resources, hiring transgender educator Davey Shlasko as a Sotomayor Fellow focusing on gender, disability and race intersectionality, and the creation of gender-neutral locker rooms in the fitness center.

For therapists working with trans/ GNC people, treatment recommendations have shifted as well. In 2011, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH; formerly the Harry Benjamin Gender Dysphoria Association) issued the seventh version of its non-binding Standards of Care for Gender Identity Disorders (“Standards of Care”).

The WPATH Standards of Care are

widely used as guidelines for mental and physical healthcare of trans/GNC individuals. The current standards recommend that trans/GNC individuals seeking hormone therapy or surgery obtain letters from therapists attesting to the client’s gender identity, length of treatment by the therapist, suitability for medical treatment and informed consent. Many medical providers require such letters, making it necessary for trans/GNC patients to seek therapy in order to obtain medical services. This therapy can provide needed support for trans/GNC individuals, however it can also be perceived negatively as an expensive and timeconsuming hurdle.

The required letters also place the therapist in the role of “gatekeeper”— a position some therapists, such as the one Swanson saw, do not welcome. Others, like Simon Weismantel,

M.S.W. ’14, who sees clients at The Juniper Center in Chicago, seek ways to minimize the power that rests in their hands.

“I am clear with my clients that I am not a gatekeeper in the way clinicians were 20 years ago,” said Weismantel.

“I try to bring them into the processes that were once the sole province of a ‘gatekeeper’ provider, such as including my clients in the editing and approval process of their own HRT and surgery letters.”

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An alternative model used by some providers is the “informed consent model.”

Aleah Nesteby, a nurse practitioner who is the director of LGBTQ Services at Cooley Dickinson Healthcare in Northampton and an adjunct instructor at SSW, uses the model in her work treating over 350 trans/GNC patients.

“The informed consent model emphasizes the importance of the client making the most educated decision possible about their healthcare,” said Nesteby. “I think therapy is great, and often very helpful, but I don’t make it a mandatory condition of treatment. I think that one of the misconceptions about informed consent is that clients do not get therapy. I’ve found that most of my patients have already seen a therapist prior to coming to my office, regardless of whether it is required or not.”

The right therapist can have a lasting impact, as was the case for Alexis Lake.

“I had a really good social worker, Dr. Maureen Osborne, who I worked with for a number of years before it was possible for me to transition,” said Lake, who obtained her M.S.W. in 2009 and counts SSW adjunct faculty among her mentors. “She helped me decide that I wanted to go to social work school and be a therapist. She modeled what a good therapist is.”

Initially, Lake didn’t intend to specialize in work with trans/GNC clients.

“I was afraid of the bias I had of my own experience and getting in the way of other people figuring out their own path,” said Lake. “Over time, I figured out that my experience—not so much the details of how I did it, but the experience of how to do it—was actually helpful. People need a therapist who can hold their hand, hook them up with resources.”

“Currently, there aren’t enough trans/GNC-informed clinicians to meet the need, so that service gap encouraged me to stay engaged in micro social work with this population,” Weismantel said.

“I wanted to offer [clients] something that I did not have, which was a role model,” said Kelly Wise, M.S.W. ’12, Ph.D., who is based in Brooklyn. “When I was growing up, there were no trans people to speak

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of. There was no one to look up to, no one to offer hope that you can live a happy and fulfilling life and be trans.

All I heard were scary narratives about what happens to ‘those people.’”

“I have seen an increase in trans/ GNC people needing a therapeutic space in which their bodies and souls are safe,” said Danna Bodenheimer, M.S.W. ’05, who practices in Philadelphia. “This requires significant attention on the part of a clinician or an agency. The absence of these safe spaces is profound and troubling.”

Of course, gender isn’t always the primary or only reason trans/GNC people seek counseling.

“Some of my trans/GNC clients come in with gender identity as a presenting issue, but more often it is not the presenting issue,” said Bodenheimer. “Rather, they are hoping that a therapist can work with them in a way that decentralizes what they have experienced as a clinical fixation on their gender identity.”

Social workers need to be able to respond to changing therapeutic needs in trans/GNC populations—including trans-competence in working with children and adolescents.

“As people are coming out as trans or GNC at younger ages, I have seen an increase in the need for work with children, teens and their families,” said Weismantel, who started Gendernauts, a support group for trans/GNC teens that has been replicated around Chicago.

There’s an increase at the opposite end of the age spectrum, as well.

“The upswing in media coverage and representation of trans folks has also brought adults later in life into therapy to explore long-suppressed gender identity issues,” said Weismantel.

“Insurance companies starting to cover trans-related procedures has also really increased people’s need for therapy [to obtain necessary letters],” added Swanson.

Sennott also sees an increased need for competency in treating trans/ GNC individuals as part of larger family units.

“I am a couples and family therapist by training and have noticed that there is an increase in need for both types of therapy in the context of TGNC/

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Brooklyn-based Kelly Wise, M.S.W. ’12, Ph.D. aims to be the role model for his trans/GNC clients that he once sought, yet never found, as a youth.

nonbinary experiences,” said Sennott.

“Years ago, if someone came out as trans, it was an expectation that they would be shunned or have to leave their family, partner or children. Now that is not the case.”

Social workers also see a shift in nonbinary trans identities explored in therapy.

“I have definitely seen more self-identified nonbinary or GNC patients in the past five years,” said Nesteby. “Even people who are comfortable working with a binary trans person might find themselves feeling unsure when working with someone who identifies as genderqueer, agender, etc. It behooves us to learn more and get comfortable with nonbinary people.”

“We all have the freedom to do gender (or not do gender in the case of a-gendered people) in our own, unique ways,” said Weismantel. “That is a gift from the trans community to the cisgender population—the expanding of gender possibilities for everyone.”

The need for education isn’t limited to those who plan to work with trans/ GNC people. Nesteby feels that all care providers should be familiar with the basics of trans/GNC identities.

“Even if they don’t end up seeing many trans people, they may end up

“ I wanted to offer [clients] something that I did not have, which was a role model.” seeing parents, friends or partners of trans people—and they will need to draw on that understanding and sensitivity,” she said.

“The bottom line is that ongoing continuing education is important,” says Lake, “even for trans therapists.

The way I did it is not the way it’s being done anymore, and to be stuck in the old way isn’t providing real service.”

That also means that social workers should know their limits.

“If you don’t know what you’re doing, refer out,” said Lake. “It’s not fair to learn how to do it with the client.”

Beyond the individual clinician, there are other shifts in social work that are needed in the coming years.

“On the agency level, I have spoken with many clinicians who have all the skills and information they need, but the structures and policies of the agencies they work in prevent them from doing so,” said Sotomayor Fellow Shlasko. “Agencies are still largely built on the assumption that all clients— and staff—will be cisgender men and women, and thus unintentionally exclude trans people from participating in the full range of services available to cisgender people.”

“There is a tendency in social work—as in medicine—to prioritize the expertise of those in the field over the knowledge trans people have about their own experiences,” said Shlasko. “I would argue that the field needs to get braver in inviting trans social workers, as well as other trans people, with relevant expertise and skills, to educate social workers on the strengths, realities, needs and potentials of trans individuals and communities—even if it is not always comfortable.” ◆

Embodied Mapping Mapping human experiences at the intersections of communications and bio-medical technologies Assistant Professor Rory Crath’s current research is leading to new findings— and also a new methodology, with applications in public health and clinical social work.

Crath and Dr. Cristian Rangel of the University of Toronto, along with former SSW student Adam Gaubinger, M.S.W. ’17, have spent the past two years on a pilot study for the “Queer Men’s Desire and the Digital Life of HIV Prevention Technologies Project,” which received funding from SSW’s Clinical Research Institute (CRI).

The study includes six cisgender gay male participants—two white men and four men of color—who regularly use “hook-up apps.”

“We’re looking at new realities of communications technologies and what has been called the turn toward a technologizing of how medical practices are impacting health decision making,” Crath said. “Communications technologies and new HIV-prevention technologies like PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) are coming together to shape how men who have sex with men (MSM) experience desire, risk and health and, indeed, our bodies.”

According to the CDC, PrEP can reduce HIV infection by up to 92%. Yet, use of the prevention drug is not widespread in the U.S. Just as racialized MSM continues to be overrepresented in HIV infection rates because of the effects of systemic racism and income inequalities, racialized communities are not as reliant on PrEP, according to Crath.

“It’s catching on with white gay male communities, people connected to organized gay communities, people with access to health care and insurance,” said Crath. “There are questions about how needs of communities of color, as well as trans and gender non-conforming populations, are being met in the PrEP revolution.”

One weakness Crath sees in conventional research in this area is the conceptualization of the human subject as purely a rational, autonomous being. A social work lens contextualizes the person as a complex bundle with a fleshly body, desires and emotions, as well as engagements in different social contexts.

Inspired by body mapping work done by Dr. Denise Gastaldo at the University of Toronto, Crath, Gaubinger and Rangel created “Embodied Mapping,” an augmented body map methodology that can capture more complexity.

The research team hired artist Helen (Xinan) Ran to create Embodied Maps with study participants. Ran’s work depicts the relational body’s entanglements with technologies, other bodies, discourses and social forces. Embodied Mapping uses multiple artistic elements with a collage effect that Crath feels is better equipped to represent complex human experiences and interactions.

Having completed data gathering for the pilot project, the team has begun sharing their findings and methodology, while pursuing funding to launch an expanded version of the pilot project.

“We want to explore how this tool could be used between a clinician and a participant,” said Crath. “It might allow a type of conversation that would not have been possible without it.”

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Helping vulnerable youth to achieve futures of promise

BY MEGAN RUBINER ZINN

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SAFE HOME

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S

usan Munsey, M.S.W. ’93 and Sherry Fine, M.S.W. ’88 work with very different populations. Munsey’s clients are young survivors of sex trafficking in San Diego, and Fine supports and educates impoverished children, primarily in Africa and Haiti. How-­­ ever, for both Smith College School for Social Work alums, the agenda is really the same: to create safe homes for some of the world’s most vulnerable children and young adults, giving them a chance at a safe and healthy life.

Sherry Fine’s professional passion began with a very personal one—the desire to be a parent. After years of teaching, she adopted two children and founded a counseling agency to help other families prepare to do the same.

Once she retired from education, she took her work a step further, creating a fund that allowed her to broaden her care to children across the world.

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In 2006, Fine took a life-changing trip to Tanzania, spending two weeks at Living Water Children’s Center (LWCC), an orphanage in Arusha, Tanzania. The children were impoverished, physically and emotionally neglected, and abused, but, as she recalled, “their resilience blew me away. They were generous, they were compassionate, they were thoughtful, and they loved education.”

In 2008, Fine was inspired by LWCC to create an NGO called the Living Water Children’s Fund (LWCF), which expanded the orphanage and built a school. Since its inception, LWCF has raised several hundred thousand dollars, $200,000 in 2017 alone, and supports a range of international programs in Tanzania, Kenya, Haiti and the United States.

Fine says, “The ethic of the Fund is that the needs and desires of the people we support emanate from the individuals themselves. They are the ones that determine the need and how best to implement the need.”

LWCF now houses 78 orphans and educates 570 children on a thriving campus with four dormitories, eight classrooms, a playground, working farm, a new secondary school and a home for teachers and staff. They also house, educate and protect children with albinism who face extreme social stigma, isolation and violence in their communities.

In addition to Living Water, LWCF sponsors the Sherry Fine and Joanne McManus Academies in Tanzania, providing teaching supplies, computers, curriculum support and teacher development. In Nairobi, Kenya, LWCF subsidizes Joy House Education Center, a school situated in the city’s second largest slum, with rent, school supplies, teacher salaries, a nurse and a soccer program. LWCF also raises scholarships for graduates to go on to secondary schools.

In recent years, LWCF has broadened its reach to Haiti and the U.S. In Haiti, it supports a kindergarten as

The needs and desires of the people we support emanate from the individuals themselves. They are the ones that determine the need and how best to implement the need.

Top: A child plays in the orphanage founded and led

by Sherry Fine, M.S.W. ’88; Bottom: The Living Water Children’s Fund provides education to more than 550 students in Arusha, Tanzania, seen here outside new classroom buildings.

well as a youth program combining sports with leadership education, after-school activities, gardening, community development and peace education. In the U.S., LWCF has given educational materials, computers and playground equipment to the Te-Moak Western Shoshone community in Nevada. In addition, Robert Schulman and his team from Allied Prosthetics made artificial devices for a young Masai amputee from Tanzania in 2014. Schulman was so inspired that he joined the board of LWCF and has made a major commitment, having completed more than 20 prosthetics for young amputees in Haiti during the past three years.

Susan Munsey is the founder of GenerateHope, a residential program in San Diego for survivors of sex trafficking. Six women live in the GenerateHope house with two in-house staff members. They stay for two years, during which they work toward their GED and prepare for college or trade school, participate

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“We have to look at the seeds we’re planting and the piece of work we’re able to do in the window of the time we have these clients with us.”

Sherry Fine, M.S.W. ’88 poses with children who benefit from her nonprofit, The Living Water Children’s Fund, which extends special support to those living with, and often ostracized because of, albinism; Below: Fine and colleagues with students.

in group and individual psychotherapy and build life skills. Volunteers also offer adjunct therapies, such as equine therapy, dance and art therapy and yoga, and community members provide pro-bono medical, dental and psychiatric care, along with legal services and tattoo removal.

Munsey, who had worked in an inpatient psych unit, a community mental health program, and in private practice, began GenerateHope in 2009 after she became aware of the epidemic in sex trafficking, especially in San Diego, which was among the top eight cities for trafficking in the country. Realizing there was no place for survivors to get treatment, Munsey and a group of colleagues launched GenerateHope, first as a half-day volunteer program,

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eventually expanding to full time.

The needs of the women who come to GenerateHope are profoundly complicated and intertwined. The average age of entry into sex trafficking is between 13 and 16. Most are coerced by traffickers, who gain their trust and keep them captive through manipulation, violence, addiction and threats to their families. Some are simply abducted. The majority of survivors have experienced some form of neglect, substance abuse and sexual and/or physical abuse. They’ve had limited formal education and little opportunity to develop basic life and social skills.

GenerateHope provides group psychology to address the trauma of the sex trade and individual trauma-informed therapy to address the women’s personal issues. They often come to GenerateHope with Stockholm syndrome or trauma bonding, and in the first several months of therapy must work to break emotional ties to their trafficker. They also focus on rebuilding a sense of self. “They’ve really been beaten down psychologically and physically and told that sex trafficking was all they’d ever be able to do, all they were good for, and that nobody else was ever going to accept them,” Munsey explained.

In spite of their adversity, Munsey observed that the women come to GenerateHope with significant coping skills and drive, qualities that helped

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them survive their ordeal. A key part of their work is helping the women rediscover these abilities and to put them toward healing and becoming independent. “It’s a challenge, but something the women step up to—learning to see themselves as valuable individuals and discovering what their strengths and talents are.”

In its eight years, GenerateHope’s model has seen marked success.

Measurements of the women’s depression, PTSD and self-esteem at six-month intervals show significant progress, and 75% of clients do not return to sex trafficking. Munsey is also preparing to open a transitional home where survivors can continue to build life skills while they reintegrate into the community.

While the work of organizations like GenerateHope is invaluable, the need for services for survivors of sex trafficking remains enormous.

According to GenerateHope, sex trafficking is a multi-billion dollar business annually and is the fastestgrowing sector of organized crime.

GenerateHope turns away an average of 20 women each month because of lack of beds and staff.

Both Munsey and Fine relish an influx of new social workers into their fields. To sustain the work they do, they are looking to practitioners with the same foundational skills that they built at Smith: excellent training in

group psychology and treatment planning and the versatility and creativity to meet a wide range of client needs.

Unsurprisingly, given her work, Fine encourages any social worker to travel internationally and immerse themselves in new culture. “Living in a culture and being the only ‘other’ is an experience we should all have.

It heightens your awareness and sensitivity.”

Because work with sex trafficking survivors is relatively new, Munsey noted, there are not yet best practices in the field. In the absence of these, she looks to practitioners with a firm grounding in trauma-informed practice and preparation to work with adolescents. “These women have been trafficked at around 15 years old, so their adolescence was stunted. We may have a woman who is 25, but she is really still in her adolescence and working through those issues.”

Munsey also recommended that practitioners learn to celebrate the day-to-day victories to keep from feeling overwhelmed in fields that have significant need. “We have to look at the seeds we’re planting and the piece of work we’re able to do in the window of the time we have these clients with us,” she cautioned. “We really have to look at those small successes and celebrate those for both the client and for us.” ◆

Cultural Foundation Advocating for children and families in social work’s second century “There are a number of grand challenges that the field of social work has determined for itself,” Professor Marsha Kline Pruett said, looking ahead to SSW’s next centennial. “Among those—the two that I can personally contribute to—one is to reduce family violence, child abuse and intimate partner violence. The second is to enhance wellbeing for children and families universally.”

Throughout her career, Pruett has contributed to this imperative by teaching and empowering parents and advocating with legal systems to better provide for families.

Pruett, who recently became the school’s associate dean of academic affairs, continues to develop and fine-tune her research and intervention programs and take on new endeavors.

Her project, the Supporting Father Involvement Intervention (SFI), which seeks to improve fathers’ engagement with their families in order to support positive child development, has opened new sites in California, Canada and England.

Pruett and her colleagues continue to test the intervention and broaden the work to more diverse groups.

Working with colleagues from the UMass Amherst Department of Psychology, Pruett is developing a new version of the SFI intervention that combines the co-parenting and couples-based curriculum with a pregnancy education curriculum to determine if it can decrease depression and stress for pregnant women.

Pruett is also using her expertise to improve the experiences of families and children in the legal system.

This includes training judges and mental health professionals in best practices to enhance the experiences of families with whom they work. Additionally, she is working with the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts, developing guidelines to help judges, lawyers and mental health professionals better understand and use research in clinical work related to legal proceedings or child determination.

“We hope those guidelines will lead the field in a direction that will help research be used effectively,” she said.

Looking to the future of social work, Pruett sees social workers as pivotal agents at this critical moment for social justice in the U.S. “At no other time have we had such challenges to be clear about what democracy means, what equity and equality mean, what it takes to get there, and who needs group support,” she said. “I think social work is going to be a part of all of that, and I know that Smith will contribute in a variety of ways to deal with those injustices.”

Pruett encourages the next generation of social workers to confront the status quo, while remaining cognizant of the challenges in the field and “very open and empathic to what organizations and sites are struggling with in this current atmosphere and environment.”

Watch a video featuring the work accomplished at Living Water Children’s Fund at www.lwccfund.org.

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Clinical Revolution

The Smith College School for Social Work at 100 THE STORY OF OUR SMITH SSW—AN ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY SHORT

ced Produ rected and di rdby awa g winnin ker filmma keret Julie A

in ction conjun with field Spring filiate PBS af WGBY

Honoring the pioneers, legends and visionaries who boldly initiated and grew Smith’s SSW into the iconic clinical school it is today.

re Premie ing screen 5 p.m.

9, June 2 2018

Sage Hall

on the s campu h t of Smi e Colleg

edu/ smith.

0 ssw/10

Featuring rarely-seen archival photos and correspondence, the legacies of Mary Jarrett, E.E. Southard, William A. Neilson, Bertha Capen Reynolds, Katherine Gabel and interviews with Howard Parad, Ann Hartman, Joyce Everett, Marianne Yoshioka, alumni and students.

Alumni News I N T H I S S EC T I O N

ALUMNI DESK ALUMNI LIVES

/ Alumni Desk /

DAWN M. FAUCHER Alumni Relations & Development Director

One Hundred Years of . . .

Just as it takes many different taglines to describe Our Smith SSW, we know and appreciate that gifts of all sizes are meaningful.”

empowering change; graduating leaders; clinical excellence; enrolling the brightest; strength in diversity; faculty distinction; passionate alumni; extraordinary community.

Choosing a theme for our Centennial Celebration was no easy task and, in the end, faculty, alumni, administrators and staff agreed that we need many taglines to hold the many things that Smith SSW is to all of its constituents.

As we at Smith SSW celebrate 100 years of empowering change and so much more, we are grateful for our many champions and supporters. Our deeply-connected network of alumni support our students, each other and the School through a myriad of volunteer activities. We also are tremendously thankful for the generosity of the College, philanthropic alumni and friends, corporations and organizations who engage, inspire and provide necessary funds to support the next generation of clinical social work scholars in their pursuit of knowledge and in empowering change here at Smith,

across the country and around the world.

In honor of our theme—Our Smith SSW: 100 Years of Empowering Change, we created the Smith College School for Social Work Centennial Fund, which will provide tuition support to our students.

To help us reach our goal of raising $100,000 in new scholarship funds, Laurie Peter, M.S.W. Class of ’91, and her partner, Betsy Bernard, have agreed to donate $50,000 in matching funds to inspire new gifts of $1,000 or more.

But, just as it takes many different taglines to describe Our Smith SSW, we know and appreciate that gifts of all sizes are meaningful. Go to www.smith.edu/ssw/100 to make your gift of any amount and help empower the next 100 years of clinical excellence at Smith College School for Social Work. Your gift to SSW today will help change the world of tomorrow! ◆

Welcome new Alumni Leadership Council Representatives In October, we welcomed Erin Matthews to the Alumni Leadership Council (ALC) as the Alumni of Color Representative. Erin, a Chicago-based school social worker served on the former Alumni Executive Committee as the Region IV (Midwest) Representative. We are excited to have Erin on board as we look to grow our networking opportunities for alumni of color.

Kelly Wise joined the ALC for our February meeting. Kelly, a Brooklyn-based clinician and founder of Wiser Sex Therapy, takes his place on the Council as the LGBTQI Alumni Representative. You can read more about Kelly on page 28 of this issue of InDepth. The full ALC will be on campus June 29th to welcome alums to the Centennial Celebration.

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/ Alumni Lives /

Alumni Lives Updates from far and near 1956 Cynthia R. Feldman writes, “Just a note to say I am officially retired from private practice BUT am consulting to staff at Goodwill of Southern Connecticut approximately nine hours a month. Their clients are intellectually and physically challenged but are interested in earning and socializing within several agency programs. I enjoy being part of a system working to enhance lives of those who often are left on the sidelines. My Smith background has encouraged me to share my knowledge and strengths.” ¾ Nancy Boyd Webb writes, “I am happy to report that the fourth edition of my text, Social Work Practice with Children, will be coming out this summer in time for fall adoption. It includes new content about gender identity issues and working with refugee and immigrant children and their families. My publisher, Guilford Press, takes great care to update all previous editions. Additionally, I’ve been working on a new presentation, ”Crisis Intervention Play Therapy with Children after Natural Disasters and Other Traumatic Events.” In March, I led a daylong training on this topic in Maryland.

I am very busy in my retirement and pleased to attend professional conferences and also to supervise clinical therapists.”

1960 Beth Choi writes, “Betty Cleckley and I have kept in touch these many decades, cheering each other on through whatever has been going on in our work, play and retirement.

We remain true to our respective activities; she with her abilities at bridge and her knowledgeable interest in antiques, and I with my dancing and writing. I’m tickled to have had publication of one of my pieces in the January 2018 issue of Highlights’ High Five magazine. Not a second research article, like mine in a Smith publication, but infinitely more fun for me.

1965 Vernon R. Wiehe writes, “I graduated from the Program for Advanced Study (PAS). After completing the PAS, I joined the staff of a family service agency in St. Louis and completed a Ph.D. in social work. I have been retired for

ten years from the College of Social Work at the University of Kentucky.

During my career, I published ten books on family violence, particularly violence between siblings.

I have appeared on numerous TV and radio programs, including The Donahue Show, discussing sibling abuse. My wife and I live in a garden home in a senior living community in Lexington, Kentucky.”

1970 Helen Bettman Cohen writes, “It is time to report on my daughter, Sarah Cohen Hammer, now almost 40, who is married to a wonderful man and has three terrific children: Evan, 7; Hadley, 5; and Ellie, 3.” ¾ Penelope Callan Partridge (ppartridge9@ icloud.com) writes, “Thinking how lucky I am to have lived this long. I have recently moved in with an old friend from Peace Corps training and am having a really good time just outside Boston. I am still trying to put words to experiences of the adopted. I feel sad that our classmate, Judy Smith, had so short a life. I can still hear her voice.

Also the voices of many of you.”

1974 Lisa Aronson writes, “I led a varied work life as a social worker.

Who would have thought that this profession would have led to such an interesting variety of avenues and continued on vigorously as I enter my 68th year! I work as a school counselor with disadvantaged immigrant youth in California and am also in private practice with university youth and faculty. I also work as a research consultant on a SAMSHA grant and as a supervisor to a social worker in the field in Asia (via Skype). I just went through the Thomas Fire in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties. I have never experienced so many days of constant stress and have a new understanding of trauma and its impact, which will hopefully help me personally and professionally.

I recall my training at SCSSW with respect and gratefulness.

Carry on with your good work!” ¾ Joel Kanter writes, “For the past two years, I have been busy researching the life and work of Selma Fraiberg (The Magic Years, Ghosts in the Nursery), arguably the most impactful clinical social worker of the past century. As many know,

Helen Bettman Cohen ’70 sends news of her daughter Sarah’s family, shown here.

she taught at Smith, published in Smith Studies and delivered a wonderful commencement address entitled “Legacies and Prophecies” in 1973 (which can be found in her Selected Writings). The project has taken me to her archives in San Francisco and for too many interviews with relatives, students and colleagues across the United States.

This March, I’ve helped organize an outstanding conference in San Francisco to honor Fraiberg on the occasion of the centenary of her birth, where outstanding colleagues discussed the impact of her work on our field. Some of my initial findings can be found on my ResearchGate web page.” ¾ Barbara Skelskie Mer writes, “I have lived in Rhode Island for more than 40 years with my husband, Benny. For the last 25 years, we have owned and operated a small business of affordable housing, which gave me great time flexibility to raise three children.

We now have five grandchildren, three local in Rhode Island and two in Ames, Iowa. Although I reluctantly gave up clinical work many years ago, I use those skills every day. My husband, who is an engineer, frequently appreciates my social work background, saying that it gave me a broad perspective and competence to approach a variety of human problems. Regarding Smith connections, I recently reconnected with Emily De LaRosa when my daughter moved to Berkeley, California. Millie is happily married and has one daughter. She is living in San Francisco and recently retired.”

1976 Elliott Silverman writes, “I retired after a gazillion years at what was at one time an innovative HMO and morphed into a very fine, very large Boston medical group. My two daughters are long ago launched.

My wife and I continue our parttime private practices but are getting in lots of travel before the decrepitude completely overtakes us. Would love to hear from old, now very old, friends.”

1978 Amy Bloom writes, “I married a great guy ten years ago. I kept writing. I see the occasional client. We now have four granddaughters (we go hard for girls), all spectacular, peculiar and delightful. I have a novel coming out in mid-February, White Houses, about the passionate love affair and enduring friendship between Eleanor Roosevelt and “First Friend’, Lorena Hickok. I have no complaints, Universe, and thank you very much.”

1979 Joan Shapiro writes, “I would like to let you know of my article published in the NYSSCSW Nassau/ Suffolk Chapter Newsletter Spring/ Summer 2017 Edition. It is entitled: What’s in a Phrase? “It Was Meant to Be” remarks on facilitating therapeutic change while encountering patient resistance. On a personal note, I was happy to meet and reminisce with Dave Meiners during his recent trip to New York after Barbara’s (French) untimely passing.

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/ Alumni News /

Announcing the 2018 Day-Garrett Medalists Centennial recipients selected from strong pool of nominations Centennial Day-Garrett Medalist Jayne M. Silberman earned her M.S.S. from Smith College School for Social Work in 1976 and went on to become a member of the first doctoral class of the NYU Silver School of Social Work.

Her distinguished career has included practice, research, teaching, supervision and consultation, as well as philanthropy that has enriched and elevated the profession. Over the years, Silberman has served the School in a variety of key volunteer positions. She also has received the NYU Distinguished Alumna Award, the Eugene Lang Junior Faculty Award and the George N. Shuster Faculty Research Award. Most recently, Dr. Silberman has pursued fine art photography. Her first book, In the Herd: A Photographic Journey with the Chincoteague Ponies and Assateague Horses, was released in 2012.

Fred Newdom, retired adjunct associate professor, former chair of the Community Practice Project and tireless social justice champion, will also be honored at the 2018 SSW Commencement with the Centennial Day-Garrett Award. For 29 years, Newdom served the Smith community as a distinguished colleague, beloved teacher, mentor and as a leader in the development and implementation of the School’s anti-racism commitment. He received his M.S.W. from Columbia University School of Social Work. He served as the project coordinator of the New York Chapter of NASW Veterans Mental Health Training Initiative and President & CEO of ProAct. In 2003, Newdom received the Smith College SSW Alumni Executive Committee Honorary Alumnus Award.

Stelios and I are enjoying our yearly summer visits to Greece, and I remain working in private practice.”

1980 Richard Caplan writes, “Just wanted to share with my classmates that I have written/published a book called The Boomer Blues. It took forever to write, but it was the most fun I’ve ever had. It is a creative memoir, and my attendance at Smith’s School

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for Social Work is, of course, in it.

Writing is actually what I set out to do in college. It is available on Amazon.com in paperback and on Kindle.” ¾ Leslie Kilpatrick writes, “I have started an online therapy practice using VSee to work with DMV teens and postpartum families who are open to this

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modality. I am living in Northern Virginia with my spouse and two sons, Aiden (2) and Keegan (infant).” ¾ Pam Raab writes, “I am living and practicing in Greenwich Village, NYC. I am enjoying the combination of clinical work, providing supervision and teaching at three psychoanalytic institutes in Manhattan. I recently gave a presentation, as part of a panel, entitled “Stones Worn Smooth: Analysts Standing in the River of Time” at the International Federation for Psychoanalytic Education conference in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. I’m hoping to see some classmates at the gathering to celebrate the School’s 100th birthday.” ¾ Bill Wechsler writes, “When I last wrote, I told you about my struggle with ALS. Well the battle goes on. But good news: I have a new granddaughter, Lucy, now nine months old born to my oldest son, Michael, and his wife, Megan. She is such a love. Wishing you all the best in 2018.”

1981 Benjamin Thompson writes, “I recently morphed my private practice of 34 years into a Counseling and Mental Skills Training for Athletes business in Northampton, Massachusetts. I’m also teaching a lab in the Athletic Counseling program at Springfield College and coaching soccer and Ultimate Frisbee at the Academy at Charlemont. This probably comes as no surprise to those of you who knew me at Smith. In retrospect, I probably should have done this a long time ago. I hope all my sports buddies, and everybody else from our class, are doing well.”

1982 Sara Jane Moss writes, “I continue my solo practice in Brattleboro, Vermont. I stay busy and still get supervision from Cynthia Shilkret. As I turned 75 this past year, I think of slowing down and retiring gradually. The only clients I now take on are former clients in some state of need. Think of so many in the A&B classes.” ¾ Deborah Sosin writes, “I published Breaking Free of Addiction: 42 Therapeutic Tools to Help You Recover from Problem Drug and Alcohol Use (Between Sessions Resources, 2017). My mindfulness-themed picture book, Charlotte and the Quiet Place, illustrated

by Sara Woolley (Parallax Press, 2015), was the 2015 Gold Winner for Best Picture Book in Foreword Reviews’ INDIEFAB Awards and the 2016 Silver Medal Winner in the IPPY Awards. I work part-time at Sameem Associates in Newton; teach at GrubStreet in Boston; and offer

writing, coaching, workshops and editing services. www.deborahsosin.com” 1983 Allyan Rivera writes, “Now living in the first building of a sustainable community called Cambrianrise, on the grounds of the former Burlington College, with stunning views of Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks. Happy to be in Bernie (Sanders) town!” ¾ Carl Warner writes, “I have been in private practice full time since 1991 and have published a major work on dreams in the psychotherapy process, Return: Dreaming and the Psychospiritual Journey. This comprehensive book covers many aspects of dreams in recovery, including addiction dreams, dreams in different stages of therapy, dreaming in trauma and abuse recovery, dreams and spirituality, healing dreams and much more. My M.A. degree in religious studies has helped inform frequent discussions of the role of spirituality and religion in the healing journey. Further, my 30-year plus involvement in the International Association for the Study of Dreams as an organizational leader, ethics chair for 22 years and frequent presenter have given me a broad, highly skilled knowledge base on dreams, one of my key passions.

Fellow clinicians often ask “How do I work with dreams?” Key sections of the book, using compelling examples, highlight how to work with dreams in a non-leading, ethical and productive manner. The false memory controversy is discussed in the dreams and trauma chapters, with some surprising information.

There is something in this engaging, well-written book for everyone, whether you are a clinician or layperson or anyone who is or will be in therapy. It is written to be accessible to all, and yet, because of its breadth and instructive value, can be used as a college or graduate-level text for dreams and dreamwork.”

1984 Julie Mencher writes, “When I launched my only son to college, I also launched a career path add-on to my clinical and teaching work: LGBT diversity consultant to preK12 independent schools across the country with an emphasis on transgender inclusion. It’s a way to get out of the late-career rut and finally get paid what social workers are worth!

If you want to brainstorm, contact me at www.juliemencher.com” 1986 Lisa Siegel writes, “I live in Wellesley, Massachusetts with my

/ Alumni Lives /

husband, David. We have three wonderful children Max (28) Olivia (21) and Noah (19). I worked for several years in different inpatient hospital settings with children and families, and then I took time off to raise my children. I didn’t return to social work, but I do work at the Wellesley high school as an assistant to the foreign language department head.

It’s fun work and allows me time to visit my kids and enjoy my summers off!” ¾ Dale Winchester writes, “I retired after a 30-year career working primarily in the mental health sector. I initially worked in New York City, being hired by second year placement. I value the education I received at SCSSW. I feel it fully prepared me as a professional. I currently am affiliated with SUNY Albany as a field liaison for the School of Social Welfare. I enjoy having a role in the development of future social work professionals. On a personal level, my life has had its ups and downs. I married the love of my life, Larry Winchester. We reunited after 27 years. Unfortunately, my children experienced my divorce from their father. My son, August Belfiglio, recently relocated to Los Angeles. He is in the sound, AI and recording field. My daughter, Olivia Belfiglio, died in a tragic fall while hiking in the Catskill Mountains. She was 17, could light up a room and was a talented artist. The grief never ends. Having a support through it all has been such a blessing.”

easing into semi-retirement while continuing to use my social work skills. This has been a very positive change for me. Additionally, I have continued my love of vocal jazz performance and have produced four jazz CDs, the latest one being Come Dance with Me: a Tribute to Jimmy Van Heusen (available on CDBaby.com). As a 13-year-old in the late 1950s, Mr. Ray Charles was invited to sit in on my audition for ABC Paramount Records. It was Mr. Charles who said, “Sign her now,” and that is exactly what happened. I recorded under the name of Barbara Lyons. It was by following the videos of performances of Johnny Cash at various prisons that I began the dream about performing at prisons.

Three jazz musicians and I formed the group Jazz Behind Bars in 2016; the band was supported through an unsolicited grant from the Frank G. Raichle Foundation. It is the goal of Jazz Behind Bars to provide prisoners with moments of hope and enjoyment to lighten the unusually dismal conditions that residents endure for hours upon hours, months upon months and years upon years.”

1988 Joanne Finkel Case writes, “I have been in private practice in Wilmington, Vermont for over 20 years, working with all ages. When my first husband died of cancer ten years ago, I got a bicycle and rode through the rough times, joining a women’s biking group for support and an outlet for my grief. Five years ago, I met a wildlife biologist and was remarried. My husband and I are now running an environmental foundation (mennenenvironmental foundation.com), and I have become an ardent environmental social worker. I have learned that change can be devastating and enlightening.” ¾ Barbara Levy Daniels (Certificate Program) writes, “In 2014, following 30 years in a solo private practice, I changed the focus of my practice from marriage and individual therapy to providing alcohol and substance evaluations as an approved provider for the Office of Alcohol and Substance Abuse Services (Dept. of Motor Vehicles in New York State). Providing evaluations for drivers who have been arrested for an alcohol-related driving violation was my way of

1990 Steven Cadwell writes, “Our son is now 24 and in a full-time job. YAY! My husband, Joe Levine, continues to do work on climate change. No denialist! I’m retiring from my clinical practice in Boston in four months. It is an intense and fulfilling process. I am doing a workshop on it the week after I retire at NSGP! Come join in! I’ll continue to teach and promote the film which I made from my show: Wild and Precious; our 60 years of gay liberation and resilience told in part through my story. The show has been well received coast-to-coast, including at Smith SSW. The film is now in the running at film festivals far and wide. Available for screenings near you. Just contact me! See the trailer at wildandprecious.org. It is a great teaching tool; musical, psychodrama, case study. I give good talk back. It speaks across generations, inspiring hope for social activism to make change for the better. Message of HOPE and activism in these wobbly times of regressive national misadministration.” ¾ Emy Fehmi writes, “I live in Santa Cruz, California with my partner and my two boys (almost

1989 George “Randy” Ingram writes, “I received a Ph.D. in history from Brandeis University and published several books. My latest book, Libertarianism: Pro and Con, analyses the causes and possible cure for our current crisis of democracy.”

2 and almost 5 years old). I have been working at Veterans Affairs here with the homeless program since 2015. I find this work to be very gratifying, and I’m happy to be a social worker!” ¾ Violet Robert Tipple writes, “Since graduation, I’ve lived and worked in Connecticut, Indiana and finally back home in Louisiana.

I am always in psychiatry, either in-patient or out-patient, public and private sector, as well as private practice. I remarried in 1994, and when he retired in 2000, we moved to a quiet little town outside of New Orleans, Abita Springs. Our four kids are scattered all over the country and come to visit for holidays and other celebrations. In 2013, I retired from the LSU Health Sciences Center, where I managed both social services and psychiatry departments of the HIV Outpatient Clinic, locally known as the HOP Clinic. I then worked part-time for a local cancer treatment center and opened a private practice. I am totally retired after falling in late 2016, followed by extensive back surgery. I look back on my time at Smith and the ensuing years as some of the richest in my life and was fortunate to have had it.”

1992 Nicole Reeher Christina writes, “I am starting a new podcast called Zestful Aging. It will be up on iTunes soon. It’s about aging with health and vitality. ¾ Vivian Olmos Hanney writes, “I recently retired from almost 33 years of health care service. I began my career as a dance/movement therapist in Chicago in 1984 and then attended SSW. I spent ten years in Northampton in outpatient mental health services at Cooley Dickinson Hospital. This was followed by eight years in Ann Arbor, Michigan’s University of Michigan Hospital and VA Medical Center. At the University of Michigan, I spent three years as a study coordinator for PTSD research, abdominal aneurysms and post-op depression research. My last four years at the University of Michigan Hospital were in pediatric oncology. These were both challenging and rewarding positions. Ann Arbor offered the gifts of world class Iyengar yoga instruction and a fabulous classical guitar teacher for seven years.

It was hard to leave such an ideal place. Following these adventures, my husband and I moved permanently to San Antonio, Texas, which is an exciting city; open minded and bilingual. It reminds us so much of Madrid and fills our need to be a part of Hispanic culture in the United States. I have been so fortunate to serve the VA

for the last ten years. I provided therapy and program development for the Psychosocial Rehabilitation Programs with a specialty in yoga and meditation to manage anxiety. I also enjoyed four years of working the on DBT Team using the Linehan model. I’m spending this first year in retirement traveling to France, Canada and Japan. I have resumed my guitar study and am involved with a local yoga studio. It’s been a wonderful ride, and I’m very excited with the next chapter of this incredible journey. So many fond memories of my ten years in Northampton and being a student at Smith College.” ¾ Sarah Hixson writes, “I have been working in rural Wyoming since soon after my graduation in a state-supported public outpatient clinic. I was recently named director of the local office of a regional clinic called High Country Behavioral Health. We treat both mental health and substance abuse problems using DBT and

IN MEMORIAM Class of 1943

Edythe Rickel Bloom Class of 1945

Natalie Joseph Epstein Class of 1952

Nancy Lein Levy Class of 1953

Elizabeth Eckhoff Davisson Angela Baird Graham Class of 1954

Louise Dine Cohen Vera Falk Class of 1958

Katherine Izawa Newton Class of 1962

Alice Angelo Class of 1965

Daria Mudry Class of 1989

Laura Hessleim William Hogan Class of 1986

Dorothy Tupper Jones Class of 1990

Judy Byck Class of 1995

Jeffrey Jensen Class of 1996

Sandra Oppenheimer

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/ Alumni Desk /

consider ourselves trauma-informed and able to provide EMDR for our participants.”

1994 Liz Gregg writes, “I have been working on a grant-funded project serving low-income seniors and disabled adults with mobility problems. There’s a team of occupational therapists, but I’m the only social worker on staff to assess mental health issues, resolve family conflict, refer to additional services, etc. I spend all day zipping around the city doing home-based work, which keeps me very busy, is very challenging and is very fulfilling! I’m still living in D.C. in an 1870s rowhouse, just blocks from the Capitol, with my husband and teenage sons. The oldest is in college, but the other two keep our family busy with theater productions, soccer games, driving lessons, etc!”

1995 Daniel Beck writes, “I am now a lecturer at Boston University School of Social Work and am supervising psychiatry residents at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. In January, I presented to

Grand Rounds at Boston Medical Center and in March will present at Grand Rounds at New York Presbyterian Hospital.”

1996 Deirdre Fay writes, “I’m thrilled to share a recent book review by an Australian magazine about my new book Attachment-Based Yoga & Meditation for Trauma Recovery that W.W. Norton Publishing (April 2017) had asked me to write for them.

The review positioned the book against other trauma theorists van der Kolk, Chu, Herman and Ogden; it also says I’m making a major contribution. Holy smokes! “If we briefly review how Herman, van der Kolk, Chu and Ogden have defined and outlined treating trauma, it becomes much more clear what a major contribution Fay has made….

This description of changes in affect regulation, consciousness and perception of self and others helps me to understand why Fay turns to both yoga and internal family systems for guidance in restoring the true self...

“Fay offers a therapeutic response to this frightening and fragmenting experience by building the safe, secure space attachment theorists describe and utilizing insights from internal family systems to honor the various self-states patients experience because of trauma fragmenting their minds.” Thanks to Smith College School for Social Work for having been such a big part of shaping me and how I contribute to the world.” ¾ Hannah Cosdon (hannahcosdon counseling.com) writes, “I maintain a private therapy practice alongside a yoga studio in Meadville, Pennsylvania, where I integrate mindfulness and body awareness with mental health treatment.” ¾ Liz Ulrich writes, “I have an upcoming collaboration with The Seattle Psychoanalytic Society and Institute and painter Susanna Bluhm!

1998 Caroline Gelman writes, “I am currently serving as the acting associate dean for academic and faculty affairs at the Silberman School of Social Work. I continue to do research on enhancing services for Latinos with Alzheimer’s disease and develop trainings for

adult protective services workers to increase likelihood of disclosure. I remain in close contact with many of my doctoral class colleagues, who have had such an important impact on my professional and personal life: Jeana Hayes Carrier, Margery Daniel, Nancy Pines, Tom Brauner and Ann Marie Garran. Many of us got together to celebrate Jeana Hayes Carrier’s well-deserved honor as one of 2017 Day-Garrett Award recipients.

1999 Barbara Basia Bolibok writes, “I would like to let you know some exciting news about my professional life. I decided to pursue full psychoanalytic training and am currently a second-year candidate at the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis (MIP) in Cambridge, Massachusetts. I am learning a lot and feel very enriched and supported to be a part of a thriving psychoanalytic community. I am also enjoying being in private practice in Northampton. I would like to express my gratitude for the fine clinical education I received at SSW that was informed by psychoanalytic thinking.”

Join us throughout 2018 for events celebrating our first 100 years of clinical excellence in social work education.

Reserve your spot for the Centennial Celebration!

CAMPUS OF SMITH COLLEGE FRIDAY, JUNE 29SUNDAY, JULY 1, 2018 details and registration at

smith.edu/ssw/100

100

Celebrating a century of our Smith SSW empowering change / graduating leaders / clinical excellence / enrolling the brightest / / faculty distinction /strength 42 / S M I in T H diversity COL L E G E SCHO O L FO R SO CIAL WO RK /

passionate alumni / extraordinary community

/ Alumni Lives /

are in palliative care and the development of social workers as leaders on interdisciplinary teams.”

Emy Fehmi ’09 sent this photo of her family.

2002 Stephen Bradley writes, “After working in agency settings in Connecticut and Massachusetts, I started teaching at SSW in 2010 and taught First Year Practice for seven years. I am now teaching an elective integrating wraparound and neurodevelopmental approaches to work with youth and families.

I’m married, and my son is 17 and graduating high school this year.

My stepson is in high school. Since 2014, I have been in private practice in Northampton, specializing in a model called the Neurosequential Model of Therapeutics.”

2003 Shawna Reeves writes, “I welcomed baby Gabriel Eugene Reeves into her life this past May. I have been Director of Elder Abuse Prevention at the Institute on Aging in San Francisco for the past four years. I continue to be wildly enthusiastic about macro geriatric social work.

I have also enjoyed being a SSW Community Practice Experience adviser for the past six years.”

2004 Matthew Czaplinski writes, “This is my first update in the 14 years since graduation, so I’ll provide a few highlights: Caryn Brady M.S.W. ’06 and I met in 2008, married in 2012, had daughter Claire in 2013 and daughter Maeve in 2015. Since leaving Cambridge Health Alliance in 2009, I’ve been in private practice, now in Arlington, Massachusetts. I supervise and occasionally teach at CHA via Harvard. Caryn left her longtime job (since internship) at MGH’s Chelsea clinic in 2015 and has a private practice in Cambridge.

In 2007, I began several years of training in IFS and am now (as the most intense demands of parenting subside) resuming training and serving as a program assistant. I’ll also be co-teaching an IFS CEU class at

Smith this summer. Caryn continues her engagement in psychodynamic training and is also participating in an IFS Level One. This year we are preparing for a move…to Northampton! We would love to connect with any Smithies who are around as we find work and community. Our contact info: mczaplinski@mindful-therapy.com, carynbradylicsw@gmail.com.”

2004 Catherine Horton writes, “This past summer I left my full-time position at Bradley Hospital, where I had been working as a therapist in an adolescent day treatment program for several years. I accepted a part-time position at Rhode Island Hospital on the adult psychiatric inpatient unit. This allowed me to open my private practice, PVD Psychotherapy in September 2017.

I have been experiencing moments of joy and deep gratitude during this process. I also had the great fortune of completing the postgraduate Contemplative Clinical Practice program at Smith the last year that it was offered in 2014/2015.

I think this program was pivotal to my personal and professional journeys, and I feel blessed that I was a part of it. I am primarily treating adolescents, families and young adults, but I have a particular interest in treating those pursuing their M.S.W. and providers who are currently working healthcare or community settings. I’m happy to provide sliding scale services to such individuals. Information about my practice can be found on my website: www.pvdpsychotherapy.com.”

2008 Sharon Harp writes, “I recently graduated from the Emory University Psychoanalytic Institute.” ¾ Arden O’Donnell writes, “I am currently in my second year getting my Ph.D. in social work at Boston University. My research interests

2011 Dianne Terp writes, “Liz Johnston, M.S.W. ’84, Ph.D. ’13, and I have co-authored and published two articles: “Dynamics in Couples (Alzheimer’s Disease)” Clinical Gerontologist and “Support is a Complicated Concept: A Social Work Practice Reflection on Support and Anxiety,” Clinical Social Work Journal. The second article was presented at IAGG World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics, San Francisco, July 2017. The article is available as ‘Online First’: http:// link.springer.com/article/10.1007/ s10615-018-0650-0.”

2013 Bronwyn Shiffer writes, “I am enjoying my sunny condo in Madison, Wisconsin. I provide end-of-life care to patients and families at Agrace Hospice Care.”

2014 Tracye Polson writes, “I graduated from the Ph.D. program in 2014. My news is that I am running for the Florida House of Representatives District 15. In addition to my private practice, I also volunteer for a non-profit that provides retreats for post 9/11 military vets with PTSD, and I am on the Advisory Board for the University of North Florida’s B.S.W. and M.S.W. Programs.”

2015 Heather Floyd writes, “Since graduating from SCSSW in the summer of 2015, I have started my career as a psychotherapist working for Behavioral Health Network at the Child Guidance Clinic. I have moved to Easthampton, Massachusetts, and I have been focusing on my physical health. In November of 2017, The Springfield Republican (newspaper of western Massachusetts) published a piece I wrote about working with a client facing end-of-life issues. It was a pleasure to write on behalf of my agency.”

assisted psychotherapy, my dream job. The first time I heard about Spirit Reins, I knew I wanted to be involved with the groundbreaking trauma work being done with clients and horses. I envisioned the work that I would be doing after graduation as something non-traditional. I don’t like being in an office, in fact I hate it, and feel like I am my best self when I’m outside. With a herd of 30+ horses roaming the grounds as you enter, sun filtering through the live oaks during client sessions, the smell of lavender underfoot in the big pasture; I have come to see this the ranch as a place of profound healing. I am grateful each day I come into work, not only for the clinical staff but also, to the horses, who help clients experience safe, meaningful and healing connection.

I am learning specific trauma informed practices that involve horses as an intervention method but I also get to use everything I’ve learned during my internships and outside trainings while at Smith. Being with the horses and other animals everyday has required so much reflection and honesty. They require that we bring our authentic selves to the table. There’s no hiding feeling dysregulated or having a bad day for example. I am learning how to honor those parts of my experience so I can be present and embodied clients.

This feels like a gift.” ¾ Martha Early writes, “I am happy to share that I just started a new job as a psychotherapist at my TherapyNYC, a group practice in New York City that specializes in LGBT affirmative treatment, trauma work and couples therapy. The website includes an announcement about me joining the team, as well as a blog post I wrote. mytherapynyc.com/ effective-psychotherapy-experience.

I’m excited about my first real post-Smith job and happy to share the good news.”

2016 Julia Fogelson writes, “I am celebrating one year of working as a behavioral health therapist at Planned Parenthood-Northern California. I have enjoyed attending reproductive health advocacy events throughout the year.”

2017 Julia Alexander writes, “I moved across the country in September to work in trauma-informed equine

Julia Alexander ’17

S P RING 2 01 8

/ 43 /

/ Post Script /

Mary Jarrett “The qualifications of the psychiatric social worker are a) a certain natural fitness, b) education and c) professional training.

She must be, of course, intelligent, well-balanced, sympathetic and adaptable, with an interest in individuals, and then she must have the ability to think clearly and patiently and to observe closely.”

—Mary Jarrett, Careers for Women, Issue XXVI, 1920 In the months leading up to July 1918, Smith College administrators and professionals in the emerging mental health field sought a leader for what was to be called the Training School for Psychiatric Social Work, the first program of its kind. When they hired Mary Jarrett, they could not have recognized the visionary they’d recruited.

At 42, Jarrett had already worked as a teacher, probation officer and chief of social service at the Boston Psychopathic Hospital— a career path far beyond what most women navigated. She would model the school after a hands-on apprenticeship she’d run for four years in Boston, through which she highlighted the link between psychiatry and social work, forever changing treatment and prompting a radical evolution of clinical care.

/ 44 /

S M I T H COL L E G E SCHO O L FO R SO CIAL WO RK

A single focus on clinical social work education with an anti-racism lens Smith College School for Social Work Theory Driven, Research Informed Located in Northampton, Massachusetts, both our M.S.W. and Ph.D. programs follow our unique block structure, alternating concentrated periods of rigorous on-campus education with off-site training at leading clinical or research sites around the country.

You’ll have double the time in the field than other programs, with the support of an on-site supervisor and a faculty field adviser.

More experience. More supervision. More recognition.

APPLICATION DEADLINES

M.S.W. Early Decision: January 5 M.S.W. Regular Decision: February 21 Ph.D. Priority: February 1 Ph.D. Final: February 28

smith.edu/ssw sswadm@smith.edu

Tell someone you know about SSW and encourage them to apply.

M.S.W./Ph.D.

| Clinical Research Institute | Post-M.S.W. Professional Education | Certificates

Lilly Hall Northampton, MA 01063 smith.edu/ssw

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

2018 Public Lecture Series in Social Work LECTURES ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

RAPOPORT CONVOCATION LECTURE RAPOPORT ANTIRACISM LECTURE

E. DIANE DAVIS LECTURE

BROWN RESEARCH LECTURE

Lenelle Moïse Sunday, June 3 Convocation 4:15–5:15 p.m.

Weinstein Auditorium Wright Hall

Dr. Ellen R. DeVoe Saturday, June 30 9:30–11 a.m.

Weinstein Auditorium Wright Hall

Dr. Karina Walters Monday, July 23 7:30–9 p.m.

Weinstein Auditorium Wright Hall

Dr. Dawn Belkin Martinez Monday, June 18 7:30–9 p.m.

Weinstein Auditorium Wright Hall

Weinstein Auditorium is wheelchair accessible.

Continuing Education Credits are available with a registration fee of $15 per lecture. Those who wish to earn CECs should arrive 15 minutes ahead to register and pay in person (check or money order only).

The Public Lecture Series in Social Work focuses on leading edge issues in clinical social work, anti-racism and their intersections. For more details on the speakers and their topics, visit smith.edu/ssw.