Easing the Burden

Houston’s Menninger Scholars program sets a lead

Concerned about the debt that its students carry, SSW launched the Menninger Scholars Program, an innovative partnership with the renowned Menninger Clinic in Houston, Texas.

The new program is the brainchild of Dean Marianne Yoshioka, M.S.W., MBA, Ph.D., Associate Dean Irene Rodríguez-Martin, Ed.D., and Field Director Katelin Lewis-Kulin, M.S.W. ’00.

“We are trying to be creative in helping our students to achieve their clinical goals,” said Rodríguez-Martin. “And we’ve been looking to address the fact that many of our students come here with a great amount of debt. The internships they do as part of the degree program are usually unpaid. On top of the thirty hours a week they work at their internships, about seventy percent of our students work part-time to support themselves. Many of them struggle with a big financial burden.”

To ease that burden, SSW set out to find placement locations that offered exceptional learning opportunities, affordability and, when possible, diverse populations that would help students feel safe and welcome in their placements. Houston, for example, has a cost of living that is lower than the national average, comparing very favorably to cities such as New York City and San Francisco.

Menninger Scholars receive a generous package of support: a $3,000 merit scholarship, a living stipend of $300 a month during their placement, and up to $1,000 for travel between Northampton and Houston. There is also $500 allocated in support of conference attendance. The package is in addition to any financial aid the student is already receiving.

In 2020–21 the School will select between two and five of its strongest second-year students to become Scholars. A similar arrangement will be set up in Austin, Texas; students doing placement there will each receive a living stipend, up to $1,000 for travel between Texas and Northampton and $500 in conference monies.

The Menninger Clinic is also excited about the partnership. It has committed to contributing an additional $1,000 stipend for each student. The clinic has a storied history, pioneering treatments for mental illness since its founding in 1925. To cite just one example, after World War II, it trained hundreds of psychiatric residents at its facilities to work with veterans suffering from combat stress. Ranked among the top five psychiatric hospitals in the nation, the clinic continues to provide outstanding care to adolescents and adults with complex and difficult-to-treat disorders.

With programs that treat clients who struggle with anxiety, PTSD, addiction, depression, personality disorders or other issues, the clinic is well positioned to help Scholars pursue their chosen area of specialization. The clinic also collaborates with Houston-based organizations to deliver mental health care to underserved areas of the city. The need for social services among the city’s poor and marginalized populations is real: according to a 2017 Mayoral Task Force on Equity report, nearly a quarter of the city’s residents live in poverty.

Rodríguez-Martin hopes that this program is just the beginning of a rich, long-term relationship—and that similar arrangements with other leading institutions might be in the offing. SSW is hoping to develop partnerships in other cities such as Atlanta and Durham.

“This kind of partnership is rare,” said Rodríguez-Martin. “We couldn’t do it without the generosity of the Mayer family. SSW is the very fortunate beneficiary of an endowment from their foundation to be used for the development of clinicians primarily in Texas, and also in Colorado.”—Faye Wolfe

SPOKEN WORD

“ As social workers, we are artists. We have the power to utilize our collective and creative voices to heal individuals, groups, communities and ultimately, the planet.” —NICHOLE WOFFORD, PH.D. ’19, from 2019 commencement Ph.D. address

Through a Wider Lens

Psychodynamic theory keeps clinicians on track

At SSW, Tara Bredesen, M.S.W. ’18, became keenly interested in how psychodynamic theory can “speak to social problems like racism.” Her scholarship in that area led her to join a panel of presenters at the APA Division 39 spring meeting in 2019 on “Trauma and Undocumented Migration: Psychoanalytic Experiences with a Contemporary Crisis.”

As a Bay Area clinician, Bredesen works with children and their caregivers. Her agency emphasizes several less psychodynamic approaches but she views all models with a psychodynamic lens.

“I think behavioral models can be too narrow for young children,” said Bredensen, “they may not take into account the environmental piece, and they put responsibility for change on the kid. It can too quickly become a punitive framework.” In her sessions, Bredesen encourages exploration of deep feelings, fantasies and memories and looks to unpack symbolic language.

Bredesen speaks enthusiastically about her work, despite the fact that many of her clients can’t escape ongoing traumatic situations. “When I get discouraged, I remind myself that children are always healing, that trauma gets metabolized, and what I have to do is help them do that.”

Like Bredesen, Jixia Ao, M.S.W. ’18, presented at last year’s APA Division 39 meeting, on “Queer and Gender-Expansive Clinicians of Color Talk Psychoanalysis: A Dialogue Across Difference.” Ao also believes psychodynamic training imparts important tools—and a more inclusive perspective.

“I pay close attention to relationship dynamics, to transference and counter-transference. I work with homeless youth, and there are a lot of scheduling problems. It’s frustrating, unsettling, unpredictable. By recognizing how it makes me feel, I gain insight into how their lives feel.”

Summing up, Ao said, “I’m very glad I learned psychodynamic theory, but it needs to do better in engaging with social realities, to be less focused on the single family unit. It has the potential to widen your lens, to take into account power, oppression and privilege and consider the effects of class, gender, race, disability. Talking about race and other ‘isms’ is not only relevant but also essential to developing useful, insightful and powerful theory and practice.”—Faye Wolfe

PROFESSIONAL ED CORNER

Webinars bring CE choices to your desk

SSW Professional Education now offers a series of inspiring and lively webinars on pressing contemporary issues that are grounded in the School’s commitment both to clinical practice and anti-racism. Topics range from supporting trans-identified individuals, cultural considerations in improving end of life care to changing the narrative around suicidality.

Offering education on contemporary social work issues “helps people expand skills into new areas,” said Mary Curtin, M.S.W. ’00, manager of SSW Professional Education.

One recent webinar on how to conduct social work assessments for immigrants seeking asylum offered “a tangible way that social workers could get involved and help people try to stay in this country,” said Curtin.

And the webinars are easy to access, too. Typically held during the noon lunch hour, clinicians can earn a 1.5 CEs without leaving their desks. For clinicians who can’t attend the live session, webinars are recorded so they can be watched after the fact.

“I’m also always looking for new webinar proposals,” said Curtin. “We select topics from those identified in last year’s alumni survey but new ideas are always welcome.”

For clinicians interested in offering a webinar, visit ssw.smith.edu/submitaproposal