Alumni Desk

In Solidarity: Finding community in new and inspiring ways

DAWN M. FAUCHER Alumni Relations & Development Director

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic has been felt across the globe and life as we know it has changed dramatically. The School responded swiftly and has undertaken drastic measures to protect our students, staff and faculty during this uncertain time. Most notably, Dean Yoshioka announced the decision to move all SSW graduate courses to alternate modes of instruction for summer 2020.

This change is not ideal. A large part of what makes Smith College School for Social Work special is the structure of our program; our alums and students cherish their on-campus community formed in the summer months, as well as their field community formed with alumni, field faculty and supervisors.

Even in this most challenging time, I continue to be inspired. From the tireless work being done by our dean, faculty and administrators, to you all— our incredible alums. Your tremendous outpouring of support to the School and to each other, whether through sharing tips for transitioning to telehealth or offering peer support groups, is heartening and demonstrates that no matter the distance, our Smith SSW remains as strong as ever. I could not be more proud to belong to such an amazing community!

I know that new hardships and questions will arise in the weeks and months ahead but I am certain that we will address them as a community and find innovative ways to support one another.

As we navigate this unsettling crisis, know that all of us at SSW are here for you. And finally, if you are in a position to do so, please consider supporting our students by making a financial contribution online to the School for Social Work Student COVID-19 Emergency Fund. ◆

Alumni Lives

Updates from far and near

1968

Joyce Bonafield-Pierce writes, “My husband and I, along with a small group of Americans, have been volunteering our time in Tanzania, Ghana and Ethiopia in both health care and education development over the last 11 years.”

1973

Lucille Spira writes, “I am co-teaching a course: What the Analyst Does at the American Institute of Psychoanalysis, NYC (Certificate Training Program in Psychoanalysis).”

1975

Frank Donlon writes, “It’s been a very long time since I received my degree from Smith in 1975. Although I had launched my career in social work prior to coming to Smith, the M.S.W. degree and the education that I received at Smith created endless opportunities and many rich and rewarding experiences. Overall, my career spanned just over 40 years. I worked within public agencies and for private organizations, as well as in private practice. I was employed in a variety of direct service, supervisory and administrative positions, and was fortunate to have been able to retire at the age of 60, which is now over 12 years ago! From time to time I have re-visited Smith, most recently in 2018 for the 100th anniversary celebration. It is always a rejuvenating experience that leaves me refreshed and revitalized. My most recent effort has been the publication of a book entitled The Accumulation of Small Advantages: A Formula for Living a Successful and Meaningful Life. It is currently available on Amazon Books in paperback form. I am in the process of arranging for 100% of the profits from sales of the book to be donated to agencies that are involved in clinical work with children and families. I feel that it is the most logical extension of my career into my post retirement years. Although I look back in amazement at how quickly the years have evaporated, I can’t have hoped for a more meaningful and important way to have spent my life.”

1978

Kathleen Carroll writes, “Greetings! For me, retirement is rich in volunteer work: I’m an active member of the San Diego Rotary Club 33, I sell books at the local library, and my husband Joe and I tutor first graders in reading. Next year, we will celebrate our 30th anniversary with a cruise around the British Isles.”

1979

Lorna Christensen writes, “I am joyfully living in Del Mar, California with my husband, Richard, who is a retired associate director of the Super Computer Center at UCSD. I made the leap to retire spring of 2019, after 40+ years in health care and the last 30 in private practice with a specialty in EMDR. I’m managing my assets in other areas now: financial, physical, relational and spiritual. I am enjoying the freedom of time and choice. And I’ve been able to return to some creative passions (mixed media acrylics), more regular exercise (weight lifting, hiking & yoga) and we have many travel plans. Two years ago we went to Bhutan, Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia. This year to New Zealand—something I’ve dreamt about for years. My M.S.W. from Smith has provided me with so much, and I always said, it’s not a career, it’s a calling. And my soul is calling me to something different now!”

1982

Caitlin Ryan writes, “I’m continuing to implement the evidence-based family support model that I’ve developed over the past two decades with the Family Acceptance Project (FAP) to help families to reduce risk and promote well-being for LGBTQ children and youth. I spent much of last year integrating core components of FAP’s model into TF-CBT. TF-CBT changed their model to include rejecting parents and FAP parenting approaches based on my research and found that these modifications and addressing stigma were effective for improving PTSD symptoms in trauma-impacted LGBTQ youth. During the past year, I also launched our new evidence-based Healthy Futures poster series to increase awareness of our research findings (often compared to ACEs) on how specific family rejecting and accepting behaviors contribute to risk and well-being for LGBTQ young people at familyproject.sfsu.edu.”

1985

Janet Esposito writes, “It feels a bit surreal to me, but I will be retiring from my private practice at the end of March 2020. I will be turning 63 when I make this transition. I decided to give myself the gift of unscheduled/uncommitted time to rediscover myself beyond my work life of 35 years. I want to have more time to do other things that interest me when I have good health (hopefully for many more years to come). I am very grateful to have had such a meaningful, fulfilling and lucrative career over all of these years. I am sure I will feel a sense of loss when I leave, though I am feeling ready to step into this new chapter of my life.”

1988

Kathleen Shaw writes, “My husband, Steve, and I are enjoying empty nesting in Newburyport, MA. This past year I travelled with our oldest daughter, Leah throughout Southeast Asia while she was teaching English in Taiwan. Our youngest, Quinn is a junior at Skidmore College. I continue to work in both the public and private sector as a family therapist for early intervention and child and family therapist in private practice. I sit on the Newburyport Human Rights Commission and am on the board of directors of Community Action, Inc. I have also been a tour leader for three adolescent and family service trips to Kenya with the Newburyport Youth Services and Kenya’s Divinity Foundation. Our work there has focused on schools, orphanages and a FGM Rescue Center in the Amboseli region.”

1990

Martha Sweezy (M.S.W.) writes, “In the last few years I have co-edited and co-written a number of books on internal family systems therapy (IFS), including Internal Family Systems Therapy, 2nd Edition, with Richard Schwartz; The IFS Skills Training Manual: Trauma-Informed Treatment for Anxiety, Depression, PTSD & Substance Abuse with Frank Anderson and Richard Schwartz; and Intimacy from the Inside Out: Courage and Compassion in Couple Therapy with Toni Herbine-Blank and Donna Kerpelman. I am an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, where I teach IFS with Nancy Sowell, IFS lead trainer, and Richard C. Schwartz, IFS founder, and I have a private practice in downtown Northampton, MA.

1994

Liz Gregg writes, “I live in Washington, D.C., and continue to work at a grant funded program through the D.C. Department of Aging. My program serves lowincome seniors and adults with disabilities who need micro-grants to modify their home environment to improve their mobility and help them age in place more safely by reducing their risk of falls. As the only social worker on the program, my role is to manage any complications including family conflict, hoarding disorder, mental health issues, extreme poverty, illiteracy, cognitive decline, immigration status and any other challenges that prevent the individual or family from accessing services. I am on the move all day, doing home visits, and the work has been challenging and meaningful!” ¾ Leah Harp writes, “I serve on the boards of the Institute for Clinical Social Work and City Elementary, a therapeutic elementary school I helped cofound. I live in Minneapolis, MN. In my spare time, I am a streetcar driver for the Minnesota Streetcar Museum. Recently, I participated in an event honoring the Mottorettes, the women who drove the streetcars during WWII that was featured in the Minnesota Star Tribune.”

1997

Martha Sweezy (Ph.D.) See note in 1990.

2002

Judy Liss writes, “Sabine Cornelius, LCSW-C, Ph.D. has joined me at The Chrysalis Group, Inc., a private psychotherapy group in Bethesda, MD. We have been friends since our days at Smith and are very excited to be working together.”

2003

Shawna Reeves writes, “I was quoted in the Bloomberg News article “‘Trusted’ Professionals Target the Assets of America’s Elderly” on October 21, 2019. I work for the Institute on Aging in San Francisco, CA where I have been the director of elder abuse prevention for the past six years.”

2005

Samantha Good writes, “I presented a paper entitled “They Say Goldfish Have No Memory: Learning to Swim with an Autistic and Traumatized Patient” at the Canadian Psychoanalytic Society Annual Congress in Vancouver, BC in June 2019. I will also be presenting a paper entitled “No Memory, No Desire: A Confrontation with Missing Pieces” at the Northwest Alliance for Psychoanalytic Study Annual Forum Conference in Seattle, WA in April 2020.” ¾ Kelly Wise writes, ““Wiser Sex Therapy continues to grow expanding in both Brooklyn and Manhattan. Having just finished EMDR training with Laurel Parnell, I look forward to using this trauma-centered modality with our clients. As I enter my second year on the Alumni Leadership Council, I am grateful for the opportunity to access the pulse of our unique program. Meeting new students and witnessing the evolution of my colleagues only further affirms my belief in the power of Smith to make a difference.”

2007

Tova Feldmanstern writes, “I am sending my sincere regards to the beloved SCSSW community and am excited to announce the launch of my private practice in Berkeley, CA. After many years working on staff at the UC Berkeley and San Jose State University Counseling Centers, I have particular expertise working with university students, student veterans, artists and the LGBTQIA+ community and can be found at tovafeldmansterntherapy.com.”

2008

Duncan Nichols writes, “A hearty hello to my classmates in the class of 2008. I am currently in private practice with about 3/4 of my clients being boys and young men (12–22). I spend a lot of my free time working on climate issues. At present, myself and a few other social workers are working on presenting a report to the state health department on neglect around our state government not acting fast enough on climate.”

2012

Karen Taylor writes, “I am wrapping up nearly four years as the trauma specialist at the counseling center of the U.S. Naval Academy and will soon be taking on the role of trauma coordinator at the Johns Hopkins University Counseling Center. Currently, I am most excited about trading a two-plus hour daily driven commute for under 20 minutes total walking, as I live about five blocks away from JHU! I am hoping to be able to develop JHU as a Smith field placement site in a year or two, as well.”

2013

Asher Pandjiris writes, ““Asher Pandjiris is a queer, white, non-binary parent. They are an art-maker, an activist, a psychotherapist, a podcaster (Living in this Queer Body: A podcast about barriers to embodiment and how our collective body stories can bring us back to ourselves) and group facilitator. She is someone living with auto-immune based chronic health issues. Asher is a scholar of critical, psychoanalytic, and mindfulness-based theories. Asher chases the sun whenever they can and has a small dog named Pickle. They currently reside on Lenape land in Brooklyn, NY and want to keep this in the front of mind more often. Asher received a masters of arts in visual and critical studies in 2007 and a masters of social work from Smith College in 2013. In 2017, they completed a certificate program at The Stephen Mitchell Center for Relational Studies. Additionally, they served as the program director at Balance Eating Disorder treatment center and have years of experience working with issues related to trauma and its impact on the body. Asher has published on the topics of intergenerational trauma transmission, the treatment of eating disorders, sexual assault in the music industry, and gender dysphoria. In 2019, her co-authored chapter was published in Sex, Sexuality, and Trans Identities: Clinical Guidance for Psychotherapists and Counselors (Jessica Kingsley Publishers). Asher’s work is rooted in a belief that healing intergenerational wounds is in service of our collective liberation.”

2016

Julia Simone Fogelson writes, “I am having an exciting 2020. I finished the 3,000 hours for licensure in the state of California and have opened up my own private practice in Albany. I am also getting married this year to my sweetheart, whom I met in San Francisco while in my second field placement.”

2017

Michiko Mitsunaga-Whitten writes, “I published a paper; “A Qualitative Follow-Up Study of MDMA-assisted Psychotherapy for Military Veterans, Firefighters, and Police Officers with TreatmentResistant PTSD: Key Findings and Research Recommendations” (2019) along with Barone, William; Beck, Jerome; Mitsunaga-Whitten, Michiko; and Perl, Phillip in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. I also started my own private practice in Boulder, CO last month, called Kintsugi Psychotherapy. I work primarily with undergraduate and graduate students, specifically students of color, using contemporary psychodynamic and relational modalities along with Internal Family Systems (IFS).”

2018

Madeline Freeman writes, “I celebrated my 1-year work anniversary at Cambridge Health Alliance’s Elder Service Plan, a wrap-around health care program for low-income older adults. After getting to know my many patients, I started a group in the program’s Adult Day Health Center called “Decompress Your Stress,” a group rooted in mindfulness meditation, reminiscing, and some classical music. On a personal level, I just landed the role of the baker’s wife in Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods at a local community theatre.” ¾ Jocelyn Schur writes, “It’s been a full year working as both an inpatient social worker at Mclean Hospital and Cambridge Health Alliance’s PACE (Program of AllInclusive Care for the Elderly). I’m thrilled to be kicking 2020 off as the new vocational counselor at Gould Farm’s Boston Area Program.”

Obituaries

InDepth runs obituaries that are submitted by family, friends or classmates. Please submit obituaries to indepth@smith.edu or to InDepth, Smith College School for Social Work, Northampton, MA 01063. InDepth obituaries are 100-word notices for the alumni community and are not intended to repeat all of the information contained in newspaper obituaries.

Chester Villalba, M.S.W. ’68

February 1, 2019: Villalba’s boundless love, energy, good-naturedness, curiosity, generosity, and humor were qualities that stayed with him through good and difficult times. Villalba’s career in social work and social service administration spanned more than 50 years. He was executive director of the Marin Family Service Association and later became executive director of the Family Service Association of the Mid-Peninsula. After retiring from Family Service, he served as the interim executive director of organizations that were in the process of transition—including the Coyote Point Museum. He was a valued member of a variety of social work societies, committees, and educational institutions.

Barbara Hull Richardson M.S.W. ’73

March 23, 2019, Keene, New Hampshire: Hull Richardson graduated from Bryn Mawr in 1944. Originally a substitute teacher, she went on to work as a social worker at a South Boston settlement house. In 1966, she joined the State of New Hampshire’s Division of Welfare. After earning her M.S.W., she became an administrator and wrote child services policy, worked on open adoption policy and policy to allow for adoption and foster care by gay and lesbian individuals. Hull Richardson was elected to nine terms in the New Hampshire State Legislature, served on a number of non-profit and educational boards, was a founder of Cheshire Housing Trust, and a supporter PACE (Promoting Active Civil Engagement) and Open Democracy. Edna Stamp, M.S.W. ’00 March 23, 2019, Cambridge, Massachusetts Stamp was one of the first women to become a mainframe computer programmer at International Paper in New York City. She was an active member of the Cambridge community, serving on the boards of the Cambridge Council on Aging and Somerville-Cambridge Elder Services and advocating for elders through various community initiatives including in-home services and affordable senior housing. She is survived by her three children, Laurie Stamp, Paula Topjian and Anthony Stamp; and four grandchildren.

Julie A. Stone, M.S.W. ’03, LCSW

September 9, 2019: Serving over 10 years as a family preservationist with the Methodist Home for Children, Stone provided critical guidance to families at risk of losing custody of their children due to abuse or neglect. Stone also went on to open a private practice as a mental health therapist where she excelled. She is remembered as authentic, warm, brilliant and engaging with a fantastic sense of humor. Stone is survived by many adoring family members including her mother, Jane Architzel, wife, Betsy Kahn, sisters Debbie and Becky, brother John, children Meghan, Ryan, Shawnee, KS, Dylan, Zach and Dominic.