Tapping Each Other

Nationwide alumni network of area coordinators builds connection and community

In Kate Leslie’s everyday professional life as an eating disorder psychotherapist in private practice, she spends a lot of time one on one with clients and much less of it commiserating with fellow clinicians.

But since 2016, Leslie, M.S.W. ’07, has had one consistent way to connect with fellow social workers in the Boulder, Colorado region: as an area coordinator for Smith College School for Social Work. In this role, she helps plan and host alumni gatherings to build SSW community, even when far from the campus.

“The alumni networking opportunities are just really lovely,” said Leslie, who co-coordinates with Stephanie Small, M.S.W. ’04. “I find it’s really enriching and keeps me connected to people who are visionaries. And it always feeds me, because our work is really hard.”

Leslie and Small are two of 10 area coordinators across the nation—in places from Richmond, Virginia, to Portland, Oregon—who volunteer to plan biannual gatherings for SSW alumni with the logistical and financial support of SSW’s Office of Alumni Engagement. Meetups have ranged from potlucks to more formal gatherings at local restaurants.

According to Katie Potocnik Medina, the director of alumni engagement at SSW, “it was common for SSW alumni to graciously host potluck gatherings in their homes, particularly to welcome students who were completing their placements in the same area.”

In addition to organizing regional events several times a year, area coordinators liaise between SSW and the alumni community at a local level. Support is provided by the alumni engagement office toward the goal of supporting volunteerism and building connections.

Beyond building community and making room for a supportive space in a career that can be draining, alumni meetups also provide opportunities for networking and mentorship.

“It’s been a great opportunity for peer consultation and for young recent grads to learn to open their private practices,” Leslie said, adding that the meetings also offer “a lot of opportunities to set up supervision opportunities or to find out ways to enrich their work,” such as clinicians with psychodynamic training offering insights to alumni in earlier-career agency placements.

“I encourage anyone to sign up and volunteer,” Leslie said. “It is really a net positive in your life.”

Anyone interested in becoming an area coordinator can email Katie Potocnik Medina at kmedina@smith.edu. —Kira Goldenberg