Fall 2017 InDepth magazine by Smith College School for Social Work

InDepth SMITH COLLEGE SCHOOL FOR SO CIAL WORK

FALL 2017

I N THI S ISSUE HISTORIC PARALLELS BRIDGING THE GAP THERAPEUTIC IMPROV

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.

Putting cameras into the hands of Hartford youth who capture the beauty of their hometown.

MANAGING EDITOR

Myrna Flynn DESIGN

Lilly Pereira Maureen Scanlon Murre Creative CONTRIBUTORS

Dawn Faucher Myrna Flynn Dane Kuttler Laurie Loisel Tynan Power Megan Rubiner Zinn PRINCIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY

Shana Sureck

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

InDepth S M I T H COL L EG E S C H OOL F OR S OCI A L WO RK

FALL 2017

F E AT URE S

How We Got Here Historic parallels emerge as anti-immigrant rhetoric returns in America.

20 F O L LOW U S O N :

Facebook facebook.com/ smithcollegessw Twitter twitter.com/ smithcollegessw Instagram instagram.com/ smithcollegessw Lynda Moy shares an embrace following the SSW Commencement ceremony on August 18.

YouTube bit.ly/SSWYouTube

Bridging the Gap

Professor Jim Drisko passionately connects research and practice with his students.

Yes, and…

SSW alums find value in therapeutic improv.

DEPA RTMEN TS

02 From the Dean A note from Marianne Yoshioka

03 SSWorks School News + Updates Faculty Notes Student Focus

31 Alumni News Alumni Desk Day-Garrett Winners In Memoriam Alumni Profile

40 Post Script An End Note

ON TH E COVER

Therapeutic improv participants engage in group exercise at the Oakland, Calif. practice owned by SSW alums. Photo by Jerry Downs Photography.

/ SSWorks /

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

Looking Forward

SSWorks News from Lilly Hall

IN THIS SECTION

In April, I will deliver the keynote at the Women of Color Conference, a first-of-its kind partnership between the College and SSW.

/ 02 /

As we enter into our 100th year, there is much upon which we will proudly reflect. Over decades, due to contributions of our tremendous faculty, the brilliance of our student bodies and the wisdom and support of our alumni, the Smith College School for Social Work has earned a reputation for providing a unique brand of clinical social work education with an anti-racism lens. While the School has gone through many periods of change and growth, our commitment to excellence in pedagogy and practice has been unwavering. Since the School’s founding in 1918, the relationship between it and the College has also evolved. In the earliest days, President Neilson partnered with the Boston Psychopathic Hospital, agreeing to provide classroom and residential facilities for an emergency training course that would prepare medical staff to treat soldiers returning from World War I. In 1919, that independent course became the Smith College Training School for Social Work, led by Smith sociology professor F. Stuart Chapin. Through the years, the School has continued to benefit from the College’s beautiful buildings, residential and meeting spaces and, of course, the King/ Scales building. Recently, we have worked to more effectively integrate our support services with those of the College and, in turn, have also considered more impactful contributions that SSW can make to the College and its undergraduate students. These are just a few of the resources with which we have created or deepened partnerships: ■ Jacobson Center for Writing, Teaching & Learning ■ Schacht Center for Health & Wellness

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

National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity ■ Campus Police & Emergency Response Team ■ Office of Inclusion, Diversity & Equity ■ Office of Disability Services ■ Center for Religious & Spiritual Life ■

Moving forward, President McCartney, Provost Rowe and I envision greater infrastructural integration between the School and the College and, where possible, programmatic collusions as well. We foresee ways to strengthen both SSW and the College through strategic collaborations in areas such as continuing education, the registrar and financial management. We have already seen similar efforts succeed in communications, alumni and development and financial aid. There are important ways that the College can also benefit from the expertise and experience of SSW faculty and students, too. We frequently present at and participate in meetings with the College that address issues of social justice and anti-racism. In April, I will deliver the keynote at the Women of Color Conference, a first-of-its kind partnership between the College and SSW. The resources that we have developed to advance our gender competence in the classroom, on campus and in the field have been well received by the College. Our conferences, public lectures and faculty work also contribute to Smith’s prominence and reputation. As SSW begins its second century, we look forward to forging additional partnerships that will ultimately enhance the education of all students across the Smith College campus. ◆

SCHOOL NEWS FACULTY NOTES STUDENT FOCUS

Director of Campus Sustainability Dano Weisbord during a survey atop Ford Hall, a LEED Gold certified building with features including a green roof and solar panels that provide electricity to the structure.

/ SSWorks /

and skilled the students are, and with how seriously the administration takes this issue,” Shlasko said. “The admin not only welcomed the students’ feedback but decided to invite and support the students’ ongoing leadership. This is the way an institution should hold itself accountable to internal constituents who point out gaps or unmet needs.” One of the team’s main challenges has been figuring out how to address a student body and faculty that are in very different places when it comes to trans and gender non conforming competencies. “We recognize that everyone is coming into the Smith community with their own experiences, expectations, beliefs and knowledge about TGNC identities,” said student advocate Noah Cochran. The group worked through the spring to develop a suite of gender and TGNC competency resources and tools to be used by the wider Smith community. The group embraced an intersectional approach to the project and created a new webpage to house the resources. It explains that the School for Social work has “ongoing

Trans and gender nonconforming student advocates Rickey Thorn, Jixia Ao and Noah Cochran (right) with Davey Shlasko, adjunct professor, and SSW assistant professor Rory Crath (left).

Trans 101 Listening and learning together

In July 2016, a group of students released an open letter to the School for Social Work community: three-and-ahalf pages of carefully-worded bullet points and a collective signature to avoid isolating or targeting any specific student. It explained the lack of support for trans and gender nonconforming (TGNC) students on and off campus, including hostile internship situations, professors who didn’t know or refused to call students by their stated names and pronouns, lack of TGNC material in the curriculum and a school health insurance policy that didn’t cover transappropriate healthcare.

/ 04 /

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

The letter was not the group’s first move; TGNC students had been meeting with the deans privately and advocating for nearly three years, expressing their concerns and offering feedback. The administration proved willing to listen and make accommodations, which students praised in their letter. Steps the administration had already taken included finding trans-inclusive health coverage, addressing gender-segregated facilities (such as locker rooms) and making the decision to allow students to graduate under their preferred, rather than legal or assigned, names. While these changes improved life for trans students on campus, the administration also began to address academic gaps the students had noted. They initiated change efforts in curriculum development by adding transrelevant content to required courses and hiring adjuncts to develop and teach two new electives, one on trans policy and one on clinical practice with trans clients. In addition, the administration decided to hire a student to develop a resource kit to address concerns of trans competence among students and faculty. Three students who applied, Rickey Thorn, Jixia Ao and Noah Cochran, were each so highly qualified, the administration hired them all. The School then hired adjunct professor Davey Shlasko to serve as a consultant for the trio of student advocates. Shlasko and resident faculty member Rory Crath coordinate the team, making project plans and interfacing between students and the administration. “I’ve been pleasantly surprised at every step with how dedicated

commitment to trans inclusion.” Links with titles like “The Basics: Trans 101” and “Allyship in Action” suggest that the group is working hard to meet people with limited experience with or understanding of the issues. All of the team participants took time to curate resources and gathered to discuss which would be best for the broader School community. The team presented a brief talk during orientation for incoming first-summer students a nd then facilitated an optional workshop during the student-led “disorientation” day of orientation. Other plans are in the works to introduce the resources to the SSW community and its respective constituent groups. One commitment all participants have noted is that both the team and administrators agree that TGNC competency efforts cannot exist in a vacuum but must be integrated into everything the School does. This shift toward realizing greater trans inclusion is seen as integral to the School’s embrace of an intersectional anti-racism commitment. —Dane Kuttler

SPOKEN WORD

“ Connecting your divine

life force to the inner power, knowledge, skills and talents with which you’ve been imbued will give you the power to stand and remain grounded through any social work practice to which you commit yourself.” —KAMILAH A. JONES, PH.D. ’15, LSCW, was a keynote speaker at the 2015 Women’s Leadership Conference at Smith College. She is a senior clinician at the Atlanta Department of Veterans Affairs.

Voices Heard & Seen Anti-racism quilt now in place of prominence When visitors enter the first floor of Lilly Hall, they are greeted by a triptych of sorts—a three-paneled quilt designed around a series of handwritten statements. This captivating artwork is arresting and provocative, and also, in Dean Marianne Yoshioka’s words, “a symbol of the School’s commitment to becoming an anti-racism organization.” The quilt isn’t new to the School, but after many years displayed in the second floor conference room, the administration moved it to this more prominent location so that the community could regularly see and reflect on it. The quilt grew out of an interactive art installation from the summer of 2001, created in the midst of student protests against continued racism at the School. Participants wrote statements on strips of cloth that expressed the impact of racism on their experience in the program. After the installation, the Class of 2002, the Anti-Racism Task Force and the Kahn Liberal Arts Institute cooperated to have the strips of cloth woven into a quilt. The statements on the quilt aren’t easy platitudes or empty nods to the anti-racism commitment. They are quite personal, challenging and often critical of the School. “Racism cuts me off from the deepest parts of myself.” ■ “Remember the dialogue that gets DISSOLVED with the statement ‘We do not have time in this class for this now.’” ■ “I feel like you hate me and we’ve never even met.” In relocating the quilt to a high-traffic area, Dean Yoshioka hopes it has an ongoing impact on the entire School community: a reminder of work accomplished and that which lies ahead of the SSW in its continued efforts to identify and challenge racism in social work practice, research and scholarship. “We all pass it every day, and it becomes a very visual, literal reminder of why the quilt was made.”—Laurie Loisel

FA L L 20 17

/ 05 /

/ SSWorks /

Uncovering History

Recruiting Change Agents Smith’s campus sustainability initiative taps SSW students for input and inspiration When considering campus sustainability, and which students might be most invested in stopping climate change, one would likely approach those majoring in biology, engineering, geology or meteorology. But Dano Weisbord, director of campus sustainability at Smith College, wanted to receive input from a less-likely group of students. “Several members of the Study Group on Climate Change, myself included, met with SSW students last summer and asked them what connections they saw between climate change and their work,” Weisbord said. “The SSW students had remarkable observations about both their clients and how the spectre of climate change affects everyone. One student talked about her work with people in the fishing industry,” he said. “The student commented ‘They don’t use the term climate change, but they talk about it in terms of the pressures on natural resources and how that impacts their income and increased utility costs.’” Weisbord described how other SSW students “talked about ways to help

people process their anxieties around climate change and how SSW might be able to work with undergraduates in this regard.” Smith’s strategic plan outlines its commitment to addressing what it calls “Complex and Urgent Problems.” The challenges today are … seemingly intractable. They include global climate change; education access; the status of women; infectious diseases; and the path toward racial inclusion, diversity and equity. This plan recommits Smith to using its campus as a classroom, modeling ideas in its curriculum, co-curricular options and campus operations to address these and other emerging high-stakes challenges that often lie at the heart of global inequities. Weisbord adds, “Smith, as a small institution with a global perspective, is very well positioned to carry out this joined-up notion of applying innovation in our operations and using the process and outcome as learning opportunities for students.” As for the School for Social Work, he thinks last summer’s conversations were precursors to more

Social workers’ roles in the Japanese-American internment When Yoosun Park stumbled onto information about social workers’ involvement in the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, she didn’t expect to become the leading expert on the subject. She assumed there must be plenty of writings about the complicity of social work in the internment. There weren’t. This led Park to spend more than 15 years culling information from primary sources. The result is her upcoming book, Facilitating Injustice: Tracing the Role of Social Work in the World War II Incarceration of Japanese Americans (1941–1946). The first substantial glimpse into her research came in 2008, with the publication of her article on the topic in the Social Service Review. It revealed that social workers interviewed families, recommended placement, decided whether interned individuals could leave to further their education or join the military and provided an array of services through social work units in the camps. The lack of secondary sources makes the research intimidating. “It’s scary, because when there are no published resources to check your conclusions, you could be getting it completely wrong,” Park said. To be sure she was correct, Park exercised due diligence in her research, seeking out additional primary sources to confirm her findings. Even when looking at primary sources, the realities of the past can be hard to believe, especially when they have been covered up for decades. “Sometimes, I’ll read a primary source document and think ‘they must have made a mistake, that must be a typo,’” Park said. “It might take weeks to check to make sure that it’s a mistake. That information will never make it into anything I write because, if I am right, it was incorrect information.” As someone deeply committed to anti-racist social work, Park knows it can be hard to understand how social workers could be active participants in the oppression of a group of people. “On the one hand, you could say ‘If social workers didn’t do it, someone else would have, and they might not have done it as kindly and efficiently,’” said Park. “But one can’t help but wonder what the effects might have been if all of social work had said ‘No, we will not participate and support this injustice.’” Park’s new book, based on research funded in part by the Lois and Samuel Silberman Fund and the Brown Family Foundation, provides a deep exploration of the apparent contradictions of the roles that social workers played in the internment. It will be published by Oxford University Press in the near future. —Tynan Power

The SSW students had remarkable observations about both their clients and how the spectre of climate change affects everyone. —DANO WEISBORD

collaboration. “I would love to see more crossover among SSW, SSW students and Smith’s sustainability efforts,” he said. “The conversations last summer were just the start and offered a ton of potential suggestions. I’m especially drawn to the idea of applying SSW know-how to support undergraduates as emerging change agents.” —Dane Kuttler

SAV E TH E D ATE Return to campus to celebrate the lives changed throughout SSW’s first century and those that will be enlivened during its second.

Smith College School for Social Work

CENTENNIAL C E L E B R AT I O N

June 29-July 1, 2018 @ SMITH COLLEGE

HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE: Alumni Networking SSW Documentary Premiere Inaugural Bertha Capen Reynold Society & Grécourt Society Reception President’s Reception Ph.D. & M.S.W. Milestone Class Receptions Lectures Campus Tours BBQ Dinner Dance through the Decades

Want to share your pride in SSW? Please see page 32 to learn how.

See story on page 16.

/ 06 /

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

FA L L 20 17

/ 07 /

/ SSWorks /

/ Faculty Notes /

Faculty Notes Recent news and accomplishments

Hoping to develop strategies to help this population achieve long-term recovery and prevent relapse, Smith School for Social Work Professor Maria Torres, Ph.D., worked with a team of researchers from the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University and the Massachusetts Behavioral Health Partnership on a five-year, $2.7 million Health Care Innovation Award 1 from the Center for Medicaid and Medicare Services. Awarded in 2012, this project, for which Torres was co-investigator, was the only one of the 21 funded in that first round to focus exclusively on substance use disorders. Seeking to improve health outcomes, increase access and reduce costs, researchers considered whether the use of incentives for people leaving detox programs could lead to longerlasting engagement in post-detox community-based treatment—treatment which would support their recovery, prevent relapse and potentially mean a drop in the number of clients who return to detox. This would not only improve health outcomes for the clients, but it could reduce the overall cost of care. “Detox represents one of the highest levels of care and, as such, it is quite expensive,” Torres says. “If we were able to help consumers coming out of detox engage with community-based services, we could bend the cost curve while increasing treatment success and quality of life for the individuals we serve.” Based on behavioral economics, the study used gift cards to encourage 12 specific recovery oriented behaviors/ activities. When consumers working

I really like being with older people. I feel it’s led to a kind of integration of my age and preferences.”

Phebe Sessions Focuses on Mental Health of Older Adults

As she approached her 60th birthday, Professor Phebe Sessions began reflecting on the experience of aging in our culture and the stereotypes of elderly people that we internalize. At the same time, Sessions began working on a four-year National Science Foundation study, collaborating with the UMass Computer Science Department in studying the feasibility of different assistive technology for older adults. These experiences inspired Sessions to shift the focus of her academic and clinical work to addressing the mental health needs of older populations. Sessions quickly came to love the experience of working with older clients and saw that treating older adults is the same as treating any adults, with some particular differences. Sessions’ first challenge was to address her own internalized agism and stereotypes and to better understand how pervasive these are. Agism, she observes, makes practitioners less likely to treat elderly people. Simultaneously, internal and external agism can increase older people’s anxiety and depression.

/ 08 /

In addition to the impact of agism, the length of a client’s life affects the way a practitioner approaches therapy. “As a clinician, you have to decide what are the critical events that people want to understand as formative,” Sessions explains. “Those critical events may be quite different from those of a younger person, because of the length of a person’s life and the diversity of their experiences.” While elderly people face greater vulnerability to loss and to illness, Sessions also notes that, as a group, they actually have less vulnerability to major mental illness. This is, in part, because those who reach an advanced age have not succumbed to severe health and mental health problems that could have cut their lives short. They are also more likely to have the patience and resilience that comes with life experience. With older adults, Sessions says, “there tends to be less affective volatility and somewhat more capacity to step back from their own experience and try to understand their partner or their context.” Her work with older clients has made Sessions passionate about educating more social workers in

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

gerontology, and she created a course on the subject for the SSW curriculum called Is Age Just a Number? Is 70 the New 50? The Social Construction of Aging. She has found that a crucial part of this course is counteracting the well-ingrained agism and stereotypes, as much as looking at the clinical work itself. While clinical placements with elderly populations are limited, the School has found specialized placements for students interested in gerontological work, such as the Treehouse Foundation, which pairs foster and adoptive families with older adults in a supportive community. In addition to the knowledge and satisfaction this work has given Sessions professionally, it has enriched her personally. “I really like being with older people. I feel it’s led to a kind of integration of my age and preferences.” —Megan Rubiner Zinn Incentive to Live: Professor Maria Torres Leads Study to Improve Detox Success

When working with clients recovering from substance use disorders, researchers often focus on those who have not responded well to traditional treatment. Few populations are harder to treat than those who repeatedly cycle through medically managed detoxification (detox) programs.

with a Recovery Navigator completed a specific task, such as visiting a doctor or keeping an appointment with their psychiatrist or an outpatient clinician, within 90 days of leaving detox, they were able to earn a gift card. As more tasks were completed, the gift card amount increased so that clients who followed through with all the activities could earn up to $240. “What we wanted to do was to create rewards along the way, pulling them forward a little bit at a time, always supporting their recovery,” Torres said. The team is now in the midst of full-scale data analysis of this research, but an article published last year in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment provides some initial insights. The project was a natural experiment in that researchers entered a treatment system and worked within its parameters in order to conduct the study. Consequently, the team discussed their experience implementing an incentive-style intervention, focusing on barriers and facilitators to the successful use of incentives in this context. As stated in the article, “In the end, the study provided a real-world experiment in system-level challenges that can undermine the implementation of a contingency management program. The findings suggest that more research is needed on effective approaches to implement incentives with clients engaged in complex health care services including drug detoxification services.” Torres said the study provided researchers a real-world opportunity to identify factors that get in the way

of clients sticking with their treatment plans and assess the role of incentives to help motivate change. “Although uptake was low, we got very valuable information from the study in terms of how to make incentives work within this population.” Questions researchers hope to explore in the future include the following: At what point in the treatment process should incentives be introduced to produce optimal benefit? Were the amounts of incentives enough to lead to greater participation? Is this particular population (individuals with repeated visits to the detox over a 12-month period) the best group of clients with whom to use incentives? What is the role of incentives in behavioral healthcare, and were researchers incentivizing the right things? People cycling in and out of detox can be fragile, overwhelmed and experiencing multiple issues that interfere with the success of an incentivized system.

1. This study was supported by Grant Number 1C1CMS331059-01-00 from the Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The contents of this publication are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services or any of its agencies. The research presented here was conducted by the awardee. Findings might or might not be consistent with or confirmed by the independent evaluation contractor.

FA L L 20 17

/ 09 /

/ SSWorks /

“The takeaways are that creating behavioral change with this population is much more difficult than we had anticipated and getting buy-in was harder than we thought,” Torres said. “But we learned a great deal and will be developing future interventions with these lessons in mind.” —Laurie Loisel Dean Yoshioka Reflects on Her First Three Years

Smith College School for Social Work Dean Marianne R. M. Yoshioka had set some goals for her tenure as leader of the country’s preeminent school for clinical social workers three years ago. And then demand for social change intervened. “Really, starting my first year, change has been afoot on campuses all over the country,” Yoshioka said “Whatever agenda I may have entered this position with has been affected by the changes in the country. All are significant and come with some turbulence.” That turbulence, in Yoshioka’s view, brings the challenge of system-wide evaluation along with opportunities for growth and positive change. Starting in Yoshioka’s first year on campus, the SSW community has been engaged in processes of School-wide self reflection on issues of race, oppression and social justice. “The goal of our anti-racism commitment is not just to have required course content or a community-wide lecture—important things that we value—but it is fundamentally about how we live this commitment every day in our School. In what ways do our systems, policies, processes and procedures uphold values of anti-racism? Can we also take into consideration the ways our learning environment demonstrates respect for other intersecting identities while holding race as central?” “It’s been really hard work, and sometimes painful, but ultimately deeply the right thing,” she said in an interview in her Lilly Hall office a few weeks before students arrived for the summer term. The work she refers to has been undertaken most recently by students,

/ 10 /

/ Faculty Notes /

faculty, staff, advisers and adjuncts serving on three committees. Members reviewed SSW practices in order to recommend concrete changes to processes and procedures that impact students and raise the visibility of anti-racism work. “We want to build effective systems of accountability,” she said. The results of the three committees’ work were presented to the SSW community in a set of proposals vetted in small and large-group settings during the summer months. “A large group worked on them, and now we’re going to roll them out for the whole school,” said Yoshioka. “This type of change has to be both bottom-up and top-down.” Among other goals, the proposals aim to build more advising and mentorship support for students, acknowledging that students with diverse identities can have differential experiences in institutions like schools and social service agencies. The proposals examine the process of student academic progress review, starting with the admissions process and continuing through a student’s entire tenure. Also among the proposals: revised procedures for student evaluations and reviews, and a greater openness about the way field placement decisions are made. “We want to be reasonably and appropriately transparent,” Yoshioka said. To be successful, the process must also clearly identify what the issues at stake are, she noted. “Our ability to name that we recognize that structures of racism and oppression infiltrate all systems including our systems is the first step to actually changing it,” she said. Yoshioka said the specifics of the recommendations were unveiled to the campus community in a series of small gatherings, intended to present ideas in contextual detail and through a process that will allow for long-term questions, concerns and conversation. The introduction of what Yoshioka said are a set of inter related proposals will include a significant feedback period and thorough vetting.

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

“This is a school that values voice and inclusiveness,” she said. “It’s better to move a little slower and include more voices than to move expeditiously.” Once that feedback process has taken place, the proposals will return to the faculty for votes this fall. This important work has been ongoing while the faculty have been engaged in a process of self-reflection going to its core mission: what constitutes excellence in clinical social work education in the current social work field. This is, in part, because of changes in the field, but also due to evolving ideas about how to practice. It is a time of great change— for higher education generally and social work specifically. There are significant social and public health

It’s been really hard work, and sometimes painful, but ultimately deeply the right thing.”

issues and trends that are critical factors in shaping what the needs are for social workers in the field. These changes, naturally, have implications for all schools of social work including Smith’s. “That whole landscape is really evolving. There are many important changes in the clinical social work environment,” said Yoshioka. “And the question for us becomes: ‘Are we producing social workers who are ready to meet those demands in clinical environments?’ For us this includes the ability to understand and work from a position of anti-racism.” An ongoing tension, Yoshioka noted, is around how to balance the relational nature of psychodynamic approaches with the push for sciencebased practices and protocols required in many settings. With the SSW’s

historic emphasis on psychodynamic theories and models, the School is in a good position to take a leadership role in defining the importance of this balance.” “I think that’s a really unique contribution that our school will make.” The key, Yoshioka said, is to examine “how to move it into our curricula intelligently and thoughtfully and how to support it through supervision and mentorship.” Meanwhile, there have been many other accomplishments in her first three years as dean, namely • Significantly increasing financial aid for master’s and doctoral students; • Launching a new M.S.W. program, including an employment-based field internship in which students can use

eligible paid employment as their SSW internship site; • Making communications a priority in order to give the outside world a better understanding of the powerful SSW education experience and its unique value (and therefore increase giving for financial aid and opportunities for students); • Building on the role of SSW as a leader in the field by creating continuing education offerings that promote a vision for excellence in clinical social work practice; • Laying the groundwork for next year’s SSW centennial celebration. Looking ahead, Yoshioka includes as priorities increasing the number of wellness programs for students, supports for adjunct faculty in the

classroom as well as the field and a steadfast commitment to upholding the School’s historic high standards of excellence. On the brink of another vibrant summer on the Smith campus, Yoshioka acknowledged that it’s been a whirlwind three years. Asked what she sees as her greatest achievement at the helm of SSW, her answer harkened back to the School’s core mission of clinical social work education in light of the recent turbulent times on campus. “I wouldn’t say it’s my accomplishment, but the accomplishment of the School,” she said. “The faculty and I are advancing in tangible ways what excellence in clinical social work with an anti-racism lens will look like.” —Laurie Loisel

FA L L 20 17

/ 11 /

/ SSWorks /

/ Student Focus /

Bottom left photo: Tatiana Martínez, M.S.W. ’17 poses on campus with Heart of Hartford partner Dorothy Manley, M.S.W. ’17. Top left photo: Haley Rice, M.S.W. ’17, and Todd Shvetz of Hartford’s Institute of Living, encouraged the city’s students to share their interpretations of Hartford’s beauty through the SSW-led “Heart of Hartford” exhibit.

BY DA NE K UTT L E R

How does the way we see our environment impact the way we see ourselves? How do the stories we tell about our homes and neighborhoods affect the way we understand our lives? Dr. Mary Gratton, former Smith College School for Social Work professor and director of child and adolescent services at Hartford Hospital’s Institute of Living, sought to answer these questions with Heather Crawford, an SSW student interning at the hospital as part of her SSW field study. The two developed a program that would put cameras into the hands of youth at TOPS, the Institute’s after school program, and prompt the young photographers to capture “what they perceive as beautiful” in their homes, neighborhoods and on the Institute’s campus. Participants would then select their favorite photos, and their selections would be enlarged, framed and displayed in an exhibit at the headquarters of Hartford HealthCare, the state’s comprehensive health network. Gratton and Crawford envisioned the project as an anti-racism effort designed to combat stereotypes about both people of color, who make up 70% of Hartford’s population, and their neighborhoods. However, their efforts were stymied; Crawford finished her internship before funding could be obtained. Gratton promised to save their work, and this year, with the support of a grant from Hartford HealthCare, three SSW students, Haley Rice, Tatiana Martínez and Dorothy Manley, successfully implemented the program as Crawford and Gratton had envisioned it. The students hoped that empowering Hartford youth to define both themselves and their city would not only challenge common stereotypes, but build a stronger sense of community among the youth, their families and neighbors.

Worth a Thousand Words Prompting Hartford’s kids to capture their city’s beauty

In a summary of her anti-racism project which took her through Hartford, Conn., SSW student Dorothy Manley wrote that the city, “is often discussed in terms of poverty, violence and lack of resources ... stereotypes [which] have serious implications for personal sense of worth and overall mental health of residents.” Manley continued, “It is crucial to acknowledge the impact of adverse narratives, as they fail to recognize the many positive aspects of the Hartford community.”

/ 12 /

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

The students hoped that empowering Hartford youth to define both themselves and their city would not only challenge common stereotypes, but build a stronger sense of community among the youth, their families and neighbors.

Cameras in hand, the youngsters, ages 11 to 14, met regularly for several weeks with the SSW students, who drove them to neighborhoods and landmarks throughout Hartford. At every stop, the youth snapped scenes they believed were “beautiful,” as Gratton and Crawford had intended. After helping the youth to choose, print, frame and hang their best photos, Rice, Martínez and Manley tapped their promotional skills. And on Friday, April 21 the “Heart of Hartford” exhibit was unveiled at the city’s Institute of Living. As part of the event, the SSW students created comment cards for exhibit guests. Though the identities of the photographers were withheld, viewers were still able to praise the work of the artists. Each child finished the experience with an album containing their photos and corresponding comment cards. For many of the youth, these books were the highlight of the program. For others, the event was the thrill, with its “fancy cheese platter” and many guests who showed appreciation for the youths’ work. But for Martínez, one youth’s comment perfectly summarizes the success of the program: “Miss, the party was fun! Are we doing it again?” ◆

APPLYING HERSELF

When Lucie-Ann Chen, M.S.W. ’18, took her first group theory class last summer, she didn’t think she would find group work of interest. But her professor, Kurt White, was such an enthusiastic teacher, the model is now solidly in her clinical toolbox. Chen, 31, said White’s Group Therapy Theory and Practice course opened her eyes to the versatility of the modality. “He made it so interesting, and he has such a passion for group work.” At White’s recommendation, Chen applied for and received the competitive Saul Scheidlinger Scholarship, which covered her tuition and travel for the American Group Psychotherapy Association annual meeting, in addition to paying for an 18-month association membership. In March, Chen travelled to the conference, held in New York City’s Times Square. She arrived to a dizzying array of learning opportunities: morning and afternoon plenary talks, dozens of workshops to choose from throughout the day and intensive group therapy sessions attended by hundreds of clinicians. “It’s rich in clinical knowledge and information and a very different conference experience than anything I’d ever been to. There was a lot of expertise in any room you went into, and the networking opportunities were fruitful as well.” Among other sessions she attended, Chen participated in a full-day workshop on facilitating groups with children and adolescents, in which participants were schooled in theory and techniques in the morning sessions and then spent the afternoon practicing what they’d learned and being critiqued by experts in the field. “Being able to hear from therapists and clinicians whose work we study at Smith, that was cool.” Chen also took part in large group therapy sessions conducted by two facilitators in a large hall during the lunch hours. “It was very political this year. There were tears, there was yelling,” she said. “It was a very interesting thing to experience for a first-time conference attendee.”—Laurie Loisel

FA L L 20 17

/ 13 /

/ SSWorks /

/ Student Focus /

BY TYNA N PO WER

Understanding Fears

Olivia Mora-Lett, M.S.W., LCSW, Ph.D. 2015 Cohort

Insights into serving Latinx immigrant populations Born in Agua Prieta Sonora, a Mexican border town, Olivia Mora-Lett, a member of the Ph.D. 2015 cohort, has experienced both sides of the border— and uses that insight to inform her clinical practice and her research. “I began community advocacy and volunteer work in my college years in Phoenix, Arizona, helping local grassroots groups such as Legal Observers, No Mas Muertes and Mujeres Unidas,” said Mora-Lett. “I quickly realized the disparities for immigrants in mental health. That inspired me to dedicate my clinical work to nonprofit mental health settings serving men and women from Latin America.” Now living in New York City, MoraLett provides clinical services to immigrants and refugees in nonprofit community settings and at the Ecuadorian Consulate. She specializes in PTSD and complex trauma, particularly with cisgender and transgender immigrant women from Latin America. “De-stigmatizing mental health is essential to offering culturally responsive and successful treatment to immigrants,” said Mora-Lett. “Now more than ever, it is crucial to provide consistent, predictable and

De-stigmatizing mental health is essential to offering culturally responsive and successful treatment to immigrants. —OLIVIA MORA-LETT

/ 14 /

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

non-judgmental sanctuary spaces where our immigrants can feel safe and welcomed.” Stigma is not the only barrier to treatment, though. “We need more bilingual social workers,” Mora-Lett said. “If you are in private practice, provide sliding scale fees for immigrants.” Mora-Lett encourages clinicians to remember that transitions, losses and changes are part of the immigrant experience. “Learn from your clients as experts of their own stories, ask questions, be curious and get creative in the ways you engage immigrant clients and their families,” said Mora-Lett. “The clinical work typically unfolds at a slower pace—be ok with creating a holding environment to build trust and rapport.” Social workers also must become advocates and allies. “Building relationships and collaborations with local organizations, volunteering or getting involved in community advocacy is essential for social workers to understand and challenge the systems of oppression and discrimination faced by immigrants.” “Many people in our immigrant communities, particularly those who are undocumented, live in daily fear,” said Mora-Lett. “They fear they will get a knock on the door that will separate them from their families, they fear deportation and they fear simply existing.” Mora-Lett believes that social workers can help eradicate these fears. “We need to continue to unite and organize—and really advocate to change the immigration narrative,” said Mora-Lett. “We need to continue to disrupt oppressive systems and send messages of hope and support for others to feel safe to come out of the shadows.” ◆

HONING HIS SKILLS

In his first clinical placement after a year of coursework on the Smith campus, Sebastian Wheeler, M.S.W. ’18 found himself in a child and adolescent outpatient psychiatric unit at Maine Medical Center in Portland, engaged in individual psychotherapy primarily with teenagers. “There’s a certain level of overwhelm that can come from taking on a role that can have such meaning, when you’re bearing some sense of practical responsibility for someone’s well-being.” Wheeler said the combination of theory, learned during his first summer on the Smith campus, with the attentive practice supervision he received while working at the Maine hospital, made the experience rewarding while giving him invaluable opportunities to hone clinical skills. And even while he was acutely aware of the important role a therapist can play in an individual’s life, he maintained a sense that the role should not be blown out of proportion. “It’s important to give people agency, to empower them. If you start to see yourself as a savior, then likely what you’re doing is disempowering them,” said Wheeler. Wheeler maintained a caseload of ten teenagers and their families, and he also co-facilitated a group with fellow SSW student Hayley Fitzgerald, M.S.W. ’17. For Wheeler, having another Smith student nearby provided welcome opportunities to discuss their day-to-day work. He said it was rewarding to wrestle with bringing Smith’s psychodynamic lens to work with clients within a medical model framework. But, he said, the intensive coursework over the summer before his placement gave him a solid framework on which to rely. “The big thing for me was beginning to explore ways of synthesizing all the coursework from Smith with my experience sitting with people,” he said. “The most important thing right out of the gate is to cultivate the right attitude, and that is one of humility and warmth and empathy,” he said. “This work can be such a vehicle for human connection.”—Laurie Loisel

FA L L 20 17

/ 15 /

HOW WE GOTHERE

Hidden history

and the

1. Before disembarking from bus at War Relocation Center, evacuees of Japanese descent are again examined by fellow evacuee medical staff. This baby (center) was found to have measles. The nurse is accompanying mother and child to Manzanar hospital. Photo by Clem Albers.

current climate

B Y

T Y N A N

P O W E R

/ 16 /

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

2. No Ban No Wall! March for Muslims and Allies in New York City. Photo by Tommy Liggett.

3. Ichiro Okumura, 22, from Venice, California, tends these young plants in two-acre field of white radishes at this War Relocation Authority center for evacuees of Japanese ancestry. Photo by Francis Stewart.

4. Relocation Nisei girls getting a bucket of water from one of the hydrants at the relocation center. Photo by Clem Albers. 5. Thousands march through central London, in protest of President Donald Trumpâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Muslim ban and his state visit to the UK. Photo by John Gomez. 6. Newcomers move into Manzanar, a War Relocation Authority center for evacuees of Japanese ancestry. Photo by Clem Albers. 7. Grandfather and grandson of Japanese ancestry at this War Relocation Authority center. Photo by Dorothea Lange. 8. Protesters rally against President Trumpâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s travel ban in Washington, D.C. Photo by Rena Schild. Historic photos courtesy of the National Park Service (www.nps.gov).

FA L L 20 17

/ 17 /

anti-immigrant nationalist rhetoric increased in fervor during the 2016 presidential election cycle, many people started noticing parallels to other historical moments and responded with alarm. Yoosun Park, associate professor at the Smith College School for Social Work, was dismayed—but not surprised— by the tone of the popular discourse. “We have a national myth that we used to have open borders,” said Park. “It’s a belief in a rosy golden past, a time when we welcomed all immigrants.” It’s simply not true, according to Park, an expert on the historical and contemporary relationship between social work and immigration.

“Immigration restrictions have always existed that were based on the usual suspects: race, culture, gender, sexuality, class and ability,” Park said. Only 14 years after the Declaration of Independence, the Naturalization Act of 1790 restricted the right of naturalized citizenship to “free whites.” In 1870, naturalization was extended to Blacks—those “of African nativity” or “African descent.” Shortly thereafter, in 1875, the first restrictive immigration law in the U.S., the Page Act, was passed, prohibiting “undesirables” from immigrating. A series of subsequent laws—beginning with the Chinese Exclusion Act

/ 18 /

(1882)—explicitly restricted Asians from entry and naturalization on the basis of race. “Prior to the late 1800s, immigration was not federally controlled and restricted, but that didn’t mean we liked those who came,” said Park. “There was always disdain for ‘new’ immigrants. Even German and Swedish immigrants were considered uncouth and ‘undesirable’ in their time. But all these European immigrants, including the reviled Irish, were always considered ‘white’ and thus eligible for both entry and citizenship, while others were deemed unfit.”

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

“ As a profession, we should get back into policy making and influencing policy. We have to spend less time being outraged and more time doing something about it.”

“We’re seeing the same kinds of dynamics play out now, especially around the Latin American and Muslim immigrants of today,” said Park. “The Trump administration did not invent racism in immigration policy, but it does seem to be promulgating a more explicit version of official racism than there has been in a while.” Park’s interest in immigration history was piqued during her graduate studies at the University of Washington—though it has its roots in her own experience as a Korean American whose family immigrated when she was a child. As a scholar, both her research and her approach to pedagogy are informed by poststructuralist theories and methods of inquiry. For her dissertation, Park did a textual analysis of references to immigrants in social work documents from 1875 to 1952. “In the years prior to World War II, there were a lot of immigrants, not refugees,” said Park. “The tendency was to valorize refugees and denigrate immigrants. They were economic migrants. This was in contrast to the pilgrims, who were seen as principled refugees.” According to Park, when World War II resulted in millions of displaced people, the discourse started to shift with attitudes turning against refugees. “Refugees then were talked about as permanently broken. It was believed that they would not be productive. Jews released from concentration camps, for example, were written about as damaged people from whom all traces of civilization had been stripped.” Social workers insisted that refugees would be productive, benefitting the country if they were allowed to immigrate. Park sees this as well-intentioned, but ultimately problematic. “At no point does social work say, ‘Why should economic productivity be the gate?’ Social work never gets out of the binary. The terms of the argument are set and we don’t go challenge the terms, think out of the box,” she said. “If you are not challenging the

—YOOSUN PARK

categories, you may very well be perpetuating the problem. With all the best intentions in the world, you may be upholding the kinds of ideas and ideals you say you agree with.” While doing graduate research, Park discovered that social workers had played a significant role in the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. Social workers often interviewed Japanese Americans before internment, made recommendations about whether individuals could leave for purposes such as education, and served on the social work units that existed in every camp. “I was really shocked,” Park said. “Certainly, no one talked about that, not in my M.S.W. program, not in my doctoral program. In all the social work books I’d read, not a single one mentioned it.” Park feels social workers have often inadvertently played the role of “the handmaids of oppressive politics.” Organizations such as the American Association of Social Workers and the National Conference on Social Work essentially went along with the internment plan, rather than attempting to disrupt it.

As she researched the JapaneseAmerican internment, Park also realized how clear it was that history repeats itself. “Many of the people working in Japanese internment camps were ‘Indian specialists,’” said Park. “They were selected because they had experience displacing and incarcerating whole populations.” Social work schools have an important part to play in paving a better way forward. That includes teaching history as part of training clinicians. Understanding history can put the individual in context of the structural dynamics in which they live and are shaped, which Park thinks is key. History exposes why this individual is here, what obstacles were placed before them and their forbears, and how those historical obstacles—or new ones—continue to affect them today. “That we have a certain population today is not an accident,” said Park. “If you don’t know anything about that, you don’t know anything about our society and the social context in which you and your clients live and struggle.” “Know the laws,” said Park. “Know how we got here. You’ll have a

Left: Newcomers vaccinated by fellow and sister evacuees of Japanese ancestry on arrival at Manzanar, a War Relocation Authority center. Photo by Clem Albers. Above: The first grave at the Manzanar Center’s cemetery. It is that of Matsunosuke Murakami, 62, who died of heart disease on May 16. He had been ill ever since he arrived here with the first contingent and had been confined to the hospital since March 23. Photo by Dorothea Lange. .

different take on who’s sitting in front of you.” “As a profession, we should get back into policy making and influencing policy,” said Park. “We have to spend less time being outraged and more time doing something about it.” Park sees her work for social change as a fundamental part of all her roles: as a teacher, an adviser, the editor of Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work, and a widely-respected scholar. “My work is absolutely activism,” said Park. “Every piece of sound scholarship should be viewed as the work of activism.” ◆

FA L L 20 17

/ 19 /

BRIDGING T HE BY LAURIE LOISEL / PHOTOS BY SHANA SURECK

GAP Complete evidence-based practice is this clinicianresearcher’s passion

/ 20 /

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

FA L L 20 17 / 21 /

or decades, Smith College School for Social Work Professor James Drisko, M.S.W., ’77 Ph.D., a 28-year teaching veteran at his alma mater, has made researching and practicing clinical social work his mission. Though his practice has been mainly with children and families in the public sector, such as community mental health and schools, Drisko has also worked for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health. It’s complex; many factors are in play when it comes to a successful psychotherapeutic relationship that is also guided by research.

“As a practitioner, I’m trying to promote that yes, outcome research is important, but it’s only one of four parts of evidence-based practice,” Drisko said in an interview in his second floor office in Lilly Hall before the new class of social workers in training had arrived for their summer of intensive academic work on campus. “Research is not the whole or only thing,” he said. Other elements any clinical social worker must take into consideration are the client’s situation and circumstances, the client’s values and preferences and the clinical expertise of the practitioner. Drisko earned his doctorate from Boston College in 1983, where his dissertation was “The ResearchPractice Split in Social Work.” In some ways he’s been living within that split

/ 22 /

ever since, bridging both worlds as he works as a practicing clinical social worker (“I’m a child practitioner,” he says cheerfully), researcher (he writes every day) and teacher of emerging practitioners and researchers in the social work master’s and doctoral programs. “Smith made a clinician out of me, and BC made a researcher out of me,” is how Drisko puts it. He was named an inaugural fellow of the Society of Social Work and Research in 2014 and, in 2008, he was elected to the National Academies of Practice in Social Work. This means Drisko essentially has a foot in both worlds of social work—the practice world and the research and teaching world of academia. “It has its awkward moments,” said Drisko, smiling, with

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

wire-rimmed glasses and white beard that make a striking contrast to his pink shirt and black jeans. In terms of a focus to his research, Drisko said he’s been drawn to study a wide range of varied topics. “I’m curious about what motivates people and what holds them back,” he said. “This bridges practice and research.” In today’s practice environment, he continues to be pulled by the study of evidence-based practice in clinical social work and how to do it well. He believes clinicians should include outcome research results in practice decision making because that, ultimately, helps guide what’s best for the clients. “The profession needs to be responsible for the services that we deliver to people,” he said. “We need to be competent to deliver these services, and we need to know what services work.” That said, evidence-based practice may ignore an equally important factor at play in any therapy: the therapeutic relationship. “There is a large body of research that shows the relationship between the clinician and the client matter more to outcome than the particular therapy you do,” said Drisko. Client factors, the therapeutic relationship and even the therapist’s personal characteristics may matter more to success than does a specific model of therapy. He said there is a strong push in the field to incorporate evidence-based research into the therapeutic realm, but it’s not always practiced the way it is meant to be practiced. “It’s become muddy,” said Drisko. “Evidence-based practice has been promoted by a lot of people, including drug companies and insurance companies. Clinicians should give clients information about treatment options, and the client should be able to decide how to go forward.” Drisko is in good company in his efforts to spread a more complete understanding of evidence-based practice. He co-authored the book, EvidenceBased Practice in Clinical Social Work, published in 2012 by Springer publishing, with Melissa Grady,

On the way to his Lilly Hall office, Professor Jim Drisko converses with longtime SSW adjunct professor Geoffrey Locke.

“ [T]he relationship between the clinician and the client matter more to outcome than the particular therapy you do.” —JIM DRISKO

M.S.W., ’96 Ph.D. ’04. The pair has also co-authored a number of articles focusing on specific issues relevant to evidence-based clinical practice. Grady, who maintains a private psychotherapy practice in Washington, D.C. and is on the faculty at Catholic University of America School of Social Service, said Drisko played a major role in her SSW education, including her first-year practice course, thesis and field placement. “There isn’t a part of my education that Jim hasn’t influenced in some way,” she said in a telephone interview.

The two decided to collaborate on a research project once she was out working in the field, and they found they shared a frustration about a lack of clarity about what evidence-based clinical practice actually looks like. There are components that are equally important as the research aspect, she noted, including making sure that the clinician collaborates with the client in any decision made about treatment modality. “That’s the piece that gets lost,” said Grady. Sometimes it might be a sense of enthusiasm that makes a clinician

skip this important step: “‘I found this great treatment model,’ without really thinking about what does the client want to do,” Grady explained. Another key feature is a respect for the expertise of the clinician and his or her deep knowledge of the client. “You have to really know your client. You have to understand what’s going on with your client in order for evidence-based practice to work well,” said Grady. “Evidence-based practice is not new, but there’s a lot of misunderstanding about what it really is. People think it’s a product rather than a process. It’s really a critical thinking process to integrate research into clinical decision-making.” For Drisko, SSW was the perfect place to apply research to clinical practice throughout his career, as it enabled him to nurture his equally important passions. “Smith has been a great home to me because it’s allowed me to be a clinician and a scholar-researcher; I think that’s why people come to Smith,” He said. “We have a special, clinical niche, and we are the best at it.” In thinking about teaching the next generation of clinical social workers, Drisko said his hope is to inspire students to fiercely look for the answer to a provocative one-word question: Why? “I want students to dig deeper and to ask the question, “Why does therapy work?” said Drisko. ◆

FA L L 20 17

/ 23 /

Yes, and F The therapeutic value of improv

theater and other performing arts

BY MEGAN RUBINER ZINN / PHOTOS BY JERRY DOWNS

is a core concept in improv theater. To keep a scene going, performers must go along with the story (Yes), and they have to build on it further (And). “Yes, and” is also at the core of therapy. As Elizabeth Ehrenberg, M.S.W. ’10, explains, “it is huge for people, especially those who struggle with depression or those who consistently have trouble saying ‘Yes’ or ‘And’ to things in life. Saying ‘Yes, and’ is very much a declaration that your ideas matter, and it’s OK to put them out into the world.”

Ehrenberg and Ali Kimmell, M.S.W. ’12, are the founders of Living Improv Groups, a group therapy practice in Oakland, Calif. After years in theater and as clinicians, Kimmell and Ehrenberg felt instinctively that improv and group therapy were a natural match; that improv could build group cohesion and help open clients up to make the work within process groups more fruitful. They are among a growing number of Smith School for Social Work alumni who are using performing arts as therapeutic strategies in a variety of innovative and effective ways. While Kimmell and Ehrenberg overlapped in SSW’s M.S.W. program, they didn’t know each other. When they met in an improv troupe, Ehrenberg had a long history in improv and comedy. While Kimmell had a background in theatre, she was new to improv.

/ 26 /

Both women had considered the rich possibilities of combining improv with therapy. “I knew that improv was a great way to learn about yourself,” Ehrenberg recalls. “Noticing your tendencies in improv gives you insight into your tendencies in the other areas of your life.” Ehrenberg and Kimmell had both written SSW theses that connected to their later work with improv. Ehrenberg wrote hers about women in all-female comedy groups and how performance helped them increase self esteem and self-advocacy. Kimmell’s thesis focused on using action-oriented or body-oriented practices in process groups. After completing her degree, Ehrenberg worked as an eating disorder specialist and with a tenants’ rights advocacy non-profit. She now maintains a private practice. Kimmell

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

Yes, and

worked for several years in a classroom for elementary children with emotional disturbances and is currently in private practice as well.

A BIRTH OF AN IDEA

As soon as Ehrenberg and Kimmell started talking about forming an improv therapy practice, it progressed quickly. They found a space, began offering free workshops and 16 people appeared for the first one. The first half of each Living Improv session is facilitated improv games and exercises. The second half is a process group in which clients reflect on the improv experience or engage in open discussion. They then design the next week’s exercises based on themes that emerged in the process group. For instance, if there are issues around conflict, the following week they might do scenes that address conflict, needs and boundaries. Kimmell notes that improv “impacts the level of intimacy—they’re having all these experiences of shared connection and risk-taking together. That frees something in the depth of connection that’s possible.”

CHALLENGE, RISK AND TRUST

This intimacy and connection are the most overt outcomes of combining improv and therapy. Because risktaking and trust are key elements of improv, the groups consistently reach a level of intimacy far more quickly than what Ehrenberg and Kimmell have seen in process groups alone. “What was very surprising to me is how deeply and quickly people get into group process after the improv,” Ehrenberg observes. “You stir stuff up and people feel connected and willing to go deep quickly.” They also see a significant impact for people with social anxiety or depression. Clients with social anxiety often blossom in the group as they take on new roles and play more confident characters, and this carries over into the group and their lives. Clients

FA L L 20 17

/ 27 /

PERFORMANCE AS CONNECTION

Q SSW alums Elizabeth Ehrenberg, M.S.W. ’10, and Ali Kimmell, M.S.W. ’12, engage clients in performance therapy at Living Improv, their Oakland, Calif. studio.

dealing with depression often see a shift just by coming to the improv and feeling connected to other people. This is then reinforced in the process group. Ehrenberg notes that improv also increases self-knowledge, as people become aware of their relational patterns: whether they jump in first, or if they wait for others; whether they choose to lead or follow in a mirroring exercise; discovering what types of characters and games tend to be harder for them. It is also effective in helping people feel comfortable making mistakes.

/ 28 /

HUMOR AS LEARNING

“If there is a misstep or a misspoken word, it can lead to a really funny scene,” Ehrenberg explains. “That is an incredible learning piece for people who struggle around perfectionism.” Kimmell and Ehrenberg identify the game “Group Yes” as particularly effective at helping people become self-aware. One participant calls out suggestions, and the others are only supposed to follow along if they truly want to. “The game has helped people learn to say ‘no,’ to stay connected to what they want and to set limits,” Kimmell observes. “It strengthens their ability to read social cues, to

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

the American Group Psychotherapy Association annual meeting. Other SSW alums who use performance as a therapeutic tool see outcomes remarkably similar to those that Ehrenberg and Kimmell describe. Common threads include the way that shared performance helps participants quickly reach a high level of comfort and intimacy with each other, how it encourages social risk-taking and helps clients open up. All of the practitioners find performance particularly effective with adolescents and young adults, as it gets to emotional places that can be difficult to reach through talk therapy.

understand what the group wants and to understand when they’re misreading the situation.”

EXPANDING THE REACH

With their initial success with Living Improv, Ehrenberg and Kimmell hope to broaden their work, offering more groups for adolescents and further diversifying their client base. They are also active in sharing their work among mental health practitioners. In the past year, they’ve presented well-received workshops at the Northern California Group Psychotherapy Society conference and

Manfred Melcher, M.S.W. ’99, incorporates performance in his private practice. As a musician, he encourages clients to perform music as a way to connect and open up. He describes incorporating guitar into his treatment of a woman who was mourning the death of her husband and not able to move on after two years. Because music was an important link to her husband, Melcher encouraged her play during sessions. This approach helped her break out of a loop because, in Melcher’s opinion, it helped her reach emotions she was not able to verbalize and that she may not have been aware of. For Liz Liepold, M.S.W. ’16, who works with adolescent groups in a therapeutic boarding school, dance becomes a form of mindfulness practice. “It’s just another route to the same outcome, which is how do you get people out of their heads and into their body so they can become aware of their sensations and feelings and they can find more mastery over regulating them independently.” In her groups, she’s seen students develop a greater sense of self-awareness, calm and a sense of comfort in their own skin. “With kids who are very academically driven, helping them get out of their heads can be very healing.” JoAnn Valle, M.S.W. ’14, runs a Shakespeare group at ServiceNet in Northampton as part of an early intervention program for young adults who have shown signs of psychotic disorders and to combat isolation, depression and social withdrawal. The participants were enthusiastic from the beginning and have shown a natural ability to understand the material and connect it to their own life experiences. As Katya Cerar, Ph.D. ’13, contract director of ServiceNet’s young adult programs in mental health and recovery explains, “Drama groups can be especially beneficial for individuals who have a hard time verbalizing their own inner struggles in traditional therapeutic modalities. They provide expressive language and an opportunity to get participants into

“ THE GAME HAS HELPED PEOPLE LEARN TO SAY ‘no,' TO STAY CONNECTED TOWHAT THEY WANT AND TO SET LIMITS.” their bodies and using their voices to express big feelings.” She also notes that “Shakespeare really explores all of those emotional highs and lows in a way that allows youth to express those feelings through somebody else’s language.” Since the start of the group, Valle has seen a range of positive outcomes. The young people involved support and encourage each other. They are more trusting and socially courageous, willing to take risks and push their boundaries. “They engage with each other socially in a way they don’t usually do, they make eye contact with each other, call each other by name.” Some participants will latch on to a particular character who lets them try on a role that’s new to them. Others have shown a willingness to take on new roles within the group, such as leading exercises. Valle has also seen nonverbal members of the group open up and non-native English speakers become fully engaged with the group and the language. One of the most prominent organizations using performance is Beats Rhymes and Life (BRL) in Oakland, Calif., created by Tómas Alvarez, M.S.W. ’06. BRL provides therapeutic programs to boys and young men of color using Alvarez’ hip hop therapy

FA L L 20 17

/ 29 /

“ SEEING YOUTH WHO WERE scared TOTALK IN A GROUP, 16 WEEKS LATER PERFORMINGON A STAGE IN FRONT OF 300 PEOPLE IS AMAZING.” model. Chief Operating Officer John Gill, M.S.W. ’07 and an adjunct faculty member at SSW, describes how hip hop therapy works with these young men. “We based it on narrative therapy— giving youth a platform to reflect on their lives, look at where they came from, examine where they are now and where they want to go in the future. It helps them locate themselves within their story and then be able to articulate their story to other people.” The responses Gill has seen are similar to the outcomes of other performance therapies. The young men, who are often isolated in the foster care system, quickly form connections with each other and with the group. These connections, and their love of hip hop, help them become more willing to take part in the therapeutic process. They become more likely to take risks—to open up, to express themselves and perform. “Seeing youth who were scared to talk in a group, 16 weeks later performing on a stage in front of 300 people is amazing,” Gill said. They also become open to therapy outside

/ 30 /

Alumni News

I N THI S SECTI ON

ALUMNI DESK

the organization and are able to carry these tools into other parts of their lives using writing and other creative expression for self-care.

SEEING THE JOY

In addition to the common threads that all of these practitioners see when they use performance as a therapeutic tool—the way it builds intimacy and connection and the way it helps people open up and take risks—they all talk about how much joy it brings. By playing and having fun, clients are

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

DAY-GARRETT WINNERS

able to break out of their patterns and ruminations and see something new or just put everything aside for an hour or two. Elizabeth Ehrenberg puts it quite simply: “At base, I love that improv is incredibly fun and so joy-producing. It feels magical and powerful in that way.”◆

IN MEMORIAM ALUMNI PROFILE

Jean Faucher, M.S.W. ’17 celebrates with his daughter following the August 18 Commencement ceremony.

FA L L 20 17

/ 31 /

/ Alumni Desk /

/ Alumni News /

DAWN M. FAUCHER Alumni Relations & Development Director

More than a Milestone

100 years of shaping the field of clinical social work

I have found that most of our alumni share a deep commitment to Smith, to one another and to our students.

Come back for the centennial celebration June 29–July 1, 2018 and take some time to connect with classmates you know or meet new ones; take a class with a faculty member you loved or with one who’s new to you; visit the sights you loved and check out the new spots on campus. We can’t wait to welcome you home! In the summer of 2018 we will celebrate a milestone anniversary at the School for Social Work—100 years since Smith graduated its first cohort from what was then called the Training School for Psychiatric Social Work. Since 1918, more than 7,500 alumni of the Smith College School for Social Work have gone on to be active participants in one of the liveliest graduate alumni networks. Our alumni have shaped the field of clinical social work as clinicians, educators, administrators, researchers, authors, politicians, philanthropists, social justice leaders and so much more. The paths that our alumni take are as diverse as our alumni themselves.

I have found that most of our alumni share a deep commitment to Smith, to one another and to our students. Our alumni demonstrate their commitment every day with their willingness to volunteer for leadership roles in the Alumni Network—like the members of the Alumni Leadership Council, the numerous area coordinators, listserv moderators, advisers, supervisors, admission liaisons and more. Alumni welcome students as they arrive in their field placements and support students in locating housing, low cost therapy, jobs and even coffee shops. When I arrived five years ago, I quickly learned that Smith is much more than a school to its alumni. It is a living, breathing community with heart and purpose. To be an alum of Smith SSW is to be part of a unique community that has grown and thrived for nearly a century. I look forward to welcoming so many of our alumni back to campus in June of 2018 to mark the SSW centennial. When we come together, we will celebrate more than a milestone. We will celebrate a legacy! ◆

Help us show others why our School is unique, powerful and extraordinary

1. Assistant Professor Rory Crath adjusts the hood of graduating M.S.W. student Nina Rossello. 2. Sabriya Dillard takes in Baccalaureate. 3. Chelsea Davies smiles after receiving her diploma from President McCartney. 4. Liam Malone performs for fellow graduates at Baccalaureate. 5. classmates cheer as Nelly Carmona wins the NASW Award. 6. Nicholas Johnston receives his diploma from President McCartney. 7. Assistant Professor Rory Crath and Assistant Professor Hannah Karpman, as marshals, lead the Commencement procession into John M. Greene Hall. 8. classmates unite at Baccalaureate. 9. M.S.W. Class Speaker Courtney Tucker. 10. Taylor Millard enjoys Baccalaureate.

We are producing a series of videos that will be shown online and at various events leading up to and throughout the centennial celebration. The series, titled What’s Your Smith SSW?, will feature SSW students, faculty, staff and alumni. Participation is easy and fun! Simply grab your smart phone, record a video of yourself completing this statement: “My Smith SSW is . . .” It only needs to be one sentence, but feel free to elaborate if you need to do so. Then email your video to sswcomm@smith.edu by December 15. Use the subject line “My Smith SSW.” That’s it! Watch for the series in the months ahead as we launch the Our Smith SSW centennial celebration.

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

’17

BACCALAUREATE & COMMENCEMENT

What’s Your Smith SSW?

/ 32 /

FA L L 20 16

/ 33 /

/ Alumni News /

D AY- G A R R E TT ME D AL IS T B OK- LIM KIM

Day-Garrett Award Winners As a young adult, Bok-Lim Kim showed courage and strength of purpose that would carry her through a career dedicated to teaching, counseling and advocating for Asian women, children and immigrants. Kim was born in Korea in 1930. Her mother was a social activist who ran a sort of settlement house, and her father was an editor and journalist who died young. During the Korean War, the North Koreans took Kim and her mother prisoner. Kim was released quickly, but she never saw her mother again. She became an interpreter for the U.S. Air Force to gain access to information and search for her mother but was unsuccessful. Sponsored by an American chaplain, Kim attended Cornell College in Iowa. She planned to become a journalist like her father, but when she learned about Jane Addams and Hull House, she embraced social work. She earned her M.S.W. at Columbia in 1956 and, after marrying, returned to Korea, where she taught social work at Ewha Women’s University. Kim and her husband returned to the U.S. in 1963, and, thanks to her strong interest in psychoanalytic theory, she enrolled in the Smith College School for Social Work Program of Advanced Study.

/ 34 /

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

D AY- G ARRE TT M E D ALIS T JE AN A H AYE S - CARRIE R

Kim went on to teach at the University of Illinois and San Diego State (along with a summer at the SSW). Her research focused on the experiences of Asian American immigrants in the U.S. and included longitudinal studies of Korean immigrants and their acculturation. “I was fascinated by the experience when the two cultures meet,” she recalls. Kim became a staunch advocate for Asian wives of U.S. servicemen and began training Air Force chaplains to counsel these families. She also served as chair of the National Committee Concerned With Asian Wives of U.S. Servicemen, formed in 1976 to advocate for women trapped in abusive relationships and to counter negative public opinion about this group of immigrants. In the 1980s, Kim became passionate about raising awareness of “comfort women,” young Asian women and girls forced to become sex slaves for the Japanese military during World War II. Kim worked to find and support survivors and to pressure the Japanese government to investigate and take responsibility. In 1979, President Jimmy Carter recognized Kim’s advocacy, appointing her to the National Commission on the International Year of the Child. She also served on the U.S. Census Commission, advising on outreach to the AsianAmerican community. In 1984, Kim left academia for private practice. She continued to teach, advising military personnel and chaplains, police, probation officers and child protective service workers on working sensitively with Asians. In retirement, Kim has embraced Buddhist practice. It has helped her address the trauma of her war experiences in Korea and develop a much deeper understanding of her life experience. Looking back over this life, in spite of the broad impact she had, her focus is on a much smaller scale: “What is important to me is that my teaching or my therapy really made a difference, even if very small.” —Megan Rubiner Zinn

THE DAY-GARRETT AWARD, established in 1978, is presented annually to one or more individuals who have been outstanding contributors to professional social work and who have been significant members of the Smith College School for Social Work educational community. The award is to be given to those who, in the judgment of the Committee, have personified in their lives and service to the community the high purpose of professional service for which the School is renowned.

A volunteer stint while she settled into a new community two decades ago led Jeana Hayes-Carrier, M.S.W. ’84, Ph.D. ’02, to a clinical specialty that has enriched her practice ever since. Upon moving to Houston, Texas, Hayes-Carrier spotted an advertisement in a pennysaver seeking volunteers for a local grief counseling center. Thinking it would be a good way to make connections in a new city, she applied. She was asked to facilitate support groups at Bo’s Place, a grassroots nonprofit that, even today, supports children ages 3 to 18 who have experienced the death of someone close to them. Hayes-Carrier helped run groups for teens, for 7-9 year olds and for younger children, too. So smitten with the place and its heartfelt spirit, she’s been involved in some capacity pretty much ever since. “It is one of the most beautiful, wonderful not-for-profit agencies that I’ve been associated with,” she said. Indeed, after a telephone interview, Carrier-Hayes sent a follow-up email to say: “One more thing that I love about Bo’s Place. Families can participate regardless of ability to pay and can stay at the agency until they are ready to leave. In the land of not-for-profit agencies, this is pretty special.” Carrier-Hayes is in a position to know. During her career in community mental health, she has worked with children, adolescents and adults in inpatient programs, outpatient clinics and in her own private psychotherapy practices in Washington, D.C., Colorado, Connecticut and Texas. For 20 years, she has returned to her alma mater almost every summer to teach students in the master’s and doctoral program. She also serves as field adviser. When three former SSW classmates nominated her for the Day-Garrett award this year, they commended her as a “gifted clinician” and an important role model and mentor for up-and-coming social workers. She is also, they said, a colleague with much to offer peers, who brings “sensitivity, innovation and compassion” to her clinical practice. Propelled by her work at Bo’s Place, in 2001 Hayes-Carrier earned a certificate in the SSW’s End-of-Life Certificate program. “At the time, I think it was the only program that was available, and it was quite innovative,” she said.

These days, many clients work with her specifically around grief issues, and she also draws people who are living with someone who has a terminal illness. “I really am at times in awe. I feel like whatever I’ve done in the field of social work, it’s kept me involved in just the whole human experience,” she said. The work is intense at times, she admits, but the rewards far outweigh the demands. “As difficult as it sometimes is, it keeps my eyes open … life is really difficult for many people for many reasons, and I want to know that,” she said. “I don’t want to have that be invisible to me.” Carrier-Hayes said that, time and again, she’s been buoyed to see that, when children and youth have been touched by a close death, healing is possible in the right circumstances. “The research really shows that if children lose a parent at an early age, if there’s another person who can help a child make meaning of the situation, that’s pivotal,” she said. “That’s always been incredibly interesting to me and really profound.”—Laurie Loisel

FA L L 20 17

/ 35 /

/ Alumni News /

/ In Memoriam /

D AY- G A R R E TT ME D AL IS T R OBERTA G RAZIANO

Roberta Graziano ’68, one of this year’s Day-Garrett Award winners, sees parallels between her profession and detective work. “That’s really what it is,” she said in a telephone interview from her longtime home in Queens. “Why am I behaving the way I am? Why, every time this happens, do I behave like that?” Viewing a social worker’s role as helping clients uncover the mystery of why they respond the way they do to the events in their lives led Graziano to do pioneering work in the field of trauma-informed therapy. It’s also why she was a practitioner and proponent of the approach well before it became ubiquitous in the field and wider culture. Graziano came to SSW in 1966 on a full scholarship. Prior to her arrival, she’d worked as a caseworker for the State Department of Social Welfare, a role that brought her to a New Haven-area housing project in the heyday of Johnson’s Great Society programs. Later, while working in the outpatient psychiatry department at a local hospital, Graziano acquired further learning in psychoanalytic theory, earning a certificate in analytic psychotherapy and, later, her doctorate at the City University of New York. She began teaching in SSW’s Continuing Education Program in 1983. During that time, Graziano designed a course in Object Relations Theory, considered one of the earliest social work classes on the topic. She later taught casework practice to SSW master’s program students. She began teaching at the Hunter College School of Social Work part-time in the mid-’80s, joined the faculty full-time in 1989, teaching master’s, doctoral and continuing education courses, and stayed on until her retirement in 2011. Among other administrative roles during her tenure, Graziano ran a oneyear residency program in which bachelor’s-level social workers earned their master’s degrees. She also developed, implemented and directed a work-study scholarship program for employees of social agencies serving New York City’s older adults, for which she raised more than $2 million in grants. Graziano sees the program as among her greatest achievements because it admitted students who otherwise wouldn’t have been able to attend graduate school. Students came from countries in Central and South America, the former USSR, the Caribbean, China, Korea and Albania as well as the U.S. In 10 years, the

/ 36 /

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

BY JERRY CARTON

program graduated 75 students, most bilingual, who went on to work in agencies that cared for the city’s most underserved elders. Also at Hunter, Graziano served as associate dean for two years. And throughout her wide-ranging career as a teacher and administrator, helping to shape the field of social work, Graziano always kept her hand in clinical work. It was in the mid-’80s that her clients helped shape her ideas about trauma theory. As she tried to understand the experiences of so many of her clients, she said, she came to see that in some ways, traditional psychodynamic theory did them a disservice. She began to study the effects of trauma and PTSD, “which, at the time, the whole world wasn’t looking at,” she said. This led to a professional focus that lasted for the rest of her career. She wrote chapters on trauma in three editions of Theory and Practice in Clinical Social Work, a textbook by Jerrold R. Brandell, published by Free Press, and then in Essentials of Clinical Social Work, published by Sage Publishing in 2014. She presented papers on trauma at national and international conferences, consulted in Texas, London and Paris and served on the mayor’s Task Force on Sexual Abuse in New York City. Graziano was motivated by her growing belief that the trauma-sensitive approach is a non-judgmental and effective way to work with certain clients. By articulating the fact that their experiences were traumatic, she said, clients were often able to work through the trauma. “I had a lot of really good results just by talking about it from this framework,” said Graziano. “It was extremely rewarding, and that’s why I kept doing it.” In learning that she was to be a recipient of the prestigious Day-Garrett Award, Graziano reflected that among the previous Day-Garrett winners were some of her teachers and mentors, people she called “social work icons.” “They demonstrate the best of the profession,” she said. “I can still hardly believe that I will now be part of that special group.”—Laurie Loisel

From a Father A tribute to SSW student Courtney Carton ’17

The stark truth is that my daughter Courtney Carton did not live very long, less than 24 years. In the end, complications of juvenile diabetes, with which she was diagnosed when she was three years old, caught up to her. But there are other truths as well, including this: age is not a barrier nor a deterrent to caring, kindness and service. Those are the qualities which defined Courtney’s short life and which punctuated her intense desire to help others. Committed to her career choice, Courtney arrived at Smith’s School for Social Work in the summer of 2015. Through these last two incredibly precious years, she immersed herself in trying to make a difference for the families and young clients with whom she worked. Service came as naturally as breathing for her. She believed she had a responsibility to contribute, an obligation to do her part to uphold our society’s unwritten social contract for the greater good, a contract, while unwritten, that is nonetheless very real. That sense of responsibility was nurtured at Smith where, because of faculty and fellow students alike, her horizons expanded, easy assumptions

were questioned, and a willingness to be open to new ideas took hold. For the first time in her life, she confronted the ugliness of racism and bigotry and vowed to do her part to make even her tiny corner of the world a better place. Professors and a slew of classmates helped to open her eyes, which helped shape the professional she was on her way to becoming. For this and so much more, I was indescribably proud of her. Professors, clinicians and, in a few cases even parents, reached out after her passing and told me how much they respected that commitment and how impressed they were by her genuine caring and by that aforementioned kindness. Debra Kott, Courtney’s field supervisor at You, Inc., where Smith had assigned her internship, put it this way, “She was able to develop empathetic relationships with her clients while mindful of professional perspective. She was always mindful of the need to be present and respectful of where the client was in their own process. Her skills grew tremendously.” I have heard Courtney described as an ‘old soul,’ and while that fit her well, there was so much more to her. Courtney’s life-long struggle with

insulin-dependent diabetes posed a daily challenge. The regimen of daily blood tests and injections, stubbornly high blood pressure and the onset of neuropathy, resulting in chronic pain, must have been exhausting to cope with. Yet it seems everyone who knew her agreed they never, truly never, heard Courtney complain about her myriad of ailments. Sickness was merely another hurdle in her drive to become someone who was making their mark. Her courage was inspiring to me, but she shrugged it all off as part of the life she was living. To her, there were broader, more important issues on which to focus. That’s just who she was. Her years on this earth were far too few, but she truly, truly made the most of them. While I cannot possibly ever put into words how achingly much I miss her every second of every day, it is our family’s deepest wish that the Courtney Carton Memorial Scholarship we have launched for aspiring social workers at Smith, who have overcome life challenges like hers, will be the vehicle through which her courage, compassion and kindness will be cemented. Courtney, we love you so much. ◆

The Courtney Carton M.S.W. Class of 2017 Memorial SSW Scholarship Fund will provide annual scholarship support to M.S.W. candidates who have shown exemplary courage in their lives to overcome extraordinary challenges and who aspire to work with children. This scholarship will continue in perpetuity. Anyone wishing to make contributions to the fund in memory of Courtney may make checks payable to Smith College School for Social Work, with designation Courtney Carton Memorial Scholarship Fund. Mail checks to: SCSSW c/o Smith College Gift Accounting, Stoddard Annex, 23 Elm Street, Northampton, MA 01063. Or make your gift online: give.evertrue.com/smithcollege/ssw

FA L L 20 17

/ 37 /

/ Alumni News /

/ Alumni Profile /

BY TY NA N P O W E R

Committed to Study Investing in the future of mental health care for Veterans and their families

When Camille Hall teaches Beyond Armed Conflict in Domestic and Global Contexts: Addressing Trauma through a Clinical Social Work Lens at SSW, she brings 32 years of experience with the U.S. Army into her classroom. An Equal Opportunity Officer (EEO) during four years of active duty, Hall extended her commitment through the Army Reserves while pursuing a B.S.W. and M.S.W. at New Mexico State University and then a Ph.D. at Smith in 2004. “When I came to SSW, I had worked in a myriad of social service agencies as a treatment and mitigation specialist and also had a private practice,” said Hall. “My interventions were grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy, but that had limitations with regard to helping clients maintain a successful life beyond therapy. I knew that I needed to learn more about theoretical and practical interventions in order to be more effective.” During her graduate studies at New Mexico State, one practice teacher made a particular impression: SSW alumna Dr. Alice Chornesky, M.S.W. ’78, Ph.D. ’90. “Her lectures taught you more about how to understand the client’s behavior beyond manualized interventions,” said Hall. “That led me to apply to SSW.” “The most valuable experiences I had at Smith are connected to the sense of community I shared with my cohort and the faculty who fostered a supportive learning environment.” Her experience at Smith has continued to play a key role for Hall, who is now an associate professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

/ 38 /

“The SSW anti-racism commitment is incomparable,” she said. “I teach a diversity class at the University that is modeled on what I learned at SSW. The course is a work in progress, but my students oftentimes say that it is where they learned the most about themselves and how to be culturally competent practitioners.” Outside the classroom, Hall’s research examines micro, meso and macro risk and resilience factors among African Americans. Included in her writings is African American Behavior in the Social Environment: New Perspectives, a book she coauthored in 2007. In 2015, Hall completed a research project which examined

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

My intention is to sustain SSW’s commitment toward helping individuals in the armed forces.

intergenerational stressors and other determinants among African American women. The data analysis, according to Hall, was revealing about the impact of colorism—defined by author Alice Walker as “prejudicial or preferential treatment of same-race people based solely on their color.” This fall, Hall plans to publish findings that illustrate “the differences in self-esteem, coping, problem-solving and family life events among African American mothers and daughters.” Hall remains deeply committed to Smith, and she recently demonstrated her dedication by creating a bequest for SSW. “My intention is to sustain SSW’s commitment toward helping individuals in the armed forces. The gift will fund a $50,000 scholarship for students who will engage in direct practice with individuals who have served in the armed forces and their families. It also will provide $50,000 for faculty conducting research to expand the knowledge base in this area.” “SSW is the best clinical social work program in the world,” said Hall. “Employers and social work colleagues have the utmost respect for the graduates, and we share a unique experience as alumni.” As an adjunct and a benefactor, Hall’s contributions to SSW help ensure that unique experience continues well into the future. ◆

—CAMILLE HALL, speaking about her recent bequest

FA L L 20 17

/ 39 /

/ Post Script /

/ School Works /

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. Positive Feedback

Comment Card reads: I approve of this i have a pet turtle Spike and that is his cousin. The turtle looks so happy too.

APPLICATION DEADLINES

During their SSW anti-racism project, Dorothy Manley, Tatiana Martínez and Haley Rice, each a member of the M.S.W. class of ’17, set out to examine how negative stereotypes about one’s hometown can impact that person’s mental health, particularly that of a child. Through their effort to reverse such assumptions about Hartford, Connecticut among the city’s youth, the students provided cameras to and encouraged several young photographers to find beauty in their neighborhoods. The culmination of the students’ efforts: a public exhibition of the youth’s work, during which patrons young and old were encouraged to submit anonymous comment cards for each photo. See story on page 12.

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

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

M.S.W./Ph.D.

FA LL 2 01 6

smith.edu/ssw sswadm@smith.edu

/ 40 /

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

Lilly Hall Northampton, MA 01063 smith.edu/ssw

CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED

PERSISTENCE, POSSIBILITIES & THE POWER OF OUR VOICES 2 0 1 8 S M I T H CO L L E G E WO M E N O F CO LO R CO N F E R E N C E APRIL 13–APRIL 15, 2018

KEYNOTE SPEAKER School for Social Work Dean Marianne Yoshioka SSW alumni and students, join us as the School partners with Smith College for what’s sure to be one of 2018’s most engaging and memorable events. Connect with distinguished alumnae and faculty of color, dynamic speakers and current Smith students during this exciting weekend of personal and professional development. You’ll find inspiration in the stories of alumnae of color who persisted, pursued possibilities within a range of professions and used the power of their voices to influence change. All members of the Smith community are invited and encouraged to attend. Visit alumnae.smith.edu/events/womenofcolor for information and to register. SSW alumni and students of color, please save the date for an additional dinner on Saturday, April 14. Details to follow soon.