From the Director's Desk
What a glorious Fall season we have had! I think it is one of the loveliest on record. I am hoping that you were able to spend some quality time outdoors because you all know what is next....
I have been anticipating our 12th issue of the U-M School of Social Work Office of Field Instruction Field Notes waiting to see how our students have decided to contribute this time around. I hope that you find the topics intriguing and thought-provoking to read.
Finally, I am proud to let you know that one of our U-M School of Social Work field instructors was nominated for the North American Network of Field Educators and Directors annual Heart of Social Work Award. Please congratulate Ms. Janet Ray, MSW, LMSW who has contributed in many ways and in many spaces to the training of the next generation of social workers. While Janet didn't win the "top prize", we are nevertheless proud of her accomplishments. You can read more about Janet's nomination here.
With the holiday season fast approaching, we wish you time to enjoy the meaning of the seasons and a Happy 2016! We also want to congratulate our 2015 graduates and wish them success as they embark on their next journey.
Regards,
Betsy Voshel, LMSW, ACSW
Associate Clinical Professor
Director of Field Instruction
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Introduction of 2015-2016 Freud Fellows!
 Aubree is looking forward to continued growth with fellow social workers in these final semesters. As a second-year MSW student studying Social Policy & Evaluation and concentrating in Community and Social Systems, Aubree is completing her third placement at the Curtis Center's Program Evaluation Group. Previously, Aubree has worked in field placements at Jewish Family Services and Keshet: a national LGBTQ Jewish organization, and received her BA in Women's Studies and Psychology. In her spare time, Aubree loves reading, making art, and exploring the green spaces of Ann Arbor.
 Vanessa Levine-Smith is a second year, 20-month MSW candidate in Interpersonal Practice and Mental Health, with a minor in Community Organization. After earning her BA in literature at Wesleyan University, she edited books (at Norton) and produced exhibits (at C&G Partners). Like all Lit Majors everywhere, she likes stories and tea. Through her field placement at the Child Advocacy Law Clinic, she has worked closely with families at the intersection of personal crisis and the justice system. Upon graduation, she hopes to continue this multi-faceted work, to write and to work clinically with clients who are managing trauma.
 Charlie Brinks is a 1st year MSW student with a concentration in Social Policy and Evaluation and a practice method of Community and Social Systems. She recently returned from Peace Corps as a community health volunteer in Zambia, where she initiated and managed projects to train midwives and rehabilitate malnourished children. Her current field placement is as a youth advocacy advisor at ACCESS, a nonprofit serving the majority Arab population in Dearborn. In the future, she hopes to live and work abroad working with health policy and program evaluation of community development projects regarding refugees/immigrations and maternal and child health. In the little spare time she does have, she enjoys hiking with her dog, playing mandolin, knitting, and learning new languages.
 Nadeen Hachem is a second year student in the School of Social Work. She is studying Management of Human Services within Community & Social Systems and has had great opportunity to figure out what she is passionate about. She is currently placed at a program within The University of Michigan Dearborn's Office of Metropolitan Impact called Public Allies Metro Detroit (PAMD), an initiative partnership between the University and AmeriCorps. Public Allies Metro Detroit offers nonprofit leadership development and experience for homegrown Detroit leaders to serve their own community. To compliment service time at these nonprofits, allies go through intensive weekly leadership development trainings to improve their professional and personal selves. It has been an exciting experience for her as her interests include leadership development for adolescents and young adults, philanthropy and fundraising, and the integration of social work practices with business administration in both the nonprofit and private sector.
Editors
Jeterra Davis-Griggs
Betsy Voshel
Betsy Williams
Our sincerest thanks to the School of Social Work students, faculty, staff and field instructors whose contributions made this newsletter possible.
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When Justice Rings Like School Bells
By Aubree Sepler
On Monday, September 14, 2015, while most high school students aspired to pass an upcoming chemistry quiz, Texas 9th grader, Ahmed Mohamed was explaining to the police that he was an inventor. In an effort to impress his teachers with his ingenuity, Ahmed fashioned a reconstructed digital clock using a pencil case and his own two hands. Little did he know, this aspiring engineer would be questioned, handcuffed, and led off campus by police officers... READ MORE
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A Spoonful at a Time: Community Organizing Program in Peace Corps
By Lindsay Charlie Brink
In a rural Zambian village, the midwife is bent over a pot on a cooking fire quizzing the mothers on all the food groups that have gone into this batch of locally
sourced baby food. Mothers and grandmothers sit next to their children, helping the child bring each spoonful of nutritious food to their mouths to ensure they get each bite. As I sit back and review the data from our nutrition program, I see that the children that started as dangerously underweight upon entering our program have maintained healthy weights over the last year. These children are participating in a program called PD Hearth, an international nutrition project that is the essence of community organizing...
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Formatting Your Data Reports to
Appeal to Different Audiences
Presenting data effectively may not be the most exciting activity
to some social workers. However, MSW students enter field placement excited to thrive and bring in unique skills and knowledge to stand out and be recognized. In the world of nonprofit organizations, data visualization and effective reporting are skills that might be the golden ticket to impressing field supervisors who would otherwise struggle composing reports and presenting outcomes to stakeholders. Because data...READ MORE
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Measurements for Success: Not Just for Macro Anymore!
By Aubree Sepler
When the recipe calls for a hands-on approach to identifying client outcomes and community impact, in practices from macro to micro and everything in between, what should be added into the mix? The missing ingredient: evaluation.
The critical roles evaluation plays cannot be overstated, and are central to every operation: completing that grant application, acing your performance review, impressing that key donor, ensuring transparency for board
members and key stakeholders, and...
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Breaking Bread Together:
Cultural Humility and Community Empowerment
By Lindsay Charlie Brink
Sitting on the floor of an Afghan family's home, Zainab shows me how to eat rice with my hands while her children laugh and play around us. She has invited me to her home and after several weeks, I have finally accepted. I have been her family's case worker for 3 months, starting with the first night that they entered the U.S. as refugees...
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An MBA for Half the Price?
By Nadeen Hachem
According
to Christine Bader, author of
The Evolution of a Corporate Idealist: When Girl Meets Oil
, a quarter of all students pursue an MBA. The in-state tuition cost of an MBA at a top business school such as The University of Michigan (U-M) is roughly $113,000 for the two-year program. Many experts in the field, including Bader, are recognizing that the private sector has been collapsing, and an MSW may be the answer to its despair. At The University of Michigan, an MSW attained from the number one School of Social Work program costs...
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What I Wish I Knew: 11 Tips to Maximize Field Success
By Aubree Sepler
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| blogs.educationscotland.gov.uk |
Ever wondered if you're making the most out of your months in the MSW program? Fear not! Field Notes staff has gathered takeaways from second-year students on how to maximize field time from Day One.
Get involved:
Particularly for students who may not have much out-of-college experience working within communities, engagement is key for
developing one's experience.
Be your own agent:
People are enthusiastic when they first meet field students! They're excited that you have come to this point, and want to know...
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No Health Without Mental Health:
The Displacement Crisis and Interpersonal Psychotherapy
By Vanessa Levine-Smith
I was in Cairo, working at my desk in the refugee office. I hear this big commotion outside my door, and the staff can't control it. I walk out, and here's this man holding up his baby, straight out in front of him. He's shaking his baby. He's yelling and screaming that he can't get food, but I can't stop looking at this baby who is in total shock. I stay very calm. I ask the man if he would like to sit down and have a cup of tea, because tea is the answer to everything there. It's part of the social fabric, it reminds people where they came from
...
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Welcoming the Stranger to Michigan
By Lindsay Charlie Brink
As of Oct 13, 2015, over 4.1 million Syrian refugees have fled into neighboring countries and more recently, Europe. Countries such as Lebanon are at capacity in their ability to host Syrian refugees and are unable to meet even their most basic of needs such as food, shelter, water, and education (UNHCR). With war in Syria continuing, repatriation of Syrian refugees is looking more and more bleak as neighboring countries overload their capacity to host Syrians. Therefore, all eyes are turning to the west to...
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I am Proud to be a Social Worker, and an Accountant, and a Marketing Specialist, and...
Who would have ever thought that by applying to an MSW program, you would be signing your life to practice more than just social work? When applying to the University of Michigan's School of Social Work Master's program, we may think
that we can silo ourselves in this program so that our energy can be aimed at achieving social justice, creating welfare reform policies, and learning best practices to assist clients in achieving their goals. However...
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Student Spotlight
Molly Indura, Current Field Student at New Vision Shares her Experience
In my second semester of field experience at Home of New Vision, I designed and implemented a 6-week intentional creativity painting group. The theme was
Excavating Your Authenticity
. What is authenticity? Winnicott described authenticity as the true self, "A sense of being alive and real in one's mind and body, having feelings that are spontaneous and unforced
."
I see authenticity as
who you are outside of should's, have to's, attachments, addictions, and your stories about yourself and your life.
The goals are to develop insights on authenticity through using creativity, visualization, self reflection and journaling. The overall goal through this medium is to gain insight into patterns of behavior to sustain sobriety.
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Alumni Spotlight
Emily Hyssong, current U-M Counseling and Psychological Services Staff Member
Emily Hyssong, a U-M School of Social Work graduate, recently did a Huff Post Live Stream and represented the University and Counseling and Psychological Services Staff very well! You can view the live stream by clicking
here
.
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Save the Date! - January 22, 2016
Field Instructor Training: Check Email for Registration Link
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INTRODUCING: The Web-Based Certificate in Pediatric Integrated Healthcare
Inspired by the nationally-recognized Integrated Behavioral Health certificate, the Web-Based Certificate in Pediatric Integrated Health Care was developed as a stand-alone program to provide an in-depth inter-professional exploration of integrated health care provision with children, youth, adolescents, and families. Participants will gain the knowledge and skills associated with providing consultation, screening, assessment, and interventions in primary care settings that serve the distinct developmental and systems of care needs for the pediatric population.
The program begins January 8, 2016 and offers 30 social work CE contact hours over four months. Register now to reserve your place!
For more information about the program and curriculum, please visit the
website
.
If you have any questions, please contact the University of Michigan School of Social Work Office of Continuing Education at [email protected] or (734)763-5723.
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SAY HELLO TO OUR FALL 2015 FIELD SEMINAR PEERS!
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Left to Right: Amanda Sheldon, Katharine Zurek, Lauren Morford, Jenee Graham, Lindsay Corso, Brittany Batell
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UPCOMING FIELD EVENTS!
The Office of Field Instruction would like to congratulate all of the students who are graduating this semester! We are looking forward to hearing about the great work you do in the future! We would like to introduce you to our new Field Liaison, Mary Eldredge, and say goodbye to Warren Clark, who is enjoying his new-found freedom as a retiree! For foundation students, field will begin in January. We encourage you to practice great self-care over break so you will be energized and ready to engage next semester!
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Betsy Voshel was excited to host her daughter's in-laws who live in Manchester, England for a few days in September. They got to tour Ann Arbor and attend a football game at The Big House.
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Emma Rector
is enjoying the small moments--singing "Let It Go" with her 3-year-old and making snowmen with her and her husband. She is also on a DIY binge. Any sad-looking components of her home or office better watch out!
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Leigh Robertson and her partner, Karen love living in Ann Arbor and they have enjoyed many of UM's theatrical and musical performances this year.
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Mary Eldredge and her husband rehabilitated and lived in what used to be a one-room schoolhouse (circa mid-1800s).
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Stacy Peterson recently attended a Title V boxing class with her children. They all enjoyed it and she discovered that she has an impressive upper-cut punch.
- Jeterra Davis-Griggs is excited about completing her first semester of graduate school successfully. She is looking forward to spending the holidays with family.
- Susan Crabb's youngest son, Nick, and his wife, Meghan, just gave birth to their third child, Micah Ray. Micah joins Phoenix and Jonah, his sister and brother. Micah is her fifth grandchild.
- Bill Vanderwill has adopted two classrooms (1st and 5th grade) in Southwest Detroit this year. He loves spoiling the students with books and supplies.
- Lisa Kelley was in the 5th row for an AMAZING INSPIRATIONAL Stevie Wonder concert and he sounds better than ever! She is learning to play one of his songs, Summer Soft on the piano.
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STAY CONNECTED
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NONDISCRIMINATION POLICY STATEMENT
The University of Michigan, as an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer, complies with all applicable federal and state laws regarding nondiscrimination and affirmative action.The University of Michigan is committed to a policy of equal opportunity for all persons and does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, marital status, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, disability, religion, height, weight, or veteran status in employment, educational programs and activities, and admissions. Inquiries or complaints may be addressed to the Senior Director for Institutional Equity, and Title IX/Section504/ADA Coordinator, Office of Institutional Equity, 2072 Administrative Services Building, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109-1432, 734-763-0235, TTY 734-647-1388. For other University of Michigan information call 734-764-1817.
REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY
Michael J. Behm
Grand Blanc
Mark J. Bernstein
Ann Arbor
Laurence B. Deitch
Bloomfield Hills
Shauna Ryder Diggs
Grosse Pointe
Denise Ilitch
Bingham Farms Andrea Fischer Newman
Ann Arbor Andrew C. Richner
Grosse Pointe Park Katherine E. White
Ann Arbor
Mark S. Schlissel (ex officio)
© 2015 Regents of the
University of Michigan
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