By: Emily Davis, for The Center for Community Solutions
As a master's of social work student studying clinical social work practice at Case Western Reserve University (CWRU), an internship as an applied research graduate assistant with The Center for Community Solutions may seem a little out of the ordinary. However, it proved to be an excellent fit for my academic goals and ultimately, Community Solutions played a major role in my social work education this past year.
As a Masters of social work student studying clinical social work practice at Case Western Reserve University, an internship as an applied research graduate assistant with The Center for Community Solutions may seem a little out of the ordinary.
For the past two semesters, I contributed to reports on topics like poverty and health disparities, played a part in a Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) for a major Northeast Ohio hospital system, collected and analyzed data from more than 1,100 surveys that assessed the impact of a human services organization and coordinated key informant interviews with community leaders including public health directors, elected officials and foundation presidents.
Word to the wise, facilitating focus groups is not as easy as the Community Solutions research team makes it look!
In addition to my duties at Community Solutions, I worked as a clinical social work intern at MetroHealth Hospital, counseling individual patients and small groups. As a full-time student at CWRU, I studied a variety of topics including mental health policy, theory of direct practice and trauma informed social work practice. The culmination of these experiences, and my work with Community Solutions helped to create a comprehensive picture of the systems and policies which impact the individual’s lived experience. At MetroHealth, I counseled patients and learned intimately about the challenges they face. Speaking with key informants for the CHNA, these specific challenges gained context as I gathered a myriad of perspectives on issues our community collectively faces.
The culmination of these experiences, and my work with Community Solutions helped to create a comprehensive picture of the systems and policies which impact the individual’s lived experience.
My participation in focus groups with community members for the CHNA also helped me to understand these issues more fully. Word to the wise, facilitating focus groups is not as easy as the Community Solutions research team makes it look! In the first focus group I attended, the conversation flowed beautifully among members and we came away with extremely useful information and ideas. I thought this all happened with relatively little effort, but once I was put into the facilitator seat I realized how wrong I was. As facilitator you are challenged to quickly build rapport with members, keep the discussion on topic and intercept conflicting discourse among the group, all while staying mindful of the time.
I saw firsthand that Community Solutions staff members are truly passionate about identifying solutions in the service of all community members.
Working with Community Solutions also provided me the opportunity to represent myself as a social work professional. My social work lens offered a perspective needed in social services research. Key social work values include the dignity and worth of the person and self-determination. The social worker is challenged to consider the person in their environment. Discussions with my colleagues at Community Solutions gave me an opportunity to offer this perspective. Through these conversations, I saw firsthand that Community Solutions staff members are truly passionate about identifying solutions in the service of all community members. I am grateful to Community Solutions for allowing me this incredible opportunity. This past year I have made huge strides in my work towards becoming a social work professional and I will forever be grateful to Community Solutions for its part in that.
