Category: Recipient of Judith Cossin Berkman ’59 Social Work WOW

This week I concluded my internship at Start Strong and I can say with confidence that I made the right decision. I have worked various jobs and by now I know what a healthy work environment looks like. I have never been in a space where my coworkers and supervisor have supported me with  such grace. There wasn’t a day that I did not look forward to showing up and teaching the adolescents. With much reflection I am astonished at how grounded they were and how much emotional maturity they display, I saw my younger self in them. They have demonstrated full acceptance of others and the willingness to learn. That serves to show how impactful Start Strong is on their youths. I am happy to play a role in that. 

One of my biggest takeaways from this summer is how I need to approach young people in my field of work. I learned that teenagers are at stages in their lives where they are learning lessons that mold their adulthood. It’s essential to give them grace for their mistakes and to emphasize that they are still learning what makes them happy and whole. This is important to me because I often am hard on myself for the mistakes I made in my teenage years. I have now accepted at those ages I did the best I could knowing what I knew at that time. 

Additionally, my favorite conversation we had this summer with the youths was how to navigate a healthy break up. It meant a lot to me that I was in a position where I could teach them this valuable information because something as simple as conversation on what a healthy break up looks like can save a life. I did not grow up in an environment with healthy representations of break ups and relationships overall. Due to this void I didn’t know how I should be treated in a relationship and I ended up in an abusive relationship. Surviving this relationship motivated me to begin the path to being a social worker and compelled me to want to be in a space like this Start Strong. 

Being a social worker means that I get to be in a position where I can connect underprivileged  people with resources. These resources will ultimately help them make their quality of life better and take them out of harmful situations. Sometimes people need someone there to guide them because they don’t know where to start to make their life better.

Navigating the first week of my internship has been an exciting  moving experience. I’ve had the joy of dipping my toes into the field I see myself being in five years from now. I am interning at Strong Strong where I am teaching high schoolers from the city of Boston how to foster healthy relationships and how to prevent teen dating violence. This is important to me because Boston has a high rate of domestic violence incidents. I am devoted to playing a part in reducing violence in relationships. I have learned that a lot of people around me grow up with unhealthy representations of love and struggle to find and maintain relationships that are good for them. 

Start Strong trains leaders such as myself on a trauma-informed curriculum that helps teens distinguish between unhealthy and healthy qualities in a relationship, the cycle of abuse, what a break up looks like, and other important dialogues. Then we teach teens through workshops and activities in this curriculum. We hope with this knowledge they have the tools and resources in place to make healthy decisions for themselves in current and future relationships. 

My most significant task is leading a break up elective where we zoom in on how to practice healthy habits in ending a friendship or a relationship. I have been analyzing the media and doing research on my own to best help the youths understand what a healthy break up looks like in a way they can understand. I have been learning how the media shapes the decisions we make in our everyday lives. The point of the break up elective is to expose young people to healthy breakups because breakups in friendships and relationships have led to alarming rates of violence.

As my internship nears its end, I think about all that I learned in relation to all that I was hoping to learn. I believe that this internship has allowed me to learn in ways that I was hoping to that, but also in ways that I was not expecting. 

Coming into this internship with Community Servings, I was hoping to be able to use my academic background to enhance the internship experience. I took “Food, Justice, and Health,” with Professor Shostak where we learned about all things related to food insecurity, health impacts, and organizational efforts to combat this. We learned about the Food is Medicine Massachusetts Coalition, and I was excited to be able to use what I’ve learned about the coalition as I take part in it through the leading organization. I can definitely say that all that I learned in the class enhanced my learning experience by giving me a framework to build off. Through the experience, though, I was also inspired academically in new ways. I realized that I would really like to take more science based classes in my future at Brandeis and get more insight into the facts that we know to be true. This internship allowed me to both use my current academic knowledge to enhance the experience, while also inspire my future academic endeavors. 

With the framework of the class as a background, I knew just how important it is to have the community be part of leading any service that is done. I knew that this was an area where FIMMA could improve upon. At large, FIMMA does great work to better the health of those who are food insecure. However, most of it does not engage the community in a way that allows them to be part of the leadership team. Coming into the internship, I knew that I wanted to learn what was necessary to make that change. Throughout the summer, I have done much work to try and ensure that when I end the internship, there will be a foundation set up for the community to be future leaders. I am happy that this goal has been accomplished. After hours of CBO Task Force meetings, lots of outreach, and many proposed strategies, I am happy that a Community Advisory Panel is finally in the making. The panel will consist of numerous community members from different organizations in the CBO Task Force. Through this panel, the community is going to be given a space to lead. 

This internship has allowed me to clarify my career interests further. I would say that I am certainly someone who is still exploring their options, and is unsure of what the future may hold in terms of careers. However, this has allowed me to gain a deeper understanding and awareness around what I may want from a career, and what I may not want as much. It has allowed me to understand that I will definitely want something where the work is more direct, and personal. I specifically felt passionate about understanding that my work was leading to collaboration with community members within FIMMA. It has inspired me to consider something that is more hands-on, where the overarching work of the career involves interacting with those who are given any type of service.

To anyone who may also be passionate about the issue of food insecurity / health, I would definitely advise to get involved in any way that you can. Bringing your passions into any experience allows it to really be the most beneficial for all parties involved. Regardless of the specific internship opportunity, if your passions and specific wants are clear to yourself it will allow for the experience to be that much more meaningful. 

Community Servings is one of the leading organizations that is part of the coalition of Food is Medicine Massachusetts (FIMMA). Community Servings connects the healthcare field with the importance of food. By providing medically tailored, nutritious, scratch-made meals to chronically ill individuals and their families, Community Servings works to assure that individuals in the Boston area have access to the nutritious foods they need to be healthy. Through a collective work of meal delivery programs, nutrition education, and policy advocacy, Community Servings is helping lead the collective organizations in Boston which are all working to enhance the role of nutrition in healthcare. 

FIMMA is a multi sector state-wide coalition of organizations that are working to connect the food system with the healthcare system. Through various interventions, FIMMA works to create a healthcare system where providers can identify food insecure individuals and connect them with the appropriate Food is Medicine intervention. Community Servings is a leading organization within the coalition, which results in much of the work that I am doing  being connected to FIMMA at large. 

A main project that I am tasked with this summer is leading the Consumer Advocacy Project where I am developing a strategy for enhanced engagement with FIMMA consumers. Though FIMMA understands the importance of connecting with their constituents and allowing the community to lead in the offered services, not much work has been done on these grounds to accomplish this goal. Through the work that I am doing, I will be aiming to lift the voices of FIMMA consumers. To accomplish this project, I’m learning about past strategies, successes, failures, and areas for improvement and with this information, I will be devising new strategies and leading them. In this effort, I will develop relationships with organizations who are willing to help lead this effort, and having direct outreach to the constituents. 

Along with leading that effort, I’ll be helping Community Servings specifically engage with the community — both those who use their services and those who don’t. In this regard, I have been working on compiling resources necessary for events that connect the community to organizations. This involves creating informative flyers, organizing games, garnering interest in FIMMA, and receiving feedback on FIMMA services.

As a student at Brandeis majoring in HSSP, I’ve been learning a lot about the healthcare system. I have recently taken Food, Justice, and Health with Professor Shostak which has further inspired me to work with both the food system and the healthcare system. I am passionate about the role of nutrition in health, and it’s been great to be a part of FIMMA and work with Community Servings for that reason. I knew that I wanted to use what I was learning in my classes regarding food and the healthcare system towards actual work, and being able to do that enhances the learning experience. Through this experience, I am hoping to further develop an understanding of how my passions — both academic and personal — can fit into a career setting. As this internship experience is filled with my passions and interests in the work setting, it has already been allowing me to do just that.

As I join the crowd of people approaching the Metro station at 8:30 on a Monday morning, I realize that I’ve become one of the people I used to roll my eyes at; a DC young professional. Growing up in DC, I always saw these types, heading downtown in waves, and wondered what their experience of DC was and how it differed from mine, knowing that many of them weren’t from Washington. Many people come to DC for work, to the point where it’s more unusual to find a native Washingtonian than it is to meet a transplant. I’ve realized that there can be some misunderstandings about what Washington, DC is from people who haven’t lived here. However, my city is not just monuments and tourists. It is not just federal government and Congress. It is a living, breathing place with people trying to go about their lives.

Buildings like the Capitol are symbols of our country and frame the DC skyline. But what truly makes up DC are people like the young girls who beautifully created art on our office chalk wall.DC is also filled with ironies and frustrations coming from the weird balance of power that is a result of our status as a federal district, with congressional oversight of our laws and a lack of representation within Congress. This is compounded by ever-present inequalities such as de-facto segregation, gentrification, and struggling public schools which all negatively impact the diverse cultural and socio-economic population. So, no; being here for a summer, or a year, and visiting trendy neighborhoods for brunch and happy-hour while interning on the Hill are not sufficient for gaining perspective on this enigma of a city.

This lack of understanding has left me feeling protective of my city and more aware of the shortcomings in my own understanding of it due to being raised in a middle class, mostly white, neighborhood in Northwest, Washington. These contemplations have been deepened by my interactions with staff at the DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Six members of the Coalition staff are from DC, and those that are not all demonstrate a great understanding and desire to learn more about the city. I have greatly appreciated the thoughtfulness and dedication to thinking specifically about how domestic violence shows up in DC that the Coalition continuously addresses. They constantly strive to fight against the systemic issues of the city to develop projects and resources that are accessible, relevant, and effective for all the diverse communities in this unique place. This commitment to the people of DC pervades all the work the Coalition does and has taught me new things about the place I’ve lived my whole life.

Dedication and passion for serving a specific community is an essential part of advocacy and activism, a point that has been driven home to me this summer. The Training and Outreach Specialist at the Coalition, my supervisor, is especially important in this dedication as she balances various activities from training new survivor advocates, meeting with community partners and organizations, and going into the community through leading workshops and tabling at events, just to name a few. I have observed the differences in how conversations about domestic violence occur in different settings and how engaging meaningfully with different populations on this difficult subject involves being mindful of their lived experiences. The balance of being mindful of those around you and transitioning between settings is valuable to learn for any profession, but especially for advocacy and social work. I am excited to bring some of the passion the Coalition holds back to my endeavors at Brandeis, and I hope this experience acts as a reminder that there is always more to learn to deepen our understanding of the world around us and the places we call home.

#DCStatehood

This summer, I am thrilled to be working as the Training and Outreach Intern at the D.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence (DCCADV). The DCCADV is the federally recognized coalition of organizations, programs, and individuals working to eliminate domestic violence in D.C. They use a framework for their work that identifies social, economic, cultural, political, and legal factors that impact those who are affected by violence, oppression, subordination, and discrimination. DCCADV works to expand community awareness and activism as well as address systematic gaps that exist through public policy initiatives.

It is so incredible to see the inner workings of a non-profit first-hand and learn about advocacy on the levels of training, outreach, and policy, which I have less experience with. The first week of my internship mostly consisted of attending and participating in the Domestic Violence Advocate Core Competency Training (DVACT) which is a 40 hour training that all domestic violence advocates in the District must complete in order to be granted advocate privilege under D.C. law, and which my supervisor runs. It was an amazing opportunity for me as an intern who has not even finished college yet to be able to participate in this training alongside professionals who have dedicated their careers to serving survivors of domestic violence. I was able to learn so much from the sessions and the facilitators, and especially from the other participants. Their insights were eye opening and made me realize intersections and obstacles in this work that I had never thought about. The training helped me see the impact of violence in our larger society instead of just in the college setting I am used to, while at the same time giving me hope.

By attending meetings, I have started to learn how the non-profit is organized, as well as inter-organizational and city dynamics. I have also tabled at events and started working on a few longer term projects.  One project involves mandated reporting; I am looking into the specifics of and any inconsistencies in the law for D.C. in regards to the requirements for the mandated reporting of child abuse and neglect, sexual abuse, and threat of harm to self or others. Additionally, I have started working on gathering information for and helping to draft a language access policy plan for the DCCADV. I have researched what language justice is and how to implement policies that supports it so that all persons, regardless of their proficiency in English, can access the resources and services they want and need.

I feel like I have already begun to achieve some of my goals for this summer such as deepening my critical thinking about psychology and trauma, social justice, and the systems in society that contribute to the perpetuation of violence. By seeing first-hand how a non-profit organization functions, I am learning the processes involved in providing support services with the goal of creating a positive impact. Also, acting in roles such as coordinating programs and doing research are aiding me in discovering what specific aspects of social work appeal to me and where my strengths lie. Through the extensive training and exposure to the difficult topics I am receiving in this role, I am increasing my self-awareness, empathy, and insight into how I can work to prevent violence both on a larger scale as well as on a personal level in my own relationships.

This summer, thanks to the Judith Cossin Berkman ‘59 Endowed Internship Fund in Social Work and the Hiatt Career Center at Brandeis, I had the incredible opportunity to travel to San Francisco and intern with Homeless Prenatal Program.  I had dreamed of working with HPP for over a year, and the WOW program made that possible for me.  Now that I have been back in Waltham for a week and have started classes, I have had time to reflect on my experience at HPP, so I can share that with all of you.

Before I began my internship, I established three goals for the summer. Upon reflection, I realized I did not spend much time working toward my academic goal of developing a research question for a senior thesis, though I was able to explore concepts I learned about in school through direct experience.  Because my internship was focused on gaining professional experience, meeting my career exploration and skill development goals felt natural.  I worked closely with the staff at HPP to provide both direct and indirect social work services.  Working daily with the staff and clients at HPP strengthened my interpersonal skills and improved my professional abilities to support a diverse range of clients.  After three months at HPP, I feel confident in my plan to pursue a career in social work and prepared to apply to MSW programs this year.

The most fulfilling thing about my internship was working closely with the DV Advocate team and developing strong relationships with my coworkers and supervisor.  Joining a team that has been together for a long time and already has a particular dynamic can sometimes feel disruptive and awkward, but the DV team absorbed me quickly and began to feel like a (highly productive) family.  Unbeknownst to me when I applied for the internship, I came into the team during a crucial time of transition.  Emotions were high, as were workloads, so it was clear that my role on the team would be primarily supportive.  I enjoyed the level of responsibility the gave me when assigning me tasks., and I felt especially proud of my ability to effectively organize the files during the transition.  One of my favorite things about working with the DV team was our ability to have a good time even when stress levels were high by taking trips to the movies and playing games during lunch.  

As August ended, so did the DV CalWORKs program, into which I poured my energy this summer.  While two of the team members will remain at Homeless Prenatal after the DV CalWORKs program ends, the other two will be moving on to new opportunities, as am I, and as will the other intern.  Endings are always sad, and I will miss these people dearly.  I am incredibly thankful to have spent the summer working alongside them.

Next week will mark my two-month anniversary in San Francisco.  I have been enjoying my summer and spending my free time  doing things like attending the Pride celebration, watching an all-female Queen tribute band on the Fourth of July, driving down Route 1 to the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, and binge-watching procedurals on Netflix.  Amidst all this fun, I’ve also been working 30 hours a week at my internship, and some things have changed since my first week at Homeless Prenatal Program.

First, our team got a new intern, Jocelyn, who is a third-year at UC San Diego.  We quickly bonded over the fact that we are both living in the Outer Sunset neighborhood and started carpooling three times a week and going to get poke bowls during our lunch break.  

But there have also been more institutional changes.  Shortly after my internship began, I learned that, after housing the program for five years, HPP would not be retaining the contract for the DV CalWORKs program. In fact, the entire program will be taken over by a new agency by the end of August, right after my internship ends.  I am getting a unique experience to observe and facilitate the transition of the program.  I have gotten to hear both from the executive staff about why they decided to pass along the contract and from the DV advocates about how they are feeling about the end.  The domestic violence advocate team is a tight-knit group of women, all of whom have been meeting with clients in this role for two or more years.  So, naturally, this transition has had a significant emotional impact on both the team and the clients.  

My workload has also changed as the transition progresses.  At the beginning of my internship, many of my tasks involved calling new referrals to schedule appointments, but now that the contract is being transferred to the new agency, so are all the referrals and clients.  Many of my daily tasks now involve preparing clients’ files and sending them to the new agency.  As the DV CalWORKs program winds down, there are not many opportunities for me to work directly with clients from the program. However,  I have been training to participate in the intake and triage process.  I studied and took a test to get certified for the Adult Needs and Strengths Assessment (ANSA), a tool HPP uses to assess all of their clients.  I have also been shadowing staff members as they meet with first-time clients to assess their needs and make referrals.  Ideally, by August, I will be able to take shifts doing triage on my own.  This will provide me with crucial direct service experience to prepare me for a future in social work.  

Working with a non-profit as prolific as Homeless Prenatal Program has provided a lot of opportunities for both personal and professional growth. Being a student of Sociology and African and Afro-American Studies, I have learned a lot about oppression and inequality on an academic level, but academic essays can’t stand-in for people’s actual narratives.  It is clear that there are many disempowering forces at work in the lives of HPP’s clientele, but it is also clear that HPP offers a space for those clients to be empowered and supported through direct services and advocacy.

One of the most unique and critical parts of HPP’s model is its practice of hiring former clients and others directly from the community it serves, which supports the upward mobility of the community and promotes culturally relevant services.  This is a completely different model from that of universities like Brandeis and pretty much any other industry, as well.  While non-profits certainly have their challenges, like transitions, and flaws, like depending on government contracts and private donations for funding, Homeless Prenatal Program has taught me a lot about how non-profits can empower individual clients and communities.  

(PS. I’m still working on the parking thing.)  

After almost 10 hours of travel, I arrived in the Bay Area on a Monday, ready to begin my internship with the Homeless Prenatal Program (HPP). I am lucky enough have access to a car this summer, so on my first day, before I even stepped into the building, I learned about the stress of traffic and parking in the city. Located in the Mission District of San Francisco, an area known for its strong Latinx community, HPP is situated in a building purchased from a failed business during the dot-com boom. Thanks to its origins in the tech industry, the building itself is very hip with exposed piping, natural lighting, and an open layout, which HPP has paired with artwork and bright colored paint to make the site feel welcoming and friendly. On my first day at HPP, I received a full tour, signed paperwork, familiarized myself with the online software, and met the team I will be working with this summer: the DV CalWORKs advocates.

CalWORKs is the welfare-to-work program for parents with children under the age of 18 in the state of California. Typically, recipients of CalWORKs receive a monthly stipend while they are going to school or searching for work for up to 48 months. However, a significant portion of CalWORKs recipients qualify for an exemption from the standard requirements because they have experienced domestic violence (DV). HPP is contracted by the Human Services Agency (HSA) to run the DV CalWORKs program. HPP’s DV advocates ensure that CalWORKs recipients who have experienced DV receive an exemption, help them meet the CalWORKs requirements, meet with clients on a monthly basis, and connect them to other resources both inside and outside of HPP. In my role as an intern with the DV CalWORKs program, I am learning how to input new referrals from the HSA into HPP’s system, call new referrals to book appointments, and file clients’ paperwork.

The DV CalWORKs program is only one small piece of what HPP does. For almost three decades, HPP has been providing families experiencing economic insecurity and homelessness with lifesaving resources. Over the years, HPP has expanded rapidly to meet the needs of its clients and now staffs over 80 people who provide services including housing assistance, prenatal care, parenting advice, community health worker trainings, a free computer center, support groups, and financial coaching. My supervisors at HPP are really invested in providing me with a wide range of experiences across HPP’s many other programs, so I will be supplementing my internship with DV CalWORKs by shadowing the staff from other programs throughout the summer.

As someone who aspires to pursue a career in social work, HPP is a great organization to work with. One of my goals for this summer is to develop the strong cultural competency skills required to provide effective and relevant support to diverse populations. Shadowing case managers at HPP will help me achieve this because HPP serves a population primarily comprised of Latinx, Asian, and African American women experiencing poverty and homelessness. HPP is also the perfect place to achieve my personal goal of building strong relationships with coworkers and clients because the culture of HPP is one in which everyone knows everyone else and because the DV Advocate team is such a tight-knit group. To achieve my academic goal for the summer, I hope to explore the intersection of race, poverty, gender, and reproductive rights through direct service and engagement, which will inform my future studies at Brandeis.  My last goal is to learn how to park.

In the final few weeks of my internship at Lawyers for Children, I spent more time accompanying the social worker I was shadowing on court appointments and client interviews. I also started to form closer bonds with particular clients I had met multiple times over the course of the summer. Two of the goals I set out for myself at the beginning of the summer were to learn how to be a more effective advocate and to improve my communication and listening skills. By watching the way attorneys spoke to their clients before court and spoke up for their clients in court, as well as observing the way family court judges took into consideration a child’s wishes, I’ve seen first hand the way that advocates work to help those in need. I also learned a lot about how to listen effectively to children by observing the way the social worker conducted interviews and in speaking with the clients myself. One of the skills I observed and developed at LFC that I think will be particularly helpful in the future was how to talk to kids about trauma in their lives in a way that is empowering to them and does not require them to relive the experiences we needed to get on the record.

Although it was often disheartening to hear about trauma in children’s lives and not know for sure whether or not we could help or heal them, I felt sure at the end of each day that the work we’d done had a positive impact in our clients’ lives (whether we were acting only as a listening ear or fighting in court to get them removed from a dangerous home environment). Having a positive impact in our young clients’ lives made all the work I did this summer entirely worth it. I would definitely like to continue working to improve the lives of children in the foster care system in the future.

If I were to give advice to another student who wanted to work at Lawyers for Children, I’d tell them to prepare to work hard. Interns were with their supervisors all day which meant that they were living the life of an attorney or social worker during the whole internship. The advice I would give to an individual interested in an internship working with foster care children is to think hard about whether or not they have the patience to work with children and whether or not they really enjoy it before they sign up. Children can sense whether or not someone is invested in their lives and is listening fully to their narratives.

The thing I am most proud of after working at LFC for 10 weeks is the connections I made with two clients in particular. One child, a 14 year old trans girl, was in a situation where her case planner was transphobic and she wasn’t getting the support she needed at her placement. During a conference about the youth’s progress at the facility she was placed in, I got on the phone with the facilitator and explained what was going on. Our client heard me, and seemed to appreciate my standing up for her. Another client who I was helping get supplies for her unborn child was telling me about her life and stopped to say, “You know, I think you’d make a great social worker. It seems like you actually care about what I’m telling you.” It was then that I felt most sure that I want to continue working in this field in the future.

Rachel Geller, ’17

Social Work WOW Fellow

In the past couple of weeks at Lawyers For Children, I have gotten to meet and work with many different clients that were assigned to the social worker I’m shadowing this summer. I find meeting with clients at the Manhattan Family Court before their court appointments to be particularly rewarding. LFC makes sure to leave time before court to speak to the children they’ll be representing to make sure all parties are on the same page about the child’s most recent circumstances. It is during these meetings that I see clearly the way Lawyers For Children’s work touches their clients. Instead of going into the court room, telling the judge what the child wants, and leaving, LFC takes the time to get to know their clients and why they want what they do. These pre-court meetings have shown me the difference between blind representation and informed advocacy.

In honor of LGBTQ Pride Month in New York City, I had the privilege of attending a summit hosted by Hetrick Martin Institute and a panel of youth advocates from an organization called “You Gotta Believe”. The summit brought together hundreds of advocates for youth in New York City to discuss ways to create safe spaces for LGBTQ youth (an especially vital conversation after the tragedy in Orlando, FL earlier this summer.) Attending the meeting with foster care children in mind, the Youth Advocate I’m working with and I discussed with other advocates from different organizations the difficulty foster care youth have in finding stability in general, and how this struggle is intensified for those who are LGBTQ identifying. Often times, these kids face rejection from foster homes and from other foster children in their placements because of their sexuality or gender identity, making it more difficult for them to settle into new places.

The work environment of my internship is different from university life in that, at LFC, everyone I’m surrounded by has similar goals in mind to make things better for the children LFC represents. At school, a lot of what we learn about is broad and large-scale, but at LFC I’m exposed to a tiny fragment of a small city and get to see the full effort employees put in every day, and the small levels in which change is needed. At LFC I’m developing skills in talking to and listening effectively to people of all ages and backgrounds, and learning to appreciate the importance of personal narratives. For many children in care who are moved from place to place, one of the most central, stable things they possess is their story.

At the You Gotta Believe discussion, called “Nobody Ages Out,” adolescents who have recently aged out of the foster care system shared some stories about their experiences in care. In NY, youth can legally sign themselves out of care at 18, but officially transition out at 21. The youth present at this month’s meeting were LGBTQ identifying youth who shared their experiences tied to coming out to foster parents and other children in their placements. It was very clear to me after this conversation that there is a lot that needs to be changed in the NY foster care system.

The youth on the panel disclosed that foster care children are often left in the dark with regards to their placements and a large percentage of them have no warning or time for preparation when they find out they’re switching placements or need to move. LFC has a specialized policy and litigation task force that works on getting laws, such as the ones that allow for kids to be moved with no warning, changed and updated for foster care youth. I had the opportunity to accompany one of the attorneys on the litigation task force to a New York City counsel meeting that was being held to discuss some proposed bills on foster care reform. The proposed bills aimed to address some of the issues in ACS policy that make it difficult to keep track of the housing and education choices of youth who’ve aged out of care.It was interesting to hear the counsel members question the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) about some of the areas in which they are falling short. The counsel will be holding a vote on bills that will make it necessary for ACS to follow youth in care, send out surveys to gather accurate statistics about foster care youth high school graduation rate, and follow up on the whereabouts of youth who’ve aged out of care.

Rachel Geller, ’18

Social Work WOW Fellow

This week I began working as a social work intern at Lawyers for Children. Lawyers for Children advocates for children in New York City in abuse/neglect situations, children placed in foster care, and those involved in custody battles and paternity cases. The free advocacy service matches children with both an attorney and a social worker to ensure that they are adequately represented.
The quality that sets LFC apart from other advocating agencies is that they are dedicated to advocating for what the children want in their cases, not only for what they believe is best for the kids. They work hard to ensure that the child’s voice is heard and that they have a say in decisions that are made for them. Lawyers for Children also has numerous special projects that focus on high-risk children in the foster care system such as an LGBTQ task force, an immigration project, a project for youth aging out of the system, a task force specializing in sexual assault, and a mental health project.

As an intern, I was matched with a social worker and a youth advocate at the center. Social work interns are directly involved in the work LFC does and I felt very welcome in my first week. Interns accompany social workers on home visits, client interviews, and to court. I have really enjoyed working with my mentor, and already sense the dedication LFC has towards giving their clients a voice in their future. So far, it seems that the most trying part of the day is commuting on the subway during rush hour in New York City!

On top of shadowing a social worker, I have also been working with a Youth Advocate in the office. This Thursday the Youth Advisory Board met at the office to discuss their experiences. The Board is led by Youth Advocates and is composed of young adults in the foster care system who are clients at LFC. We provide them with resources at the end of the meeting such as an application to help them find employment, and resources about youth-led projects in NYC.
Serving as an intern at Lawyers For Children has thus far given me an opportunity to put into practice some of what I’ve learned and read about in classes at Brandeis. Now, I’m not only reading about court cases where individuals fought for their rights, I’m sitting in a court room with attorneys and social workers working to get the children what they need and want. I hope to learn how to effectively advocate for individuals who are in a difficult position to advocate for themselves, especially in a flawed system, such as the NYC foster care and child services systems.

Rachel Geller, ’18

Social Work WOW Fellow

On August 16th, the project I was working on finally bore fruit. That day, the participants finally performed the play  which they had been practicing for a month. Approximately 200 people who came to see the play, which was performed twice that day. They were friends and family of the participants, high school students from theater clubs and other people who were interested in the subject. The play consisted of episodes based on the participants’ own stories. For example, there was an episode about how someone was bullied when he was in elementary and middle school, then he started to bully others in high school.  Another episode was about some of the participants’ experiences with their parents’ divorces, and experiences they had as outcasts.
I was glad that quite a lot of people came to see the play and was especially glad to see that the participants’ friends and family came to see them. Lots of the participants do not have very close relationships with their parents because it can be hard for them to reveal their thoughts and feeling. Many r parents do not really know what the children are doing on a daily basis because they may be busy with work, so it’s hard for them to connect with their children. Even worse, some parents stop caring about their children. I had already known that most of the participants did not tell their parents much about what they were doing in the program, so it was nice to see their parents being pleasantly surprised by the performances. They were surprised by how capable their children are at performing and many of them did not even know about their children’s interest in theater.
I spent my last few weeks coordinating for the next performance. For example, I managed the venue and advertising and more! I was also in charge of finishing the project and documenting the outcomes. Overall, I think it was a very helpful experience for my future career and personal growth. This experience has given me the chance to learn about my strengths as well as weaknesses. Moreover, it taught me what I truly want to do and what the right fit for me might be.
The most important lesson that I learned this summer was the importance of work/life balance, especially when you are passionate and dedicated to what you do. The people where I worked this summer did not have much of a life outside of their work. It is admirable that they are working toward something that they can dedicate their whole lives to, but at times they could be overwhelmed by it. It is especially hard for NGO workers or social workers since they put a lot of energy and emotion into their work. Also, especially since I was working with participants whom I cared about, it was easy for me to get emotionally attached to them. Overall, I am happy to have had this internship experience, and I look forward to what is next to come.

– Sohyun Shin

I spent the first few weeks of my internship finding participants for the theater project. I looked for individuals who were either North Korean refugees or high school dropouts. It has been three weeks since the project has officially started with those participants.  (Learn more about the North Korean refugees and contact them in the US).

During the first week, I was very frustrated when I saw the participants and could not even sleep very well at night because I was thinking about them. It was heartbreaking to see those teenagers, who are desperately in need of help and guidance but could not get themselves anywhere. It was especially frustrating for me since I grew up in an environment where I could access every resource I needed.

I was eager to help them from the very beginning and I tried to do so in my own way. Unfortunately, this did not bring satisfying results and furthermore, this was the reason why my first few days with them were disappointing. I tried my best and did everything I could that seemed beneficial for the participants. Regardless of my effort, the participants did not welcome or appreciate my work. At that time I felt as if all the things I did to help them were rejected and I could not understand their self-destructive behavior. I could not figure out why everything was not working as well as I had imagined, so I started to blame myself, thinking that my actions were the direct cause of those behaviors. However, as time went on, they opened their minds to me and I got to know and understand them better.

Now I know that I was impatient to judge those behaviors as due to my actions. More importantly, now I realize that neither their behavior, which is a result of their upbringing and past traumatic experiences, can be changed in a day, like a miracle, nor can I be their savior. I also learned that it is absolutely important to connect with the participants, but at the same time I should not be emotionally attached to them. I learned that not only might that lead to me making biased judgments, but also it is not good for my mental health. I also learned is that the participants do not need my pity. Every one of them has their own story, which I will not mention for their privacy, and after listening to their story it is easy to pity them. However, pitying implies that I perceive the participants as if they are inferior and this kind of perception will change the dynamic of my relationship with the participants.

During my internship this summer, I wanted to learn how to engage with underprivileged people and I believe I achieved it through trial and error. The way in which I engage them which is different, but also similar to how I would interact with my family or friends. Moreover, by working with underprivileged people, I learned how to communicate with and understand people from different backgrounds; now I am more understanding and I try to put myself in other people’s shoes. However, as I mentioned before, not everything I did was successful. I have to admit that I made a lot of mistakes at the beginning and I still make them now. However, by keeping track of my actions and the results of my actions, and by having a designated time to reflect on them with my supervisor who taught me what I did correctly and incorrectly, I found ways to do better the next time. I believe this habit of reflecting on myself will be of great help no matter what I do in the future. Furthermore, being able to make mistakes was a precious experience; I will be a better person in the future through those experiences.

– Sohyun Shin ’15

This summer I am working as an intern for PlayRock in Seoul, South Korea.  PlayRock is a theater that aims to increase awareness of discrimination in society through the art of theater and seeks to utilize the therapeutic value of theater. Through theater, PlayRockbrings attention to marginalized groups in society, and effectively brings the public’s attention to these groups and helps those marginalized people by means of drama therapy. Amongst marginalized groups, PlayRock mainly works with marginalized teenagers and also teaches theater classes for alternative schools. With these students, PlayRock produced a children’s play called “A Star and Us” which encouraged children to accept each others’ differences.

Since PlayRock works with marginalized people, PlayRock tries to be as accessible as possible for people who do not usually go to a theater. For example, PlayRock has performed on the street, at town halls and at local public schools. In this way PlayRock has lowered the barriers for local residents so that they can enjoy theater. In addition to this, every summer PlayRock tours and performs a play in rural towns where there are no cultural facilities such as a theater or museum. This summer PlayRock will tour Gangwon province, which shares a border with North Korea, with the teenage North Korean refugees.

At PlayRock I am working on the North Korean refugee theater project. I recruit participants, organize meetings with the organizations, conduct research regarding drama therapy programs, and most importantly, assist in the counseling sessions for North Korean refugees. Right now, I am focusing on contacting North Korean refugee organizations, schools, religious organizations and social workers that work with North Korean refugees to get advice on what I should keep in mind when I work with North Korean refugees. I have had great opportunities to meet North Korean refugees and have learned a lot about their experiences in South Korea. Many refugees have told me how much they hate it when people ask their opinion about political issues regarding North Korea and when people treat them as if they do not know anything just because they are refugees.

Besides recruiting, I am talking with refugees in order to tailor the program to their needs and interests. North Korean refugees do not usually have an opportunity to get an art education since all the educational programs for them are focused on vocation or standardized college entrance exams. While discussing this issue, I learned about refugees’ school life and, by understanding them better, I have started to build relationships with them. During this summer, I hope to build solid relationships, learn how to better understand marginalized people from different backgrounds, and also how to build trust with them.

Overall, I am truly enjoying my time at PlayRock and am grateful that I have the chance to work with great people. My supervisor has thoroughly trained me in communicating with marginalized people and how to prepare for counseling sessions. I also met interesting people outside of PlayRock by attending meetings for NPOs and NGOs in Seoul with my supervisor. Meeting various people who are working for civil society inspired me a lot and has helped me in building a network. I hope the connections I am building now will lead to greater conversations about my future career.

– Sohyun Shin ’15