| Words
from our Alumni
I am so happy to be writing you to look for BSW's because
I myself am a BSW from VU. My name used to be Emily Grana and I
graduated in 1996. After graduating I worked for a year at the Salvation
Army with homeless and low-income clients - then I found Social
Work prn. This is a great social work company to work for and I
want to recommend it you and your graduates. We specialize in staffing
services for BSW's and MSW's. We have job opportunities in every
area of social work and BSW's are in high demand. There are ten
Social Work prn offices in the United States.
Thank you so much for your help and I hope
all is well with you!
Sincerely,
Emily Southfield, BSW Staffing Coordinator
(Information about Social Work PRN is available in the Social Work
office.)
Sean Hoyer, BSW, MA, is a VU graduate
and he had written the department during the holidays!! Here are
some exerpts from his letter. . . .
Dear family and friends, . . . This past
year has been fairly good by most accounts. I continue to work as
a Clinical Social Worker with OMNI youth services. OMNI is a large
community based youth agency in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago.
I primarily work with court involved youth referred to us by juvenile
probation for drug, gang, or criminal behavior. In addition to seeing
youth one on one each week, I also meet with their parents, and
run several groups that address decision-making,substance abuse,
and learning how to live in society. It is challenging and rewarding
work.
As a perk of my job, I also serve on a team
that does outdoor adventure therapy trips. These usually endail
taking clients on 5 to 7 day trips. During these trips, the youth
work on issues related to thier counseling, such as anger management,
making good decisions, or communicating well with others while they
rock or ice climb, backpack, sea kayak, or winter camping. This
has been a wonderful way to incorperate my love of the out-of-doors
with my passion of working with youth to help them solve their problems.
We currently go anywhere in North America.
As a result, I have been rock-climbing at Devil's Tower, WY, backpacking
in the Canadian Rockies, Bryce Canyon, UT, and Big Bend, TX, and
ice climbing in Northern Michigan. OMNI even paid for a three-week
training trip with National Outdoor Leadership School to the Cascades
of Washington State. During that trip, I did backpacking, learned
mountaineering, and did rock-climbing for four days in Squamish,
Vancouver, BC. One highlight of the year was the opportunity to
present with two co-workers at a regional conference for professionals
working in Adventure Therapy. This was a chance to present our OMNI
program to others who also integrate counseling with outdoor trips.
Although a bit shaky for our first time, we anticipate presenting
to larger audiences in the future as our program and its reputation
continue to grow.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Susan G. Kaster served as a school social worker in Portage and Kendallville for over 25 years. She also worked for RISE Inc in Angola Indiana, and as a counselor for the Northeast Center in Kendallville, Indiana. She graduated from VU's Social Work Department and supervised numerous internship students.
Susan passed away on September 22, 2007. She is survived by her husband William. Susan generously remembered the department in her will, allowing future social work majors the opportunity to attend VU for a little less money.
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