Although a BSW degree is not required for admission to a Master of Social Work degree program, it is the most common undergraduate preparation. Furthermore, BSW grads often qualify for advanced standing so that they can complete the MSW at an accelerated pace. Requirements vary from school to school. Eva Kauppila describes how her BSW from Northern enabled her to realize the dream of becoming a therapist by qualifying her for admission to the University of Michigan MSW program. Here is what she has to say:
So, I suppose I should start this off by letting y’all know that I earned my BSW degree in May of 2006 from Northern Michigan University. I had the great privilege of completing my Bachelor’s level internship in the department of Behavioral Health Services at Marquette General Hospital. At MGH I felt as though I found a second home. While I was there, I had the privilege of co-facilitating 4 different substance abuse groups. Those groups included: Drug Court, Women’s Group, Dual- Diagnosis Group, and Impaired Professional’s Group. All 4 groups provided a different kind of knowledge, all of which was invaluable. In addition to client contact, I was also asked to create an outcome evaluation database for the Substance Abuse Program. For this project, I interviewed 200 post- treatment clients about their recovery process. I then compiled and evaluated the data using the SPSS program and presented it to the Behavioral Health Team. Through this research project, (and of course the kind support and guidance from Rem) I gained a level of confidence that was integral to my professional growth.
During my time spent at Northern, I came to find that I loved school and was not ready to leave the world of academia… so I began the application process to University of Michigan School of Social Work in hopes of earning my Master’s Degree. This part of the process was a little intense, partly because I applied for graduate school while I was still a full- time student (with a job and an internship). In the early spring, I found out that I was accepted into an “Advanced Standing” position at U of M due to my BSW level degree, GPA, and exposure in the field. In retrospect, I think the most difficult part of my entire master’s program was the application process.
Upon completion of my undergraduate work, I headed down to Ann Arbor for this intensive program that ran for a mere twelve months. While a student at University of Michigan, I learned from some of the pioneers in the social work field. It was an exhilarating experience and I felt completely prepared. I can remember speaking with classmates and their reactions when I told them about the thorough, hands on experience that Northern provided. Come to find out, not all BSW programs are as fantastic as the one I received.
I also found that my exposure to Behavioral Health Services at MGH was a nice compliment to my Master’s level internship at The Women’s Center of Southeastern Michigan. At the Women’s Center, I provided individual therapy to lower income women and teens, 70 percent of whom reported a history of domestic violence and/ or sexual assault. This internship also proved to be very flexible in creating the kind of hands on experience that I was looking for. I was actively involved in fundraising and participated in city, county, and state-wide inter-agency conferences on policies pertaining to management and operations. It was so wonderful… and a little scary… and very, very empowering.
In August of 2007, I graduated from University of Michigan with my MSW. I chose to concentrate in Interpersonal Practice and Mental Health and I completed a minor in Management of Human Services. This combination was a wonderful fit for me and gave me the clinical knowledge I was looking for, while building my comprehension of managerial issues.
While I was a student at Michigan, I realized that in a few short months, I would be graduating… and I felt as though I had just arrived! This was a very terrifying realization for me, but like most things, I freaked out and tried to embrace it. While still enrolled in school, I began frantically searching for jobs. I can say now with some clarity, that the most difficult piece for me was deciding on where I wanted to be geographically. Sadly, after lots of research, I found that Michigan was a bleak prospect, which meant that I started searching out of state lines. Once I narrowed my search to Burlington, Vermont, I did everything I could to learn about their community. I made a trillion phone calls, applied to a million places and just kept reaching, reaching, reaching out. If you are applying to places out of state, it is best just to get your name recognized. If you think you’re being annoying it’s time to tell your internal judge to get lost, and annoy them some more. Chances are, these people are buried and the more they see your name, the better! In the last semester of my Master’s program, I lined up 4 interviews in Burlington and flew out for a whirl-wind 3 days. During that time, I looked at seventeen apartments and “suffered” through 4 interviews. It was both scary and exhilarating. The piece that surprised me the most was how marketable I really felt. In Ann Arbor, there was a long line of qualified applicants with similar backgrounds (i.e. a master’s degree from U of M), but when I took my qualifications elsewhere, I found that people not only needed me, but they wanted me.
By the time I returned to Ann Arbor, I had my first offer… and the rest is history. I graduated from U of M and within one week was driving my VW to Burlington, Vermont. I am now a Co-Occurring Clinician at Howard Center. I see individual clients on a weekly basis and am in the process of starting a Women’s Group. The pay is just as people said it would be… it’s not great. From what I can tell, if I were doing community organizing or something of that nature, the pay scale would be a little bit better, but my passion lies in clinical work. As we all know, you have to be in this field because you love it, not because you want to be a millionaire. So, with that said, I LOVE WHAT I DO! I feel privileged every single day. It’s a cumbersome and at times a sad system, but I truly believe that I'm making changes from the inside out. So, although my pay isn't great, I have learned to enforce other aspects of environment that I believe, in the end, will keep me here for a while. We can pay ourselves in different ways.
Here are some tricks:
So, for now, that’s what I can think of. Another thing y'all should probably know, and we all heard a million times in school, there really is a lot of paperwork. I'm sorry, but it’s just the reality. With that said I should probably sign off and get back to the ridiculous amount I have on my desk!
Best of luck and if there’s anything else I can help with, please, let me know.
