Durango has a couple masters' programs. One in social work, and the other in teaching. University of Denver provided a Four Corners Program to receive a Masters in Social Work around 11 years ago. There are around 28 people in the program currently, and we have only two more quarters to go before graduating. A lot of the students in the program are partners of United Way of Southwest, Colorado. For example, we have interns at Axis Health System, Big Brothers Big Sisters, La Plata Youth Services, and Sexual Assault Services Organization, and of course United Way of Southwest, Colorado. There are interns throughout the community in all kinds of organizations from the hospital to child welfare, to school systems. We are deeply engrained in the community, and we are a cohort so we also have important connections through one another. We're like a family, a network of people discussing our community's most critical issues behind the scenes, but we're also in it, doing the work. Although most of us see social "work" as a "calling" rather than what one might define as work.
You might wonder what a social worker is; or what you do with a Masters in Social Work. Licensed clinical social workers can have their own private therapy practice, work in a group practice, school systems, hospitals, non-profits, community work, professors, and even internationally. Many of us will become leaders in some form due to the nature of our studies. We're trained to understand people and systems. The opportunities are endless, because the training is specific to understanding culture, systems, psychology, and addressing difficult community and world issues. We can specialize or focus our studies in areas like health and wellness, clinical, community, animal assisted therapy, and a range of other areas.
Recently, a few of us had the opportunity to go to Kenya for a social work class. So, a Child Welfare Therapist, a Case Manager and a Community Advocate go on a trip together with a group of students from Denver, and two awesome professors from University of Denver.
I'm still processing the trip we took, because the topics were deep, critical and provided more of a learning experience than I have ever received from a typical class setting. We went to Kenya with the intent not to "help", but to exchange ideas and learn from one another. Therefore I want to share our experience, since we had this opportunity to go. What better way to share, than to write! Stay tuned.
