October 23, 2015
Learning about Learning: An Undergrad at the Smith School for Social Work
My internship was as both Teaching Assistant and Research Assistant for two professors in the Smith College School for Social Work, a prestigious and intensive Masters of Social Work program right here in the Five College area. As a Research Assistant, I was given the opportunity to contribute to two different research endeavors—one, on community-based treatment for postpartum depression, and the other, in Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction and its effects on social work students. As a TA, I collaborated on the creation of a presentation for a six-hour-long seminar on Mindfulness and Meditation in modern, Western clinical therapy and acted as a client in in-class role plays to help teach the students how to build therapeutic alliances. In my presentation, I will reflect on my new knowledge of social work and social work education; how the skills I gained in my classes at Mount Holyoke prepared me for my summer at a “real job;” and how my engagement in the wider, local community in the Pioneer Valley, my life as a Bahá’í, and my summer internship all contributed to each other and the development of my own capacities.
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