What do you like about your field placement?
I love how hands on I am able to be at GCSTOP. My supervisor really prepares us and trusts us to be in situations where I can do things on my own which is giving me a lot of valuable experience. I also love my placement of GCSTOP in general as we are practicing harm reduction and are able to meet our clients in a different setting than many other agencies
What have you learned being a part of this field placement?
I have learned more about the severity of the opioid epidemic, how it started, how other places are attempting to help it, and how we can keep changing to help our clients. This is something that, unless you are directly involved, many people are very unfamiliar with, therefore being able to connect with and be right next to the people who are experiencing opioid use disorder and being able to ask them what they need has allowed me to see and learn a whole new perspective
What do you like about the connections between fieldwork and coursework?
Something my supervisor often says is, “What theory is that?” He is always trying to get us to recognize that we are actually using theory, we may just not be able to recognize it, and he is really good at helping us point the theory out and learn from it. Social work theories and interventions that we learned in class are used every single day at GCSTOP so it is really valuable to have the knowledge base I already have.
What else would you like prospective students to know about our program?
I would like prospective students to know how versatile our field placements are and how good of an experience you will have. People in my classes are with all different types of populations, but everyone I know is enjoying it. I was nervous before I came that I wouldn’t be able to get the field experience I wanted but they placed me with the perfect agency, my colleagues and I get along so well, and all of my classes have brought my cohort together and in my short time here I’ve realized that I made the right decision in choosing the JMSW program.