Working the Field
Beth Schuck (MSW ’15) will never forget the moment she realized her field placement work at Connections for Abused Women and their Children (CAWC) was having an impact on the clients she served. When Beth asked her client if she felt like she’d accomplished any of the goals she had set for herself, Beth assumed she would have one or two to share. “But when she wrote down seven goals she had accomplished, one of which was having self-esteem again, I knew that CAWC and my work there did make a difference in her life, and that felt amazing,” shared Schuck.
From the transformative nature of the experience for students, to the benefits brought to the placement organizations, and the added value of serving greater numbers of clients in the community, field placements serve a unique and vital purpose for students and social service agencies alike. CAWC has been committed to ending domestic violence in Chicago for nearly 40 years. They initiated the first domestic violence services program, which included a hotline and Greenhouse Shelter for battered women and their children, which opened in 1979.
In addition to providing a unique variety of services to victims of domestic violence, CAWC has served as a field placement site for JACSW students for the past three years. This mutually beneficial partnership has allowed CAWC to strengthen its programming and widen its footprint in the communities it serves. “We can serve more clients and do more community outreach with UIC interns,” says Afrika Bradley, CAWC’s Outreach Services Coordinator and field supervisor for all JACSW interns. “With our interns here, we never have a waiting list.”
Field placements also provide an opportunity for CAWC staff to stay up-to-date on best practices in the field, as interns bring new information from recent research. “Although interns come to CAWC to get something, they also bring new knowledge to all of us,” adds Bradley.
While the positive impact that JACSW interns have on community organizations is clear, the professional experiences and life lessons that interns gain are equally valuable. Beth and her classmate Angelica Gomez MSW ’15 were placed at CAWC during the 2014-2015 school year, and both greatly appreciated the opportunity to practice in the field in addition to reading books and completing assignments. “Through field work experience and the opportunity to speak directly with my supervisors, I learned better ways of doing so many things,” says Schuck. “Because of CAWC I now have the experience that is required in this field and feel like a student with a purpose.”
Gomez and Schuck were able to individually counsel clients, handle the crisis hotline and work with the Hospital Crisis Intervention Project. Gomez admitted these experiences required her to step outside her comfort zone. “The opportunity to work directly with clients referred from the trauma or emergency room and interacting with survivors, along with conducting outreach was exciting for me,” says Gomez. “Working at CAWC gave me the push I needed to expand my knowledge and creativity and believe in myself.”
One of the greatest benefits that these in-depth experiences brought to both Gomez and Schuck was self-confidence. “I learned from my field placement that I am capable of doing this kind of work, even though it’s not always easy,” Schuck shared. “Field work boosted my confidence in being a social worker; reading and learning in school is beneficial but different from actually doing.”
Field placements provide the opportunity for students to learn some valuable life lessons. “Over the year I reflected on myself, my personal beliefs, and my biases; I learned how to step into another person’s shoes and understand their struggles so I can figure out how to help them,” Gomez said. Schuck spoke to the useful but sometimes difficult lessons she learned. “You don’t always see progress right away, especially with survivors of domestic violence, so I had to learn how to focus on what you can do, and not on things you can’t,” Schuck shared. “Other times you felt so rewarded because you saw progress or your clients said something amazing that makes all the hard work worth it.”
The transformative nature of the field placement experience for all who are involved—from the students to the placement organizations and the populations they serve in the community—demonstrates the importance of this work by JACSW, and the lasting impact it has on the Chicago metropolitan area. Community organizations are able to strengthen their programs and serve more clients, while students experience a greater sense of purpose beyond their own academic achievements—the opportunity to benefit others in the community while also bettering themselves. It is exciting to know that the experiences of Afrika Bradley, Angelica Gomez and Beth Schuck at CAWC tell the story of just one field placement partnership; there are hundreds more taking place each year in the Chicago area through the JACSW field instruction program. Knowing the impact felt by the team at CAWC can be multiplied across the city in so many additional categories of social services and communities served is truly inspiring.