Finding Your Focus: Clinical & Community Specializations
Links
YouTube, Spotify & Apple Podcasts
Description
In our latest podcast episode, Lillie explores the world of social work with advanced students Emily Hooker and Kyah Hardwrick from Baylor University's Garland School of Social Work. They discuss the distinctions between clinical and community practice, sharing personal experiences that highlight the interconnectedness of these fields. Emily reflects on her evolving career aspirations, while Kyah emphasizes the significance of community engagement. This insightful conversation offers valuable advice for those interested in social work, showcasing the importance of both individual support and systemic advocacy. Tune in for a deeper understanding of these vital paths in social work!
Transcript
SPEAKERS: Lillie Walker, Emily Hooker, Kyah Hardwrick
Lillie Walker
Welcome to the Connecting with Care podcast. I'm Lillie Walker. How do social workers discern their path between clinical and community practice? And how do these two areas inform one another? Today, we dive into the stories, motivations, and insights behind choosing a specialization. Join us, as we talk with Emily Hooker and Kyah Hardwrick about clinical and community practice. All right. Hello, guys. Welcome to the podcast. I'm here with Emily and Kyah. And so we're going to talk a little bit about community and clinical specializations. So, if you guys just want to introduce yourselves, I think that would be a great way to kick it off.
Kyah Hardwrick
I can start. My name is Kyah Hardwrick, and I'm in my second year, the advanced track. And, yeah, I'm from Utah and I am a community specialist.
Lillie Walker
Awesome.
Emily Hooker
My name is Emily and I'm also an advanced student, my second year with the clinical focus. And I'm from Dripping Springs, Texas, which is just outside of Austin.
Lillie Walker
Cool. So, you got someone from kind of far and some Texas local. Okay. all right. I just have a few get to know you questions just so we can kind of get right into it. So, if you had to say one word to describe where you're living, what would be your descriptive word?
Emily Hooker
I think I would go with cozy.
Lillie Walker
Cozy elements.
Emily Hooker
Yeah,
Kyah Hardwrick
For, like, Waco in general, I would say it's like a big, small town, because, like, it's small, but it feels big in a way.
Lillie Walker
No, I totally get what you're saying. I'm from a small town, but it, like, gives those vibes because everyone's kind of tight knit, especially in the social work community in Waco. But it actually is – it's a pretty big, big city a little bit. Okay, next question is, what has been your favorite social work class so far and why?
Emily Hooker
I think for me, it was the Groups class in the first year where you essentially just learn how to run, like, group therapy, for example. And I loved my professor, and I loved her so much I took her again this semester. But it was our first time doing, like, role playing in a class, and we got to be really goofy, like pretending to be teenagers, for example. But it was also super helpful. And, like, I run group therapy every day at my internship now. And so, the class was just, like, really informative but also, like, let me be, like, closer friends with the people in my class and everything. And so just fun.
Lillie Walker: Yeah, absolutely. Also, super clinical focus. Hey, that's why she's in that specialization.
Kyah Hardwrick
I would say right now, it's my Community Theories class because it's just so different from a class that I've taken before. It's like, very discussion based and there's only like five community students right now. So, it's just great to like bounce off of each other and everyone gets to speak and just seeing how it relates to our practice and community is super cool.
Lillie Walker
Yeah, and I think that's something that's very prominent in the school of Social Work is super small class sizes. Even the Groups class you're talking about, it's like what, eight, ten?
Emily Hooker
Yeah, I think there was like maybe ten of us in there.
Lillie Walker
Totally. And then you're talking about five. Like, that's – yeah, that's in-depth learning that you're able to do in those environments. And then finally kind of a fun one. What's your most recent binge worthy TV show?
Emily Hooker
I recently binged the Gilded Age on HBO, which is like, takes you back in time to the 1800s New York, and it was just so fun. Yeah.
Lillie Walker
Cool.
Kyah Hardwrick
Right now, my favorite show is Abbott Elementary, and the first few seasons are out, like, on Hulu, so I think they're very binge worthy, and short.
Lillie Walker
Yeah, those sound awesome. I'll have to give them a watch. Okay, let's jump right into a little more personal stuff. So, if you guys could each share what brought you to Baylor and also what brought you to social work, which I know is like super probably pretty convoluted question.
Emily Hooker
I think for me, I should have mentioned I'm a dual-degree student, meaning that before I started the School of Social Work, I spent two years getting my Master's of Divinity at Truett Seminary through Baylor. And so, with that, a few years ago I was looking at like, okay, what do I want to do? And I couldn't decide between seminary and social work because I've always wanted to help people. But Baylor made it to where I didn't actually have to choose. And so, it's been just really helpful to have both of those degrees, and they're shortened as far as goes, because it's the dual-degree here at Baylor. And so, I feel like I'm getting a lot of learning that I couldn't find anywhere else, which was just really incredibly helpful.
Kyah Hardwrick
Yeah, what drew me into Baylor was, our 10th Competency. And just with faith and practice, and that's something that's very important to my life. And so just learning how to like, apply it into my work as a social worker, really drew me in. And then also, like, how to help other people with their faith as well.
00:05:00
Lillie Walker
So, yeah, those are great. So, I think that is something so special that Baylor offers is, like, you having a seminary degree gives so much, like, depth and perspective, especially in, like, class discussions of, like, what kind of, experiences that brings. And then also the 10th competency like you're talking about is, like, that is kind of always in the back of our mind and something that we kind of grapple with, especially when it comes to social work. So, it's very interesting. How would you say you guys have grown professionally and personally during your time at the Garland school?
Emily Hooker
I think there's been so much growth. A lot of it really fun, and a lot of it kind of brutal at times. Just in the sense, like, personally, I think I've had to learn my limits, and, like, how much can one person do? Because I think being in social work, it's a lot of academic work, but then also your internship, you're going and you're being very like, people facing, helping people in pretty challenging circumstances, because that is oftentimes so social work. And so personally, it's like, okay, like, how much can I handle? And, like, what do I need to, like, say no to? Like, there's just certain times where it's like, you know what? I can't, like, carry the burdens of every person in the world, and that's okay. And, like, learning how to just mitigate that. And I guess it's also professional. I just like learning how to draw boundaries. But I think Baylor's also, like, helped me develop more confidence and learning that, like, I may not always get it right, but I'm at least given skills that can help me whenever I don't know how to navigate, you know, like, a patient crisis, for example. I think Baylor is really good in, like, helping me feel more equipped for a lot of different things that pop up.
Lillie Walker
Yeah, that's such a good answer.
Kyah Hardwrick
Yeah, I think for me, I've really just kind of come out of my, like, introvert shell and so just, like, learning how to be more confident. And, I guess that also goes into professional. Being more confident in my professional life and getting what I want out of my internship and learning experience. So, I, like – it's given me the responsibility of, like, taking my own learning experience into my own hands.
Lillie Walker
Yeah, and I think as you're, like, interfacing with either communities or individual clients, like, learning skills that you can actually put into practice is such a confidence builder because these are people that are dealing with a lot of, like, heavy, can be pretty emotionally, like, challenging things. And so how can we, like, approach them with confidence and like, be able to make a lasting difference? And yeah, I think that's really good; the confidence piece is huge. So, next question is, how has your time here shaped the way you see yourself and your career as a future social worker?
Emily Hooker
I think honestly, I came in with a pretty limited scope of like – I had an idea that I wanted to be a therapist at a private practice environment. But being in this program has really, like, broadened my understanding of how I can serve in the world in different ways. And so, while I still want to do therapy one day, like I, now my internship, I work at a mental health hospital as a therapist. Like, that's very different. Like last year, I worked at a church as a social work intern. And so, I think my like, idea of social work has just been, like, broadened immensely and that, like, social work has the values of like, dignity and worth of a person, for example, or the importance of human relationships. And like, those are things that can serve any job, and it can just be really transferable as a profession.
Lillie Walker
Absolutely. Yeah.
Kyah Hardwrick
For me, coming in for my undergrad, we focused a lot on like, clinical, social work. And I, like, wanted to see more of the like, macro-mezzo side of it. and so that's why I chose community. And so, it's really just, for me, shaped the way I see community work and like, community organizing, community, like asset mapping, all of that. So, it's been super cool to just see like a broader sense of the profession as a whole.
Lillie Walker
Yeah, totally. Okay, so now we'll kind of get a little bit more specific into each of your concentrations. And so, what kind of, how would you describe your concentration and what led you to choose that concentration?
Emily Hooker
Yeah, so concentration as in like clinical versus community. And so, I think for me, clinical, I wanted to understand, like, how to, work with people in their, like, diagnoses, specifically, like mental health, health diagnoses and like how to work with like, medical teams, for example. Because that's a world I do not understand. And so, I think clinical has kind of helped me figure out like, okay, like, how can we look at someone's symptoms and figure out how to help them in like a really evidence-based practice kind of way; like, not just like thoughts and feelings, but like, okay, like, these are tools that have been shown to effectively help people in clinical – and my one semester so far has been a really good starting point, I think, for all of that.
00:10:00
Kyah Hardwrick
For me, I would describe the differences of clinical and community of just, clinical focuses more on like the direct, practice and micro practice, while community focus is more on like mezzo-macro, and yeah, we just focus on like community work, whether it's community development, community asset mapping, prevention work, whatever that may look like. And we still do like micro skills within community – it's just doing it with a bigger group of people.
Lillie Walker
Yeah, absolutely. And I think there's so much like overlap and there's so much value in both of them. So, I think it's really great to hear each of you guys perspectives on these. So, yeah, I'm hearing that both of these concentrations kind of overlap. So, I'm wondering if you guys could give maybe an example of where you've seen this. Because there is so much value in both concentrations. And yeah, and we will eventually work together, although our programs are kind of – get separated at this point. So, have you guys seen it overlap?
Emily Hooker
I think an example that comes to mind just this past week at my internship site. Again, like working as a therapist at an inpatient setting for a mental health hospital, I'm doing like a lot of micro work, like individuals, you know, doing assessments with patients who are coming in. But the majority of patients we serve in the adult unit are actually people experiencing homelessness. And so, there's, you know, I have to serve them as the person in front of me, but then they're often discharged into a system that doesn't care for them in an effective way. And they're lacking resources, they're lacking housing, and a lot of that's informed by policies. And so as a clinical student, I'm realizing, like, I actually could benefit more from community education and like understanding how do I effectively help like the person and in the system that they're existing in. And I think my, my classes the first year were really helpful to inform some of that community mindset that I would otherwise be lost in right now.
Lillie Walker
Yeah, and I'll speak a little bit to that from the emergency department, which is where I am. And I also have a lot of clients that I meet with that are also experiencing homelessness. And it's hard for me to walk in and just be like, well, here's a couple, a couple of shelters you could go to. Whereas if I knew, like a little bit more of the ins and outs of like Waco's resources and what the community's doing, maybe like churches that are involved in that sort of ministry, that would kind of give me a better perspective. And so yeah, like if I were to develop a relationship and like if I was doing this on a long term job, I think it would be beneficial for me to develop a relationship with a community social worker that kind of has their hand in that, so that I could bring that into my clinical practice. Absolutely.
Kyah Hardwrick
Yeah, a common phrase we say in the community cohort is that you can't be a good community practitioner if you're not a good micro practitioner. And so, like you need those micro skills to interact with community members and community like partnerships. And an example that came to my mind is like when we do program evaluation, you're going to have to interact with clients of that program and so you need those Shulman skills to just interact with them and even provide the resources to them in an individual way as well.
Lillie Walker
Yeah. And I think, yeah, I hear what you're saying is like the community concentration does, like, I guess all of every skill that we use in social work is all like very like people-oriented skills and that's going to help us be able to provide good care for the clients that we're interacting with. Whether it's – you're talking to program managers, you're talking to the clients themselves, or we're talking to people that are offering homeless resources, we need to be able to communicate effectively and also keep the client at the center of the conversation. Yeah. Great. Okay, next question is if you guys could come up with an example of maybe a myth about your concentration, what would that be and like how would you kind of counteract that myth?
Emily Hooker
I think, sorry if I sound too repetitive here, but the myth that clinical like isn't macro focused. I think in order to be like a proactive clinical social worker, you have to keep the big picture in mind and work is like limited unless it's keeping in mind like systems for example. And so, I think yeah, that's a myth that like, in my environment now, like working with, like I work with like LPCs for example and I think the unique part of social work on the clinical track is that we can keep big picture in mind maybe in ways like we're taught, taught it without realizing it, but it is important.
00:15:00
Kyah Hardwrick
Yeah, I think a big myth is that community social workers only focus on policy and that's not always true. Like yes, policy is a big part of it. But we also, like I've said, do community development and just maybe that's helping build up a park or something or helping an organization like reach their, like, politicians in a way that they couldn't if they didn't have like the person helping them and assisting them, what to do in that aspect.
Lillie Walker
Yeah, that's great. So, kind of in closing here, what advice would you guys give to someone that's considering going to Baylor University and being in the Garland School of Social Work?
Emily Hooker
I think something I wish I was told was that like graduate school can genuinely be so difficult, but that's not a scary thing. I think the School of Social Work has been so life-giving in that it offers a lot of friendship; it offers a lot of knowledge and that can have like immense payoff in the long run. But in the moment, it can oftentimes feel really challenging and that's okay. But it's, at the end of the day it's giving a lot of meaning because we're able to effectively help people. But yeah, I think the main thing is it can be hard and that's okay.
Kyah Hardwrick
Yeah, yeah, I will bounce off of that of just, yes, graduate school is hard, but there's ways to make it easier on yourself, of just doing work as a group – and that's a great social work skill as well and just like giving yourself grace as well throughout the process.
Lillie Walker
So yeah, I think that's great advice. So, I'd love to hear from each of you guys where you think the social work profession will take you in your career.
Emily Hooker
I wish I knew. But I think the beauty of social work is that it's so diverse in what you can end up doing with it. Like I said, like, I always pictured myself being like private practice therapist, like very straightforward. But I'm realizing now, like maybe I want to work in a mental health hospital. And there's also like the congregational social work I'm still interested in. And so, I think social work will honestly just like inform any job I find myself doing – it will naturally be part of that. And so, whether that's private practice hospital or just like me going to church as a, you know, everyday person, I think social work will very much inform those things.
Lillie Walker
Absolutely.
Kyah Hardwrick
Yeah, for me, I just want to be in like the nonprofit world. So, whether that's being a program director, hopefully, whether in the States or internationally, wherever the Lord leads me, honestly is how I'm feeling about the profession. Yeah.
Lillie Walker
Wow, those are great. And you guys are so knowledgeable, and I'm so excited to see where each of your careers ends up and to keep up with you because this is such a great community in Waco and in the Garland School. So, thank you guys for being here. Really appreciate it. Hopefully this can answer some questions that some future Baylor Bears have. Thanks so much. Their perspectives reveal the rich overlap between micro and macro work within the profession. Join us next time as we continue exploring the varied callings within social work.
00:19:06