Monday, June 23, 2014

Meet Our Students - Melissa Middlebrook (Dec '14)



Melissa Middlebrook is pursuing an MSW (Clinical Concentration)/MPH (Health Promotion and Behavior Concentration) with expected graduation in December 2014.  Ms. Middlebrook earned a BA in Psychology from Brevard College.

Her long-term goal is to work in the HIV/AIDS field, specifically in prevention education, outreach, and research.  She also plans to complete a yoga teacher training upon graduation in hopes of working with patients to apply the mind body connection to managing depression, anxiety, medical issues and pain management.

Ms. Middlebrook is currently completing her integrated field placement at AIDS Athens.  As the social work intern, she assists the agency social workers in clinical case management and supportive services for clients and their families infected or affected by HIV/AIDS.  As a public health intern, she assists with testing and prevention outreach throughout the community and is collaborating with the local HIV clinic to conduct a social networks testing strategy to identify new positives to link to care.  Ms. Middlebrook has also conducted an independent research project aiming to understand what specific reason/incident prompted a person to get tested for HIV.  These reasons were recorded anonymously and linked to demographic information, which will be used by AIDS Athens for quality and service improvement purposes.

Additionally, she volunteers with United Hospice giving emotional and social support to patients, and with Conscious Alliance, a non-profit organization committed to distributing food to impoverished communities across the US, which operates through ongoing grassroots food collection and hunger awareness programs throughout the country. 

Visit Ms. Middlebrook’s LinkedIn profile.


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