What it Means to be a Dual Professional - Guest Post by Devon Brown (Dec '18)

Devon Brown, MSW/MPH student (Dec '18)

Most people do not consider themselves to be single-track or unidimensional people, yet we’re instructed to build our career paths around one profession. When we’re little and asked the stereotypical question, “what do you want to be when you grow up?”, very few of us name one job and stick with it through our lives. For example, I vividly remember wanting to be a veterinarian, an archeologist, a fashion journalist, an art historian, and a psychologist. I never did figure out a way to combine all of those careers. In fact, I did not realize until I started hearing the term dual degree, that I could actually pursue an advanced degree in more than one field at a time. I suppose what I did not realize until very recently was that I wanted to be a dual professional – somebody with a knowledge base and skill set that bridge two professional fields, typically fostering a more creative, comprehensive, and communicative work style.

My pending role as a public health social worker encapsulates the dynamic benefits and challenges of being simultaneously trained in more than one professional arena. Both fields share an emphasis on social justice, addressing the social determinants of health, and tending to both the environmental and personal factors related to health outcomes. As so succinctly defined by Kate Jackson, public health social work “stresses a socio-epidemiological approach to the prevention and management of health issues” (Jackson, 2015). Health status exists as a byproduct of socioeconomic status, environmental factors, and pre-existing personal biology. The dual nature of being trained as an MSW and MPH translates to an ability to assess a physical or mental health situation as something beyond a singular moment or cause. We understand both that prevention begins before the onset of a palpable problem, and that treatment must extend beyond the problematic situation at hand. Public health social workers also recognize that there are usually a number of barriers faced by individuals and communities in trying to implement preventive and treatment measures, focusing much of our work on addressing these various blockades through direct and program-level approaches. We have the opportunity to show people their own personal power while we concurrently work to address the external factors that may have previously hidden their inner superhuman from themselves. Our interdisciplinary training as dual degree students teaches us to approach problems with the clarity that more than one perspective must be taken in order to establish a more robust understanding and develop an optimal solution (Repko, 2014).

While a key difference between social work and public health surfaces in the occasional contradiction of client self-determination and population health risk, the dual emphasis on “the dignity and worth of the individual and the importance of human relationships” provides a compass for ultimate decision making (Jurkowski & Keefe, 2013). Certainly, the ethical friction between individual health and population health will always be an issue, but I’ve learned that the provision of our expertise as public health social workers can soften the potential clash and help us to establish a compromise. We have the knowledge and skills necessary to facilitate positive communication across several professional levels, and we take this role very seriously in all parts of our lives. My experience with fellow public health social workers continues to illustrate the personal embodiment of our professional ethics, competencies, and standards. I feel deeply grateful to so often find myself surrounded by people who value the potential in all people and who carry a daily passion for equity and advocacy.

Perhaps my interdisciplinary role as a public health social worker is actually the perfect blend of my little-girl grown-up career goals because in this profession I get to offer support to those in need, constantly learn about and appreciate different cultures, engage with a rainbow of people, study the more scientific aspects of health and wellbeing, and work to bring beauty into people’s lives.

- Devon Brown, expected graduation December 2018

Visit Devon's LinkedIn Profile.

References

Jackson, K. (2015). Public health social work: Now more than ever. Social Work Today, 15(6), 12.

Jurkowski, E. T., & Keefe, R. H. (2013). Handbook for public health social work. New York: Springer Publishing Company.

Repko, A. F., Szostak, R., Buchberger, M. P. (2014). The interdisciplinary studies “Cognitive toolkit.” In Introduction to interdisciplinary studies (pp. 49-61). Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.