Guest Post by Keilondria Robertson - (Dec 20')

I entered the College of Public Health at the University of Georgia in 2018. Since then, I have spent the last two years answering questions like:

• “What is that?”
• “What can you do with that degree?”
• “Will you be working at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)?”

Once I joined the School of Social Work in 2019, the questions shifted from general curiosity about my field to worry and concern. Now, the questions sounded more like:

• “You want to take people’s children?”
• “Why Social Work?”
• “They do not make a lot of money, do they?”

At first, I was just as lost as the individuals asking the questions. 

What could I do with a degree in public health and social work?

Public Health is associated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that conducts top-secret, scientific research related to health; Social Work is associated with the Department of Family and Children's Services (DFCS) that is infamous for being a ‘thief in the night.’ I knew that there had to be more to the fields I had chosen than those two things. So, the search began. I dug into learning more about Public Health and Social Work to be able to prepare responses to the frequently asked questions.

Keilondria Robertson
MSW/MPH Dec. '20

The first step was looking into the core values of the two disciplines. The mission of Social Work is rooted in “service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence” (National Association of Social Workers, 2017). Within Public Health, "professionalism and trust; health and safety; health justice and equity; interdependence and solidarity; human rights and civil liberties; and inclusivity and engagement” are key elements of the values (American Public Health Association, 2019). My interpretation of the disciplines’ ethics and core values are building trust, offering genuine assistance, allowing room for self-determination, and addressing health inequalities. These principles align with my professional values. 

[I would say that these values align with my ‘personal values,’ but an article by Derek Thompson taught me to separate my personal and professional life. That is a post for another day and time.]

The second step in my journey was weighing the benefits and challenges of a dual degree professional. The benefits are obvious: more money, more opportunities for employment, and the ability/skills to analyze a single issue from multiple angles. The challenges of a dual-degree holder are fueled by other people’s perceptions of a dual-degree holder. Others perceive dual-degree professionals as individuals with limited knowledge and opposing views based upon the two complex fields. How can I care about the public (health) and also the well-being of an individual (social work) at the same time? That sounds difficult, right? Not when you have been trained at a prestigious university, like the University of Georgia, though!. I only see the benefits when I think about my life as a dual-degree professional. I think of combining all of my professional aspirations into one career. Public Health is embedded in Social Work, and Social Work is embedded in Public Health.

Finally, the third step was discovering ways to utilize both degrees. I wanted to establish a professional identity that speaks to the skills I have gained from both disciplines. I quickly learned that ‘a’ professional identity is not enough. I need to create multiple professional identities that could be adopted in any job setting. That is how I ‘become’ the professional I want to be (Scanlon, 2011). Utilization of my dual degree depends on the type of job I obtain and the openness of the employers. The designated position will determine which professional identity I tap into more. I discovered that I can be whoever I need to be in either field. 

Now that I have completed my journey, I have new responses to the frequently asked questions.

“What is a dual degree?”  A dual degree professional is someone with two degrees. When making decisions, the professional considers ethics, frameworks, approaches, and perspectives from both disciplines.

“What can you do with a dual degree?” I can obtain a government job on the local, state, or federal level or be a part of a private organization. Or I can work as a social worker doing clinical work or manage a non-profit organization. Or I can work as a public health professional doing research or work in the community as a health educator. Or I can utilize both degrees in settings that employ public health social workers or customize a new position that combines both of my skill sets. 

• “Why Social Work and Public Health?”  The two fields allow me to help others (on a micro and macro level) by connecting them to resources and sharing knowledge. I want to work with vulnerable populations to reach optimal health, equality, and equity.
• “People in those fields don’t make a lot of money, do they?” Health is wealth. Helping others is good for your personal health and the general public in the long run. Therefore, I will be wealthy in that sense. 

That is what being a dual-degree professional means to me!

-Keilondria Robertson graduated from the MSW/MPH program in December of 2020. Keilondria is currently working as an ORISE Fellow at the CDC. View Keilondria's Linkedin profile. 

References 

• American Public Health Association. (2019) Public health code of ethics. Retrieved from: https://www.apha.org/apha-communities/member-sections/ethics  
• National Association of Social Workers. (2017). Code of ethics of the National Association of Social Workers. Retrieved from: http://www.socialworkers.org/pubs/code/ 
• Scanlon, L. (2011). ‘Becoming’ a professional. In Becoming a professional: An interdisciplinary analysis of professional learning (pp. 13-32). New York, NY: Springer.
• Thompson, D. (2019). Workism is making Americans miserable. The Atlantic, 24.

 

Guest Blog Post by Caitlin Moore - (Dec 20')

"(I am large, I contain multitudes.)"– Walt Whitman, Song of Myself  

 

This line has become the mantra I often find floating into my head when I am thinking about being a dual Master of Social Work and Master of Public Health student. It reminds me that I am complex and multidimensional. Then it takes me out of myself to realize that everyone contains multitudes. More than that, when you combine the multitudes within me, everyone, and the world, it grows infinite. And I feel like that is what social work public health is - it is taking into account all the multitudes of what this life means. We are all complex beings and deserve to be seen accordingly.   

Social work and public health aim to grapple with some of life’s most difficult struggles. They look at the world through the lens of the individual, community, and society. 

Caitlin Moore, MSW/MPH (Dec '20)

Social work and public health work with all walks of life from every culture, age, race, religion, sexuality, socioeconomic status, gender, ability status, and so on. When overly simplified, both are grounded in the common goal of making this life as enjoyable as possible where each person on this earth can thrive. However, rooted in more of the technical jargon, Dr. Bachman (2017) said it best - that the shared common goals are “addressing social determinants of health, promoting population health, and advancing social justice”. In progressing these common goals, the social work perspective lays the foundation using the socioecological approach while the public health perspective examines the social determinants of health to assess well-being, health, and equity. Both lenses are needed to get a well-rounded understanding and, ultimately, intervention or policy. One thing I have found with social work and public health professionals is we do not look away. We sit with the things that are hard and uncomfortable with the goal of figuring out how to make it better.  

 

To me, being a social work and public health student makes me feel empowered. I feel like I can do anything! But truly, I feel I have the skills to engage delicately with an individual in crisis, to research the empirical evidence of an intervention, and to advocate effectively for human rights, health equity, and social justice. 

 

Early on in my dual degree career I heard the phrase ‘jack of all trades, but master of none’, and I became weary that would be my fate. However, after my first year as a dual degree student, I see that as a false dichotomy. Being a student of two professions allows me to walk into most environments with the confidence that I will be able to find my niche. Then, once in my niche, I know I will contribute significantly to the concerns at hand. I feel like being a dual social work and public health professional allows me to be both a jack of all trades and a master of my choosing!  

 

It seems like every day the social, political, scientific, and economic dynamics are constantly readjusting in this turbulent world. There does not appear to be a lot of stability, but a silver lining is that I feel prepared to take this turbulence on. Ruth et al. (2008) confirms, “in a society of rapid changes and pressing new realities, public health social work is the profession’s best transdisciplinary response to improving the health and well-being of society” (p.483). Being a dual social work and public health student gives me the competence and flexibility that provides me an edge in this dynamic world. I have the tools from my profession and the passion from my being where I feel perfectly equipped to try to create the best possible future for all the multitudes. 

 

Caitlin Moore graduated from the MSW/MPH program in December 2020. Caitlin is currently working as a Training Associate for the National Network of Public Health Institutes in New Orleans, LA.  

View Caitlin's LinkedIn profile.

 

References 

Bachman, S. S. (2017). Social work and public health: charting the course for innovation.  American Journal of Public Health. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2017.304209  

Ruth, B. J., Sisco, S., & Marshall, J. W. (2008). Public health social work. Encyclopedia of social  work, 3, 476-483. 

Whitman, W. (2002). Leaves of grass and other writings. Moon, M. (Ed.) New York: Norton 

 

 

 

Collaboration and Dual Professionalism in Social Work and Public Health - Guest Post by Mallory Vaughn (Dec '19)

“If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” – African Proverb 

Mallory Vaughn MSW/MPH (Dec '19)

It seems sometimes, especially in the land of professionalism and academia, we like to separate ourselves into boxes where we can easily fit. Sometimes there is this tendency to prefer to “go it alone,” and rely on a particular profession’s areas of expertise rather than as a collaboration, as collaboration often takes more time to perfect. This is fantastic in terms of allowing for greater specialization and expertise in very specific areas, yet at times, the boxes we create for each discipline can hamper our ability for interdisciplinary collaboration and even prevent us from seeing the bigger picture. 

I have always tended to lean more towards the interdisciplinary side of things and the benefit of having multiple disciplines in my toolbox. From being a double major, learning in multiple languages, and finally having an undergraduate thesis that pulled from a wide range of disciplines including English literature, anthropology, psychology, and even political science. It seemed like every experience I had, the edge I had in each one came from the ability to pull from as many perspectives and as many academic departments as possible to get a full picture of the problem. Now, pursuing my Master of Social Work and Master of Public Health, the need for interdisciplinary collaboration and the ability to learn from multiple lenses is clearer to me now more than ever. 

To me, the definition of a dual professional is more about the unique abilities dual professionals are able to acquire through working within multiple areas. Working within multiple disciplines as a dual professional also includes several assets specific to transdisciplinary work, such as the ability to view things from multiple perspectives, critical thinking and evaluation skills, and intellectual dexterity between knowledge and information from a wider range of perspectives and disciplines (Repko et al., 2014).

Social work and public health are particularly suited for dual professionalism and collaboration, as social work can provide public health with an individual-level perspective to public health’s population level health challenges (Ruth, Sisco & Marshall, 2008). Public health social work is also able to blend social work’s problem solving and community empowering skills with public health’s emphasis on long term prevention, and provides a socio-epidemiological perspective in terms of dealing with health problems (Jackson, 2015). Social work and public health are particularly complementary fields not only because of their potential for collaborative problem solving and interventions but also because their ideals and ethics overlap in many areas. Both the NASW code of ethics and public health’s ethical guidelines both highlight the importance of ethical engagement with the community, engaging with marginalized voices, and promoting social justice (Congress, 2013). 

One of the benefits of being a dual professional is that we get to serve as a link between two disparate professions that actually aren’t as different as they might appear at first glance. As a bridge between multiple fields, we have the opportunity to combine our public health skills of assessing population health issues, our knowledge of biostatistics and epidemiology, and our ability to engage in high-level discourse on a variety of health issues with our social work skills of empathy, creativity, communication, and community-level advocacy. Not only does this give us tremendous skills to use in our work going forward, it also places us in a unique position to act as a liaison between multiple fields and encourage even more transdisciplinary cooperation. As I continue to work towards becoming a dual social work and public health professional, I hope to continue to foster collaboration and cooperation between these two disciplines and encourage a wider range of perspectives to contribute to solutions to the health problems and disparities that continue to challenge our communities. 

- Mallory Vaughn graduated from the MSW/MPH program in December 2019

Mallory is currently working as a Family Connection Coordinator at Catoosa Family Collaborative.
View Mallory's Linkedin Profile here

References: 

• Congress, E. (2013). Ethics for public health social workers. In R. H. Keefe & E. T. Jurkowski (Eds), Handbook for public health social work (pp. 21-40). New York, NY: Springer.
• Jackson, K. (2015, November/December). Public Health Social Work: Now More than Ever. Retrieved April 30, 2019, from https://www.socialworktoday.com/archive/111715p12.shtml
• Repko, A.F., Szostak, R., Buchberger, M.P. (2014). Chapter 3: The Interdisciplinary Studies “Cognitive Toolkit.” In Introduction to Interdisciplinary Studies (pp. 49-61). Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.
• Ruth, B. J., Sisco, S., & Marshall, J. W. (2008). Public health social work. Encyclopedia of social work, 3, 476-483.

What Being Interdisciplinary Means to Me - Guest Post by Maggie Wells McDonald (Dec '19)

Maggie Wells McDonald, MSW/MPH (Dec, '19)

Explaining what it means to be a dual professional can be no easy feat. It’s not uncommon to have to defend how invaluable the skillset of an MSW/MPH graduate can be, even with professors. Social Workers and Public Health professionals are called to work alongside other disciplines in an effort to tackle complex issues holistically (Repko, 2017). An individual who holds both an MSW and an MPH possesses the unique perspective of being two different disciplines. When a dual professional is invited to ‘the table’, they are automatically representing two different disciplines and many different perspectives. Having these two unique perspectives means we view problems and solutions in a magnitude of different ways, which is undoubtedly needed for the areas of concern that social workers and public health professionals face.

To me, being a dual professional means that I see the ‘individual tree and the whole forest.’ As a social worker, I understand how individual needs vary tremendously, and as a public health professional, I know how to then implement programs and policies with individual needs in mind. This perspective is critical for our most pressing health issues. Public Health recognizes health disparities, and social work recognizes how much the intersectionality of different marginalized identities can impact these health disparities. In public health social work, these considerations are paramount. When speaking with friends and family, I sum it all up by saying that I’m learning how to think a lot of different ways. There is rarely one right answer, or one intervention that will solve every problem,; as dual professionals, we recognize this and view issues through our interdisciplinary lens. Not only this, but we also learn to ask the right questions.

A skill both social workers and public health professionals possess is program implementation and evaluation. My focus of study is on older adults; I specifically advocate for this population’s mental health needs that often go unnoticed. For my social work evaluation class, I designed and evaluated a program for identifying and intervening in mental health issues in older adults. At the time, I was interning at the University Health Center and was facilitating bystander intervention workshops. During these trainings, UGA students and faculty would learn how to identify signs and symptoms of depression and how to intervene. During my Mental Health in Older Adults course, I learned that adults 65+ actually have the highest rate of suicide, yet minimum effort is being done to combat these statistics. For my social work program evaluation course, I redesigned this particular public health intervention to encourage healthcare professionals in intervening when they identify an older adult dealing with depression and other mental illnesses. I had the opportunity to use the public health interventions I was being trained in for my internship, and then apply them to a social work class in a way that collaboratively brought together competencies of both disciplines.

Social Work and Public Health share similar values and common goals such as addressing social determinants of health, promoting population health, and advancing social justice. Due to this, more then half of employed social workers in the U.S. work in healthcare. Unfortunately, it is still a profession that struggles to separate itself from being simply a ‘soft-science’. (Bachman, 2017) Social work often has to fight for 'a seat at the table’ with other healthcare professionals. Having a Master’s degree in Public Health gives me the credentials, and the language, to relate to other healthcare professionals while also possessing the skills to convey complex terminology and compassion to my clients in a way that keeps them informed and not overwhelmed. In my opinion, the skills of a public health social worker will ensure patient autonomy and overall community health.

As graduation draws near, I often think about how I will introduce myself after I hold these two degrees. Today, I say that I am a dual MSW/MPH student with a gerontology concentration. With such a unique skill set, I am uncertain of what my particular title will be. However, I do not feel as if these two degrees define me, but that the experience and expertise I gain from them does; and to me, that’s what being an interdisciplinary professional means. It may not necessarily mean working in two different fields simultaneously or having two different degrees but having the knowledge and confidence to represent two different mindsets in a roomful of professionals on behalf of my client system.

I believe Leslie Knope best sums up these past two years,

 - Maggie Wells McDonald (LMSW, MPH), graduated in December 2019.  Maggie is currently working as an Oncology Social Worker at Piedmont Healthcare.  

View Maggie's LinkedIn profile.

References

Bachman, S. S. (2017). Social Work and Public Health: Charting the Course for Innovation. American Journal of Public Health, 107, S220. https://doi-org.proxyremote.galib.uga.edu/

Repko, A. Szostak (2017). Introduction to Intradisciplinary Studies. SAGE Publications. 2nd Edition.

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