Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping

Reflections from the Editorial Team: Recognizing Our Volunteers, and Celebrating Reflections’ 30th Anniversary

2025-12-28T11:22:32+00:00

Our general issues of Reflections would not be possible without the incredible commitment of Section Editors and peer reviewers who volunteer their time to the submission and review process. Their dedication and expertise are the lifeblood of this journal. Those persons who have reviewed and provided valuable feedback to the authors whose work has been published in the last four General Issues are listed below. Prose and poetry in this Issue reveal the importance of community-building, interpersonal relationships, and engagement in the lives of students, practitioners, and service users across settings and around the world.

Tribal Feminism: Safekeeping Family and the Bodo Community During the Bodoland Movement in India

2025-02-20T10:04:24+00:00

This article narrates the experiences of my mother, my family, and the Bodo community during the Bodoland Movement (1960–2003). My and my mother’s journeys are that of a Bodo woman struggling to protect life, family, and the integrity of the Bodo community. Thousands were killed, tortured, and raped. Bodo men were persecuted as “rebels” by the state and were therefore nowhere to be seen in everyday society. Women became human shields, peace negotiators, safekeepers of family and community, and agents of social transformation in the face of violence. I reflect on my and my mother’s experiences as a departure from mainstream feminism by tracing oppression and violence beyond the domain of men-women relationships, detailing how tribal feminism traces oppressive structures to ethnic biases/prejudices against a tribal community by dominant groups, and highlighting the agency of tribal feminism for survival, safekeeping of life and liberty, and rights of a community.

“I Wish I Knew”: Helping Social Work International Students Achieve Their Clinical Professional Goals

2024-04-10T07:20:42+00:00

Driven by my personal experience and a desire to understand the journey of social work international students in the United States, I conducted interviews with three social work professionals. These individuals had completed their social work training as international students in the US. The aim of this study was to delve into and share the experiences of these social work international students, particularly in their pursuit of social work professional and career goals. The study focuses on how these students navigate immigration and social work-related policies during and after their program and offers insights on how to alleviate some of the challenges they face.

Lived Experiences of Transgender and Gender Nonbinary Adults Aged 50+ Shared Through Art & Film: Reflections of a Social Work Educator

2024-05-27T06:55:00+00:00

By featuring artists from diverse and underrepresented groups, institutions of higher education have the potential to make the invisible visible, foster connections between universities and communities, build a sense of belonging, and improve campus climate. I, a social work educator, share reflections after coordinating a college campus art exhibit with artists aged 50+ who identify as transgender and/or gender nonbinary and a companion film screening featuring a family with a transgender woman parent. Themes of visibility, belonging, and campus climate weave throughout the discussion. Beyond LGBTQ+ services on campus, programs focused on trans inclusivity and transgender and gender nonbinary identities are recommended.

R.I.S.E.: An Intercampus Collaboration and Strategies to Re-Imagine Social Work Education

2023-09-22T15:49:33+00:00

During the summer of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic and national protests in response to police brutality and institutional racism created intense feelings of anger, pain, and isolation. With the effects manifesting in our classrooms, we realized the need to re-establish connection and community. This paper is our story about how faculty and students from two schools of social work in southern California built an intercampus collaboration—R.I.S.E. (Re-Imagining SocialWork Education)—to address the seen and felt gaps in current social work education model. We share strategies, activities, and an analysis of reflective conversations about our experience which revealed four thematic categories: (1) connection led to community building, (2) acknowledgement led to healing, (3) critical consciousness led to empowerment and accountability, and (4) taking action led to tools for change. Our findings support the importance of intercampus collective actions to make multi-level systematic changes in social work education.

In Jean’s Space: The Life, Death, and Rebirth of an Academic Writing Group

2023-09-22T15:53:46+00:00

Four faculty members across disciplines relay the story of an inspiring senior faculty mentor who organized an academic writing group for junior faculty members during the COVID-19 pandemic. This exceptional mentor, who facilitated the weekly academic writing group, provided a safe and supportive respite for junior faculty members navigating the tenure track during a difficult and frightening time in our history. The writing group, who bonded personally and professionally, provide not only our individual stories, but Jean’s story, as she experienced personal hardships throughout this time. We hoped that others may find solace and inspiration in Jean’s story and may experiment with a similar writing group.

Teaching From the Heart

2023-05-31T12:51:20+00:00

Most social work instructors come to teaching with a wealth of practice experience. This experience allows us to actually teach what we know, using our experiences in the field to provide a more colorful illustration for our students. This essay describes the profound effect my experience as a foster parent has had on not only my teaching, but also my relationship with the students at my regional comprehensive university in the southeast United States. Using specific examples from my experience with children placed in my home, this paper discusses how my teaching about social welfare policy and empathy has been changed.

Endless Home Visit

2024-01-05T13:05:53+00:00

I provide homeless outreach medical care in our city, Worcester, MA, alongside a very dedicated social worker. We go where the people are. Until they are not. Our city continues to back a mandate to take down tents/homes displacing marginalized individuals and disrupting essential health and social service care. My experience is expressed here.

Reflections on Behavioral Health Crisis in Communities: Reimagining Social Work Curriculum and Practice

2024-03-27T10:18:16+00:00

Social work prepares future generations of behavioral health professionals who comprehensively understand community-based mental health challenges. Social workers collaboratively partner with different disciplines in designing systems (human and technological) that reflect a seamless delivery for community residents, especially where residents enter the mental health systems through 911 calls. This paper describes how a graduate social work student and a faculty team collaborated with professionals from different backgrounds to design such a system. Additionally, the experience details the importance of social workers partnering with first responders—often the first point of contact for community residents regarding mental health. The lessons learned can guide how social work pedagogy can be more reflective of current complex community needs wherein the curriculum is horizontally and vertically integrated and guided by interprofessional collaborative practice. Additionally, these lessons speak to the dilution of hegemony practiced by faculty vis-à-vis social work students.