Class Year: May 2023
Degree Program: Master of Social Work
Concentration: Child and Adolescent Mental Health with a Trauma Focus
Anna Marie Giubileo always had the desire to work with people. As an undergraduate psychology major at Case Western Reserve University, she realized she wanted to assist people in developing coping skills to help ameliorate symptoms of mental illness. It was classes for her social work minor that helped Giubileo determine she wanted to study the field further.
“I felt like social work had such a strong connection to the community and the individuals with whom we work, and that was something that I was really looking for in a career,” she reflected.
After realizing social work was her calling, Giubileo got a head start on her graduate degree through the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel School of Applied Social Science's 3+2 Social Work program. Her first year of graduate school overlapped with her last year of undergraduate study, allowing her to earn both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in five years.
“Combining my undergraduate and graduate program study was such a unique opportunity,” she said. “I had already taken some of the undergraduate courses in social work and found that I not only enjoyed the topic, but also that the faculty members were extremely engaging and knowledgeable. I also loved how everyone was willing to share their personal experiences to further classroom discussions and work together to learn collaboratively and support each other.”
In her field education practicum at Neighborhood Family Practice this year, she has shadowed behavioral health therapy sessions with both adults and children, learning and observing therapeutic practices to address substance abuse issues at an office-based opioid treatment program. She recently began taking on assessments and her own client load to fully immerse herself in those practices.
Once she graduates in May, Giubileo hopes to lead therapy for children and adolescents who have experienced trauma in their life, preferably in an integrated health setting so she can utilize a variety of theories and interventions dependent on the needs of the client population. Looking back on her time at Case Western Reserve, her advice for incoming students who are starting a graduate or professional program here is to learn to prioritize.
“You'll likely never be able to finish every assignment, read every reading, have a social life, take care of yourself, hold a job and complete your internship/practicum,” she shared. “Take time each week—or even each day—to think about what needs to be accomplished, and make time for yourself.”
This story appeared in The Huddle on April 6, 2023.