Originally published November 21, 2014
By Laura L. Acosta
UTEP News Service
This Thanksgiving, 13 students in the Master of Social Work (MSW) Program at The University of Texas at El Paso have something extra to be thankful for.
Each student is the recipient of a $10,000 scholarship that will provide them much welcomed support for their graduate studies and prepare them to become advocates for children and adolescents with behavioral health problems.
The scholarships are part of an $801,500 collaborative grant between the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It was awarded to the UTEP Department of Social Work this fall semester to launch the Borderland Child and Adolescent Behavioral Initiative at the University.
Courtney Adcox, Lyndsey Baker, Elisa Dobler, Justine Esparza, Jessica Garcia, Areli Guajardo, Victoria Gutierrez, Martha Pasaret, Yvette Perez, Sara Polk, Viridiana Sigala, Sandra White and Luis Alfonso Zamarripa are the first MSW students to participate in the new initiative, which aims to develop and expand the substance abuse and mental health workforce in the Paso del Norte Region.
“This is a great opportunity for me to develop my clinical skills with the population that I am interested in working with, which is children, youth and adolescents,” said Zamarripa, a community initiative specialist with Child Protective Services in El Paso who has worked in child welfare for 15 years. He expects to become a licensed master social worker and work with children in a clinical setting.
“I believe that there is hope for children with mental health and substance use disorders to grow up to be productive members of our community,” Zamarripa added. “I want to be at the forefront of impacting children’s lives in a positive and healing way.”
Fifty scholarships will be awarded over the next three years to MSW students participating in the program. Funds will be used for tuition, books and living expenses.
Scholarship recipients will be trained to work with children, adolescents and transitional-age youth who have developed or are at risk for developing a recognized behavioral health disorder.
“This grant will allow our social work program to further address the children’s mental health disparities that exist in the border region,” said Adam McCormick, Ph.D., MSW program coordinator and the grant’s principal investigator. The grant’s co-principal investigators are Candyce Berger, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Social Work, and Donna Cude-Islas, social work clinical assistant professor.
According to McCormick, El Paso has one licensed master social worker for every 3,600 residents.
“We know that many children in our region are not getting the mental health services that they need,” McCormick said. “This program will help to equip more clinicians with the clinical skills necessary to meet the needs of these children and youth.”
Special emphasis will be placed on training social work students to meet the needs of transitional-age persons between 16 and 25 years of age who are at risk for mental illness, substance abuse and suicide, and who also are least likely to seek continuous help.
Before Elisa Dobler decided to pursue her second graduate degree at UTEP, she worked as an English teacher at El Dorado High School. She has a master’s degree in German from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
A teacher for seven years, Dobler primarily worked with adolescents and transitional-age youth in her classroom.
“As a teacher you are constantly approached by students who need somebody to talk to, students who are struggling with serious problems at home,” Dobler said. “You try to listen and to help them, but teachers do not have the time, resources or training to really help students that need it the most.”
Dobler said her students dealt with serious issues, such as losing a parent, substance abuse and the violence in Juárez.
“There were many, many issues that desperately needed to be addressed by a therapist,” she said. “I hope to continue working with this population and provide some of the counseling that is desperately lacking in our community.”
Sara Polk spent this past summer in Washington, D.C., as an Archer Fellow interning at Congressman Beto O’Rourke’s office.
The Archer Center’s Graduate Program in Public Policy, established by The University of Texas System, brings graduate students studying policy and politics to Washington to learn about public service and the federal government.
The fellowship allowed Polk to see how public policy addresses issues like substance abuse and child trauma through interventions that are less reactive and more preventive.
“Things like this SAMHSA grant are a federal level response to communitywide needs they have recognized, and it is the perfect example of how something at the federal level can have an impact right here in our own backyard,” Polk said.
As part of their training, students also will engage with standardized patients (actors who are trained to perform as patients) in UTEP’s Center for Simulation, where they will practice their skills to effectively work with children and adolescents in a clinical setting.
Martha Pasaret believes that in order to make a lasting impact on a person’s life, social workers need to be constantly learning about ways to better serve the community through programs like the Borderland Child and Adolescent Behavioral Initiative.
“It is a great interest of mine to work with children who have mental health or substance abuse issues because if I am able to inform them about these specific issues from a young age, they will most likely get in a habit of helping themselves throughout their lifetime,” Pasaret said.