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Date: 9/20/2023
WESTFIELD — Toni Andrews is now hitting new highs in her professional career as a social worker. A survivor of domestic abuse that left her physically and mentally scarred, she fled the violence with her young daughter and son more than a decade ago.
Andrews was a single mom, barely surviving on $11,000 a year in government assistance and living in public housing for six years. She continually fought to keep a restraining order against her abuser in place, while taking her son on frequent trips to Boston Children’s Hospital. He was receiving ongoing care for a rare genetic disorder that led to seizures, developmental delays and near continuous vomiting.
While enduring her personal storm, Andrews earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work from Westfield State University and is now a professional clinician in Amherst, an adjunct professor at WSU, is married and bought a house. Her daughter graduated in 2020 with a bachelor’s degree in art from Hampshire College, owns a home and is married with a child, making Andrews a grandmother.
Her son is studying at Greenfield Community College and putting his own life together.
“It’s definitely been a journey,” she said.
Andrews said she was able to stay in school in part because of a $10,000 grant that went directly to pay part of her tuition. She now says the grant changed her life, allowing her to stay in the master’s program at WSU.
“The grant made a huge difference. It gave me the ability to finish my master’s program and enter into the internship that resulted in me getting a job in my field. I was able to stabilize my family, get off of housing assistance and build my career,” she said.
State and federal grants are helping many social work students to stay in school. WSU’s program requires them to perform internships before they can graduate.
New grant program
WSU has just received a new, nearly $200,000 grant that will be used to pay students for the work they do in their internships. The money is earmarked for students pursuing a master’s degree in social work. They must complete the 30-week internship before they can graduate from the program.
The grant allows seven students to be paid around $18 an hour — that totals $12,960 per person, for the 720 hours they’ll work during their internships.
“Students have to do a 15-20 hour a week internship at a social service agency, and historically, those are not paid placements,” said Dr. Rose Sullivan, chair of the social work department at WSU. “When we think about the students who end up having to withdraw from our program or go on a leave of absence, it’s almost always because they can’t afford it.”
Rize Massachusetts awarded the grant to WSU. Rize is a nonprofit foundation “solely dedicated to funding and creating solutions to end the overdose crisis in Massachusetts,” the foundation said in a statement.
Tyrese Tillman is field education director at the university. His application for the grant struck a chord with the review committee.
“I think what resonated is we are one of the most affordable social work programs in Western Massachusetts because we are a public institution and we’re geared toward providing social work to students in an affordable education,” he said.
Social worker shortage
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a shortage of 74,000 social workers a year for the next decade. An October report from the Massachusetts Health and Hospitals Association found throughout the state, 25% of emergency department beds last year were occupied by patients waiting for behavioral health treatment.
Low pay and high stress are discouraging many people from becoming social workers. Sullivan said there is a critical need to attract and educate people willing to help others in distress.
“There’s a desperate need to help people suffering from substance abuse and drug addiction. There are waiting lists of people who need this care,” said Sullivan.
Tillman said while social work can be immensely gratifying, an economic reality is driving people away from the industry and causing a shortage of counselors.
“Social work is not a lucrative business, you don’t get into it to make money. You do it because you want to help people. That’s why we provide an affordable education and have gotten this grant to pay students who are getting great experience by doing internships,” said Tillman.
According to the National Association of Social Workers, the median annual salary for social workers that have earned a graduate degree is $48,000. The average salary for workers practicing in the field of individual and family service is $45,000. This is where 31% of social workers are employed.
Federal poverty levels are used to determine who is eligible for health care assistance. In 2022, a family of three earning $25,000 was considered to be living in poverty.
Reducing harm
There are at least two ways to wage the war on drugs: one is to end use and abuse of narcotics. The other is a “harm reduction” approach Rize advocates. The goal of this plan is to help drug users minimize the harmful effects of opioids and other drugs on their road to recovery.
Harm reduction may involve allowing drug users to exchange dirty syringes for clean ones, educating users about the causes and perils of overdosing, and distributing naloxone into the community. Naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, can temporarily reverse the deadly reaction of an overdose.
“Harm reduction may help people get to a place where they recognize there is a problem but they’re not ready to let go of it, they’re not ready to fully commit to abstinence. It is a way of stepping in and reducing the risk of fatality,” said Tillman.
Harm reduction is one way social workers are trying to end the use and abuse of illegal drugs, said Tillman. But to win this war, he said colleges and universities need to increase the number of people graduating with degrees in social work.
Andrews is working as a clinician at a psychotherapy office in Amherst. She credits the grant with helping to change her life.
“If I hadn’t gotten the grant, I definitely would have been staying in the transitional space,” said Andrews. “If people are looking at ways they can improve themselves, they can explore resources, whether it’s at a community college or university. They may think they don’t have access to these places, but grants can sometimes help us get there.”