When Kyleigh Murchison (she/her) entered the Smith College School for Social Work in summer 2022, she already knew she wanted to work in prisons. As an undergraduate, coursework in the psychology of criminal behavior inspired her to talk her way into an unprecedented internship at Maine State Prison, where she spent a year working as a behavioral health technician.
“I felt a really strong pull to it,” she said. “I felt I had this inner capacity to hold space for people who have committed crimes or are experiencing a really severe amount of abuse from the criminal justice system… Change can happen from the inside out while also supporting people who are being abused by these systems.”
She started that undergraduate internship wanting to be a psychologist, but that goal quickly shifted. “When I got to the prison, it was all social workers, and I’m like, this is what I want to do,” she said. She began her first SSW summer two weeks after finishing college.
Murchison still looks toward a criminal justice-related career, but she appreciates the opportunities her SSW placements have afforded her to gain experience working with different populations. Last year, Murchison was placed in the Belchertown, Massachusetts, Public School System working with adolescents.
“I definitely felt I was totally out of my comfort zone, and it was one of the best experiences I think I could've asked for,” Murchison said. It was experience she was able to incorporate into her second summer term at SSW.
“Getting to take the social work experience I gained over the last eight months and integrate it into the classroom – that was really exciting.”
This year, she is working with adults as an outpatient adult therapist at a community mental health agency in Holyoke. “I'm excited to flex my clinical muscles with adults,” she said, en route to returning to corrections with all the knowledge she gained through Smith’s unique combination of intensive education and immersive practicum experiences.
“I think about the privilege I have as a white person who went to two private institutions,” she reflected. “how can I use that privilege to support people who systemically have not been afforded it?”
