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A trailblazer in body psychotherapy, Lamaze childbirth, breastfeeding and women’s sexuality, Alice Kahn Ladas, A.B. ’43, M.S.S. ’46, never hesitated to push boundaries. At 101, she is a somatic psychologist in New Mexico still passionate about her work and family.

When Glendon Geikie, M.S.W. ‘72, retired in 2012 after 40 years as a Massachusetts-based social worker, his daughter convinced him to move out to California. But rather than slip into a leisurely retirement in the beautifully temperate climate, Geikie decided he wasn’t quite done performing acts of service for others.

Beth Nanjala Luvisia was drawn to SSW because of the clinical social work focus, and importantly, she wanted to learn to assess and diagnose a client while considering the impact their environment has on them.

When Chynna Aming was finishing her bachelor's degree studying the role of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) in BIPOC communities, she figured she was headed toward a graduate degree in either neuroscience or public health. After discovering these concentrations did not meld disciplines in a way that matched her interests, she was advised to look into social work.

When Jamie Daniels was an undergraduate at nearby Mount Holyoke, a mentor well-acquainted with her passion for service and activism told her that she would either end up a political organizer or a social worker – and that social work has more regular hours. As a first-generation college student juggling academics and motherhood, the decision essentially made itself.

Taylor Haaf chose SSW largely because of its commitment to social justice and its psychodynamic orientation. The courses they took and their internship with a community mental health agency played key roles in that hundred-percent preparation, as did the grounding they got in psychodynamic theory and relational therapy in particular.