Simmons College School of Social Work
300 The Fenway, Boston, MA 02115
Office: Room: P-404H
Phone: 617/521-3903, FAX: 617/521-3980
Email: swenson@simmons.edu
B.A.: Mount Holyoke College
M.S.W.: Smith College
D.S.W.: Columbia University
411: Dynamics of Racism
421: Social Work Practice I & II
544: Clinicians as Community Builders
630: Perspectives on Social Work Practice (Doctoral)
632: Writing the Stories of Social Work (Doctoral)
I practiced for eight years full-time, and since then, part-time in a variety of social work settings, primarily community mental health. I went on for my doctorate because I was interested in learning more about ecological and systemic approaches and in developing a social work perspective on mental health and social problems.
I was fortunate to be able to study with Carel Germain, a leading scholar, and became interested in social support and natural helpers. The focus of my dissertation was on developing a classification of natural helping, using a qualitative approach and developing theory from the data.
Since then, my interests have evolved, as I have focused on the ideas of community and social justice and more recently, spirituality, as they relate to clinical practice. I have done and supervised a substantial number of qualitative research studies, which reflect narrative and interpretive ways of thinking.
Since I chaired the Clinical Practice sequence for many years, I have put a lot of thought into the nature of the overall curriculum at the Master's and Doctoral levels. I've also become interested in the processes by which people become better writers and developed a course on writing for publication in the doctoral program.