Exploring Gerontological Social Work: A Student Perspective
By Kathryn MacLean

My classmates thought I was having a financial crisis. Why else would a person choose to work with older adults? I had only worked with youth in the past but I wanted to explore a career path where I could make a difference not just in someone's life, but also in their day.

I began my journey working with older adults at an assisted living facility run by the Catholic Church in Saint Louis, but I wasn't sure what to expect. My first thought was: How fast can I complete my hours and move on to someplace less depressing? I held on to these thoughts for the first few days. Then, something amazing took place. One of the residents' daughters brought her dog to the assisted living facility. I had never seen such a dramatic response. How rewarding, to make someone's entire day, if not week, with one furry guest. My previous ideas about aging were slowly fading into new ones.

I had two additional practicum placements -- the St. Louis Area Agency on Aging (SLAAA) where I organized the local chapter of the Silver Haired Legislature and the St. Louis Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association where I recognized my macro-level interest and talents.

In addition to working with the Silver Haired Legislature, a group of active, articulate older adults who taught me about the political process, SLAAA was an especially interesting agency to work at during the summer, because St. Louis suffered a storm-related blackout. For a significant part of my practicum experience, I helped triage phone calls and got to be a part of an evacuation of residents to local cooling sites. It was a crash course in collaboration.

At the Alzheimer's Association, I worked on several community projects and initiatives including the Faith Leaders Conference. My other tasks included law enforcement outreach and education, as well as fundraising events. In a burst of good fortune, my practicum at the Alzheimer's Association led to a temporary employment position with the association's Memory Walk.

By the end of these placements, my view of older adults and their needs had dramatically changed. I learned new ways of thinking about aging and the venues in which services are provided and realized that working with older adults can be a dynamic experience. As the aging population increases, so will the opportunity to work with the aging in new ways. My thanks go to the Hartford Foundation for recognizing a need for gerontologically-competent social workers and offering support to bring people into the field.

Kathryn MacLean is an MSW student and Graduate Admissions Assistant at St. Louis University School of Social Work. As part of her Hartford Practicum Partnership Project rotational field work, she spent 10 weeks at each of the three sites discussed in this article. She will graduate in August 2007.

Editor's Note: This article is excerpted from the new book, Days in the Lives of Gerontological Social Workers, edited by Linda May Grobman and Dara Bergel Bourassa, and is reprinted with permission from the publisher.

MacLean, K. C. (2007). A graduate student’s experience in the Hartford Practicum Partnership Program. In L. M. Grobman & D. B. Bourassa (Eds.), Days in the lives of gerontological social workers: 44 professionals tell stories from "real-life" social work practice with older adults (pp. 253-256). Harrisburg, PA: White Hat Communications.

Visit the book's Web site.