One thing is for sure: I didn’t wake up one day and realize I wanted to become a social worker. This realization came with many academic and life experiences that brought me to pursue this journey. In undergrad, I majored in English Writing and wasn’t sure where life would take me after that. My first exposure to social work came when I joined City Year Los Angeles as an Americorps Member. I enjoyed my time in the classroom in a different city and working with many undocumented students. At that moment I knew that I wanted to work with this population. I admired their resilience, and their caring vibes of wanting the best for their families, even if that meant living in fear of deportation. No one would risk their children being in danger or the risk of being separated from their families unless it was to protect them. I was extremely excited to be accepted into the MSW program at Boston College and start my internship at the Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program. I felt that all of the stars aligned and, although nervous, I was prepared to take on this amazing opportunity.
My day-to-day at HIRC included many different activities, and there was never a moment when I felt that one day looked like the next. As a social work intern, my main goal was to assist clients who were applying for asylum.
I assisted my clients in many different aspects, all of which touched upon an area of social work. For example, when it came to case management, I helped clients by calling health insurance companies to help them get health insurance, accompanying them to the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) office, or attending a meeting at their child’s school. This work helped me build a great rapport with our clients by getting to know them outside their asylum cases. In the clinical component, I did home visits and helped clients voice any worries had and informed them about their current immigration cases. I would go back to the clinic and keep the law team informed about how the client was feeling about their asylum case and essential points that could benefit them in gaining asylum.
One of the challenges I faced at HIRC was trying to best help clients in the political climate we are currently in. Working with this population is crucial now more than ever, but policies are changing rapidly and the misinformation on the news and other sources of information made it difficult to keep up in this constantly changing environment. Client often questioned what could happen to them or their families, and trying to be emotionally supportive toward them while also validating those fears was challenging. It was great to have my supervisor’s support when I was challenged and it was important to ask the lawyers to clarify this information.
There were many highlights from my time at HIRC and one of them was getting to know the clients outside of the clinic. During breaks from legal meetings, clients would tell me about their day or something funny that happened to them, and it made me realize how comfortable they were with me. Also, it was reassuring that even during the busiest times in the clinic there were always many individuals open to answering my questions. It was a great feeling to know that HIRC has a strong support system.
I will take away many things from my time at HIRC, but one of the main things is continuing to learn and grow from experiences with colleagues and clients. This internship has taught me that you need to go into sessions with a new mindset to understand your client fully. When I first entered the field of social work, I thought of individuals who helped clients therapeutically – now I know that there is so much more to this work. I know that everything that I have learned during my time at HIRC is indispensable and I look forward to using my new skills in helping other communities.
Marcia Cruz was a social work intern at HIRC from Fall 2019 – Spring 2020. She is currently pursuing her MSW at Boston College.