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From Sea To Shining Sea: A Mastery Of Social Work Through A Critical Thinking And Social Justice Lens, Paige M. Gilchrist

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

Completing a Master of Social Work degree across three years and two universities, Paige Gilchrist outlines how she has mastered the Five Elements of Advanced Integrated Practice and Ten Competencies required by the University of Montana to prove social work competency through a social justice lens.

Msw Portfolio: A Comprehensive Showcase Of Academic Work And Achievements, Emma Elizabeth Piskolich

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

Social work practice carries significant professional responsibility. As political systems evolve and new research continues to emerge, it is essential for practitioners to remain committed to ongoing learning and professional development. The nature of social work involves serving vulnerable and impacted populations, which requires that care be delivered with the profession’s core values at the forefront. My approach to social work practice is guided by several theoretical perspectives that shape my professional framework. I am particularly drawn to Empowerment Theory, Systems Theory, and Ecological Frameworks. In practice, I integrate these with the Strengths-Based Perspective, the Person-in-Environment perspective, and trauma-informed approaches …

Transforming Experience Into Practice: A Portfolio Of Growth, Identity, And Leadership, Ana I. Loli

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

This professional portfolio documents the integration of my academic learning, practicum experience, and personal transformation throughout the Master of Social Work program at the University of Montana. Drawing from trauma‑informed, anti-oppressive, and culturally responsive frameworks, I demonstrate competency across micro, mezzo, and macro levels of practice, with particular emphasis on ethical decision-making, ADEI engagement, community assessment, policy analysis, research-informed practice, and collaborative leadership. Through narrative reflections and applied artifacts—including case analyses, simulated clinical sessions, community-based research, organizational evaluation, and leadership implementation—I illustrate how meaning, context, power, history, and possibility shape my approach to social work. This portfolio highlights my development …

Beyond The Straight Road: A Narrative Of Growth Toward Integrated Social Work Practice, Samantha Bymaster

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Msw Portfolio: Advancing Social Work Practice In International And Marginalized Communities, Emily L. Curtis

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

My portfolio presents an integrated reflection of advanced social work practice developed through my academic training and immersive field experiences across the United States, Germany, and New Zealand. Grounded in trauma-informed care, cultural humility, and strengths-based approaches, it demonstrates my application of the ten core social work competencies and five elements of advanced integrated practice within diverse and marginalized communities.

Drawing on my work with Māori and Pasifika women, refugee populations, and rural communities, this portfolio explains the importance of understanding individuals within broader cultural, historical, and systemic contexts. It emphasizes the need for socially just, culturally responsive, and relationship-centered …

Deferred Dreams: Mental Health Challenges And Access To Services Among Daca Recipients, Jamie G. Ruiz, Marlene Ortiz, Denisse Salvatierra

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) is an administrative program that protects young immigrants from deportation while granting them access to education and employment. DACA recipients face challenges in accessing resources due to their temporary status and the unpredictability of immigration laws, leading to mental health risks from stigma, anxiety, and fear of deportation. However, little research has examined how DACA's instability and immigration politics affect psychological well-being and access to services over time. This study examines how restrictive immigration policies affect DACA and undocumented people's mental health and access to culturally responsive, trauma-informed mental health and social services. This …

Community Justice Advocates: Increasing Access To Legal Resources In Utah, Natalie Maria Rust

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

A large access to justice gap exists among defendants in debt collection cases. The gap arises from steep legal fees, a lack of accessible resources, and the complexity of the legal system. The Community Justice Advocates of Utah was founded in 2024 through the Utah Regulatory Sandbox and authorized under the Supreme Court of Utah to bridge this gap. Community Justice Advocates (CJA) are trained human service professionals authorized to provide limited-scope legal advice in various areas. The Transforming Communities Institute (TCI) at Utah State University joined this network in 2025, launching a pilot program training human service professionals in …

Master Of Social Work Faculties Integration Of Gender And Sexuality Diverse Content: A Cross-Sectional, Quantitative Study, Lynn Mazur

Social Work Doctoral Dissertations

Master of social work (MSW) students may be entering into field practice without meeting the necessary competencies for practice to address the needs of the gender and sexuality diverse (GSD) population. The literature supports that GSD content may be absent from course content. This cross-sectional design study aimed to understand what factors influence MSW faculty to incorporate GSD content into their coursework. MSW faculty at Council on Social Work Education (CSWE, 2022) accredited programs were invited via email to complete an online, anonymous, and voluntary survey. The results suggested strong support for the integration of GSD content into the coursework, …

Msw Portfolio: Grounded In Perpetuity And Well-Being Of The Future Generation, Silver A. Little Eagle

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

The MSW Portfolio, Grounded in Perpetuity and Well-being of the Future Generation, by Silver Little Eagle (Northern Cheyenne), is an Advanced Integral Practice portfolio submitted in partial fulfillment of the Master of Social Work degree at the University of Montana. Integrating the core competencies outlined by the University of Montana School of Social Work and the Council on Social Work Education, this portfolio draws on the author's identity as an Indigenous social work practitioner, as a citizen of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe, as a Tsé-tsėhéstaestse naa Só'taeo'o woman, as an eldest sister raised by her grandmothers, and as a Youth …

Using A Place-Based Harms Typology To Inform Community Practice And Research: Illustrative Cases And Contexts, Jason Sawyer, Greer A. Hamilton, Amie Thurber, Amy Krings

School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Presentations

Place-based harms comprise direct threats to community wellbeing within the spaces where people live. These harms, rooted in structural and cultural violence, are codified in policies and programs that contribute to poverty, homelessness, over-policing and surveillance, and environmental injustices. This paper argues, although community practitioners are needed to work alongside communities impacted by place-based harms, there are critical tensions and tradeoffs embedded within the place-based strategies. To illustrate this, we draw from the Contested Places Typology and present cases that highlight key tensions, tradeoffs, and nuances associated with its six approaches: (1) Reparation, (2) Remembrance, (3) Regeneration, (4) Resistance, (5) …

Cv: John Halloran, John Halloran

Social Work Department Faculty Curricula Vitae

No abstract provided.

Opportunities, Challenges, And Conspicuous Absences: An Integrative Review Of The Social Work Literature On Artificial Intelligence, Michael J. Massey, Ian G. Williams, Grace C. Polistina, Eathan A. Breaux

Publications and Research

INTRODUCTION: Social work discourse regarding artificial intelligence (AI) in practice, research, and education has proliferated over the last 5 years, reflecting both excitement over its potential and ambivalence about its ethical challenges. However, the extent to which social work is fully engaging with the structure of AI and its enormous impacts on the environment, labour, and distribution of power remains unclear.

METHODS: An integrative review of social work literature from 2020–2024 was conducted to address two research questions: 1) What is the nature of the social work discourse related to AI? 2) To what extent is the discourse …

Msw Portfolio, Ashley V. Sifuentes

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

Growing into my voice, my journey throughout the MSW program.

A Guide To Growing Broad: : Expanding The Notion Of Social For Mental Health, Natural Resources, And The Infinite Intersections Of How To Care For The World, Leah D. Nuese-Yaker

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

This MSW portfolio narrative examines the expanding boundaries of social work practice at the intersection of human and ecological systems. Organized as a series of interconnected personal essays structured around river metaphors, the portfolio argues that social work's anthropocentric foundations limit the profession's capacity to address contemporary crises of environmental justice, climate change, and ecological health. Drawing on fieldwork in natural resources conflict resolution, wilderness therapy, outdoor education, and climate health advocacy in rural Montana, the author demonstrates competency across all ten CSWE social work practice behaviors while advancing a practice framework that centers relational, embodied, and ecologically grounded intervention. …

Master Of Social Work Portfolio, Isabella Faith Decunzo

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

This Portfolio has been developed in partial fulfilment of the Master of Social Work (MSW) degree and demonstrates my personal and professional growth over the course of the program. It highlights selected academic and practice-based work completed throughout the past two years, reflecting my developing knowledge and application of the Five Elements of Advanced Integrative Practice and the Ten Competencies of Social Work.

Included is an appendix containing completed assignments from the MSW program in Missoula, Montana, which supports and demonstrates the reflective narrative presented throughout the portfolio. Each artifact directly aligns with and illustrates my progression toward competency in …

Practicing From The Inside Out: A Portfolio Of Trauma-Informed And Spirit-Led Social Work, Cailey R. Denboer

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

This portfolio represents the integration of academic learning, practicum experience, and personal growth throughout my Master of Social Work education at the University of Montana. Grounded in empowerment theory, trauma-informed care, and anti-oppressive practice, this work reflects my commitment to ethical, culturally humble, and relational social work across individual, community, and organizational contexts. Drawing from coursework and practicum experiences, I highlight the development of core competencies through applied work.

A central theme of this portfolio is the ongoing process of self-reflection and humility, particularly in recognizing areas of growth and navigating the tensions between personal values, professional responsibilities, and systemic …

3 Years Of School In 30 Hours, Nicholas Thanh Morrow Nguyen

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

The academic, professional, and personal development throughout the Master of Social Work program within the University of Montana demonstrates natural progression when getting a masters degree early in the years of professional development. The portfolio examines how coursework, field practicums, supervision, and critical self-reflection contributes to individual development as a social worker professional. Through these experiences, the portfolio demonstrates the development of knowledge and skills related to ethical practice, advocacy, assessment, intervention, evaluation, research, policy, and leadership. The different practicum experiences provided opportunities to apply concepts learned within the classroom to real-world situations while working with individuals with different needs …

The Golden Rule: An Msw Portfolio Narrative, Russell Jared Jacobs

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

The experiences and research behind Russell "Jared" Jacobs' MSW journey that showcases his abilities in the field of social work.

Becoming-With The Earth: Contemplative Practice As A Critical Onto-Epistemic Resource For Planetary Belonging, Care, And World-Making, Megan M. Fowler

Electronic Theses & Dissertations (2024 - present)

In an era of accelerating planetary crisis, social work is called to reimagine its theories, methods, and practices beyond anthropocentric frameworks that separate human wellbeing from the health of the Earth and its resplendent living systems. Working in the space of transformative eco-social work, a growing chorus of voices contends that eco-centric responses require broadening the scope of health, welfare, justice, and care to extend beyond the human, to include the more-than-human world upon which all life intimately depends—understandings resonant with Indigenous and other relational knowledge systems long marginalized by colonialist-capitalist-modernity. Drawing from eco-feminist, eco-queer, decolonial, and post-anthropocentric lineages of …

Becoming A Social Worker: A Journey Through Community, Justice, And Recovery, Willow Coefield

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

This portfolio is the culminating project for the Master of Social Work program at the University of Montana and demonstrates advanced integrated practice through coursework, practicum, and professional experience. It is organized into an introduction, theoretical orientation, and focused sections on trauma‑informed care and rural and Indigenous contexts of practice, followed by a mapping of portfolio artifacts to core elements and competencies, a conclusion, references, and appendices of key graduate assignments. Drawing on artifacts such as positionality work, case studies, diagnostic assessment, group design, program evaluation, policy analysis, and leadership projects, the portfolio illustrates growth in ethical and professional behavior, …

Msw Portfolio, Angeline Fox Wahl

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Holding Space, Creating Change: A Journey Through Social Work, Angela M. Millet

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

Holding Space, Creating Change reflects my journey through the Master of Social Work program and the personal, academic, and professional growth that shaped my emerging identity as a social worker. Rooted in a person-in-environment perspective and guided by trauma-informed, culturally responsive, and justice-oriented frameworks, this portfolio integrates my learning across coursework, practicum experiences, and community-based work. I trace my development from an early interest in macro-level advocacy to a deep commitment to clinical practice grounded in empathy, connection, and humility.

Throughout this portfolio, I demonstrate competence across the advanced generalist dimensions of ethical practice, ADEI engagement, research-informed practice, policy analysis, …

Healing, Together, Courtney Cleek

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

This portfolio reviews the topics of mutual rehabilitation and the human animal bond (HAB) as a holistic approach to addressing topics of mental health, suicide prevention, and innovative services. Displaying work through the Ten Specialization Year Competencies and the Five Elements of Advanced Integrative Practice, we examine ways to expand social justice, amplify voices, and promote healing within our communities.

Empathy In Action: A Personal Transformation, Kiley S. Radich

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

This portfolio reflects both my accomplishments and my development as an advanced integrated practitioner. It is also a testament to the love, experiences, and opportunities that have shaped me and continue to inspire my practice.

Social Work In Practice, The Final Stretch, Madison M. Fernandez

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

This professional portfolio reflects what I have learned in the MSW program at the University of Montana.

Journey Through, Cathan B. Tautfest

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

Journey Through is the Master's Portfolio for the University of Montana for Author Cathan Tautfest. This paper serves as the capstone graduation requirement for students of the School of Social Work. Over the final semester of the Master's program, this Portfolio was created, reviewed by committee, and defended before its publication. This Portfolio is a culmination of three years and thousands of hours to demonstrate mastery of the ten Social Work competencies, the elements of Social Work Practice, and critically reflect on time spent in the School of Social Work's Master's of Social Work (MSW) program. This Portfolio reflects on …

Master Of Social Work Portfolio, Cynthia Elaine Worcester

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

No abstract provided.

Engage, Assess, Intervene, Evaluate: Barriers Facing The Elderly Population, Isabel Anderson, Gracie Brown, Mari Langton

Student Projects

This study examined barriers faced by older adults in Orange City, Iowa, through a mixed-methods community practice project incorporating assessment, implementation, and evaluation. During the assessment phase, researchers conducted interviews with elderly residents and professionals, gathered observational data, and facilitated community dialogue using the Nominal Group Technique. Key themes included social isolation, transportation challenges, financial strain, limited health literacy, and difficulty transitioning from independence to assisted living. A strong cultural emphasis on independence often discouraged help-seeking, while fragmented agency communication and rural limitations in specialized care further complicated service navigation. Asset mapping and power analysis highlighted community cohesion, faith-based support, …

Disability Accommodations In Field Education: Exploring The Msw Student Perspective, Alicia Dawn Melnick

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The number of students with disabilities is increasing, yet little is known about how graduate social work students navigate accommodation during field placements. This study addressed the limited understanding of Master of Social Work (MSW) students’ experiences applying Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodations in practicum settings. How accommodations are managed can determine whether disabled students gain equitable access to training and the profession. The purpose of this exploratory qualitative study was to examine how MSW students with disabilities describe their experiences with applying ADA accommodations during field placements. Critical disability theory guided the study, emphasizing ableism and structural barriers …

Portfolio And Appendix Chris M. Larson, Chris M. Larson

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

Abstract:

This is a collection of assignments and reflections of my work throughout the course of the Masters in Social Work program at the University of Montana. Included are assignments reflecting on the Indian Child Welfare Act, housing, barriers to care for Non-White and female veterans within the VA clinic, the quality of care in nursing homes, American Drug policy, confidentiality in the YWCA, training on interventions based on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, cost benefit analysis of in home care programs, and a proposal for my practicum site Missoula Aging Services. It has reflections on the five elements of advanced practice, …