Zannah Johnson ’11
I was based in Cape Town, South Africa for 2.5 months, working at a women and children’s shelter. As an intern, my main job was to write a curriculum on gender-based violence, and then deliver workshops on this topic, as well as related topics, like self-esteem, identity, and self-care. Super cool experience! Now, I am back in Boston and hoping to continue my career as a child and family social worker, however am also getting really into women’s health work / policy work. Thinking about going to grad school in the next year, at least for my Master’s in Social Work, and maybe a dual-degree in Social Work and Public Health or Public Policy. The election really got me heated about policies and how I can best help to make things more fair, especially for at-risk communities and populations.
Update:
I am now working at a great non-profit, “Youth Villages”. They do all kinds of work with at-risk kids, youth, and families, but I’m in the Intercept program. Intercept is a program that works with families who have children/youth who are at-risk of, or who already have been, removed from their homes due to some kind of challenging and/or unsafe behavior: school refusal, self-harm, drug usage, reckless sex, commercial sexual exploitation, gang involvement… the list goes on. If the child is home, I work with the them and the family to learn skills to help reduce these behaviors and replace them with positive ones. The goal is to keep the child in the house. If the child has already been removed, I work with the family and child on skills to make the reunification process successful and permanent. It’s REALLY hard and tiring work, but I’m filled with so much love and gratitude at the end of the day for what I get to do and for the families that the frequent 13 hr days are so worth it. Still hoping to go to grad school next year for my masters in Social Work!