EMMA HENDERSHEDT, LMSW
Class of 2019
Marlborough, CT
WHY DID YOU CHOOSE SIENA COLLEGE?
I choose Siena College because of the sense of community I experienced as soon as I got to campus. It truly felt like a second home the minute I got there. Siena's Commitment to service, community building, and the Franciscan tradition is what attracted me to Siena. It was impossible for me not to fall in love with Siena!
WHY SOCIAL WORK?
My journey to pick social work was one that was not linear, however the grounding motive was always a commitment to justice and service that I felt called to my professional/ personal life. Social Work allowed me to combine my passions for people, community development , and social justice into a career. While at Siena, I explored a career path in law and eventually found myself back to social work. My field placement during my senior year allowed myself to work within communities and work closely with those in need of support. All those experiences and the courses at Siena continued to validate the social work profession for me!
WHAT WAS YOUR MOST MEANINGFUL EXPERIENCE AT SIENA?
My most meaningful experience was my semester abroad. I studied in Ho Chi Min City , Vietnam where I lived with a family for five months. During my semester abroad, I studied Vietnamese, engaged with local students, and grew immensely as an individual. I came to really understand ,myself personally which help me grow into a young adult that walked across the graduation stage in 2019. My time in Vietnam was filled with uncomfortable moments that pushed me to be vulnerable and tap into the parts of myself that I had yet to explore.
WHAT IS YOUR CURRENT POSITION?
I am currently a post graduate fellow at Yale School of Medicine's Child Study Center. I am completing the advanced clinical social work fellowship following completion of my MSW at Catholic University. Within this fellowship, I serve as an in home clinician, engaging in intensive psychotherapy with children and adolescents at risk of psychiatric hospitalization as well as taking on some cases within the outpatient clinic, throughout early childhood trauma track. I get to engage in individual therapy, family therapy, and parent work as well as case management. Within this fellowship I have the unique opportunity to deeply learn more about psychotherapy within the context of the communities I serve. I have really found "home" within in- home work, loving getting to do therapy in people's homes. I have found that siting on the floor of a teenager's room, having a family treatment session around the dinner table, or supporting families in crisis within their space ahs been such a rich and therapeutic process. In addition, I love where I work because of how collaborative it is- we get to work in interdisciplinary teams with psychiatrist, psychologists and schools.
IN WHAT WAYS DID SIENA PREPARE YOU FOR LIFE AND WORK AFTER COLLEGE?
My time at Siena College FULLY prepared me for life after graduation. The academics and the curriculum that I learned supported me as I entered the social work field and have propelled how I approach continued learning. I find that Siena empowered me to want to learn more and explore more. Within the field of social work, education shouldn't stop- to be a good clinician, we should continue to learn and grow! Siena lit a fire for education that I strive to find in everything that I do. Siena prepared me as a professional but most importantly, Siena taught me how to care for those around me and value community. Supporting building in my work has become the core of what I do, it is what I am most passionate about and I owe it to Siena College for lighting that passion!
Rev. 2022