Student Spotlight: Finding Purpose Through Healing – A Student’s Journey to Social Work
Get to know MSW student Marcus S. (SSW ’26)
Clinical student, Marcus S., retells his educational journey and how he discovered his own passions during a time of great personal struggle. Marcus shares how self-kindness and wellness played a critical role in the discovery of his passions and career pursuits. In addition to being a clinical MSW student at the BUSSW, Marcus supports the student community through his role as an undergraduate academic advisor in the BU Department of Sociology & African American Diaspora Studies Program.
Could you describe your background to me? What are your interests outside of work and school?
First, I’d like to share that my grandparents immigrated here. My mom’s side is from Panama; my dad’s side is from Jamaica. My father was in the military, so I grew up as a military brat. I lived in Boston for the first six years of my life. After that, I lived in Southern California, in a town called Temecula. From there, I lived in Maryland from seventh grade until I went to college in New Hampshire. I enjoy meditation, spirituality, wellness, self-growth, and nature. I like going to the mountains, being out into nature, and taking walks. I also love the NBA, basketball, manga, and things of that nature.
Why social work? What drew you to the field, and how did you become interested in it?
My undergrad was at Dartmouth College, and I studied African American Studies. During that time, I feel like I really found myself and it was challenging at first. When I got to school, I hit the ground running. I was really motivated. I made great connections with professors and with other students, but as time went on, I did go through struggles.
I ended up going through some significant challenges that required me to take some time off; forced time off. I had an academic suspension that was due in part because of family experiences, when my family was going through a lot of different challenges. I also had friends who were going through some significant mental health struggles. I lost a friend to suicide, and I lost another friend to a psychotic break. Also, I was going through difficulties with being at an institution that was not great at attaining faculty of color. The connections that I was building would fall off because people found other opportunities, or they weren’t extended for tenure, or they experienced the harshness of New Hampshire. I ended up having to take some time off for about nine months. During that time, I really felt like I needed to refocus on who I was, really find myself, really understand who I am, what I want to do, what my purpose is, how to live life in a way that makes sense to me. I was the type of person who was more externally motivated. I was going to be an investment banker, which wasn’t my idea. Those were my family pressures. I was also trying to be a lawyer, trying to be involved in business, and all this stuff that wasn’t my passion. It wasn’t me. It was weird because I was successful. I would win awards. I was getting all these accolades, but I felt wrong inside. I felt so lost at school because I knew that it just wasn’t me, but that was the direction I was heading in. I thought, okay, I need to figure out who I am, what I want to do.
During that time off, I had an opportunity to live in Boston, Massachusetts, with my dad’s side of the family. My uncle and my aunt were influential during this time. With my other family members, I was really pressured to be successful; metrically successful. When I was in Boston, I felt like there was unconditional love. I was able to find spirituality, meditation, wellness practices, and went deep into therapy. I focused on self-improvement, self-growth, inner and shadow work, all types of different modalities, different ways of thinking about the world. I found different ways of connecting with myself, knowing and loving myself, and offering myself kindness and grace. I was able to get to a place of peace, a better understanding of myself, and a place of knowing what my purpose was. I found out what life was about for me and what I found most meaningful. I realized that I want to help people who are struggling get to a place of discovering their own dreams and purposes. I feel like that was really what motivated me.
What’s your favorite memory or experience in your academic career at BUSSW?
I love the community here at the School of Social Work. I feel like everybody’s so nice, kind, and welcoming. I feel so affirmed. It was a different experience than what I had in New Hampshire. Since I’ve come here, being able to talk to other social workers has influenced me. My dad even said, “When you go to grad school and you choose your profession, you’re around other people who have that same type of mindset. It’s powerful because it’s almost like you’re speaking the same language.” Whoever you’re talking to here at BUSSW, you just understand each other.
I was taking Professor Dawn Belkin-Martinez’s class. It was a racial justice course that had an affinity-based section for students of color. Those classes were very powerful, but in the final class, we all just went around saying what we were grateful for. I almost teared up, I damn near did. There was something about just feeling so connected, supported, and just feeling like I was a part of a community of good people, people who cared about me. It was really powerful. And it made me very emotional. I’m getting emotional now thinking about it.
How does your advising job here at BU help satisfy your drive to help others?
I would say I love being an advisor; I love my job so much. It’s been incredible, the undergraduate students are so inspirational; they’re lovely. Just to be able to talk with them and have the privilege to listen to their issues and their challenges, but also to see what their dreams are and being instrumental in that path is awesome. There are students who come in with significant mental health, personal, and/or academic challenges. I invite it all; come into my office and say whatever you feel you need to, be yourself in this space. My goal in advising and in life is I try to be as positive as I can with people. I try to hype people up so that they believe in themselves, so that they can move forward with confidence, and just have a supportive figure that they can go to. I feel like people don’t often get that.
What makes social work worthwhile for you?
Social work is fulfilling and worthwhile for me because it takes into account somebody’s story, and it’s about listening to the person and finding out what they need to be successful. What do they need to do to feel well? What can we do to support them? I really enjoy helping people. Funny enough, someone who wanted me to pursue banking ended up saying I should be a social worker. At that time, I didn’t even know what a social worker was. I think around this time I met a licensed mental health counselor who was a family friend. She was saying that if she did her career over, she would have been a social worker because of how versatile the degree is, because you can work in so many different areas. I just think social work is worthwhile because I enjoy supporting people in whatever their challenges are, and whatever their goals are. I love the social work community. These are my type of people. Every time I have a conversation with a social worker or a future social worker, I think, I’m having the ‘right’ conversation now; I’m in the right place.
What work are you most proud of during your academic career?
Honestly, finishing my undergrad. I was not in a good place back then. The journey of having a great start, taking a huge dip, literally getting suspended, and then coming back and enjoying what I was learning was challenging. I look back on that sometimes. I made it out of there alive. I’ve also been surprised at how well I’ve been doing here, academically. I guess during undergrad, I was satisfied with B pluses. Here, it’s been affirming because I was scared that I wasn’t going to enjoy social work as much. I wanted more of a clinical focus. Social work takes in the context of the whole person, which is very important, but learning about racial justice and welfare policy, I was nervous about that. I wasn’t well versed in those subjects. When I got into those classes, the professors were so affirming.
What are your favorite courses, professors, and events at BUSSW?
I would recommend all my professors. First of all, Dawn Belkin Martinez. Dawn is amazing. I can’t speak highly enough about her. Definitely take her classes. She’s just so animated, so kind and caring. I am so grateful to her for being so affirming and supportive in having those affinity groups for racial justice.
I also really enjoyed Ana Maria Bowling-Cruzall’s racial justice course. I felt like she was an expert in her field. I had a class with Professor Quinterno called Adult Diagnosis, which also goes by Adult Psychopathology. That’s the best content class I’ve had so far. Professor Quinterno is really nice, and I really liked learning about the different mental illnesses and how they present.
Professor Henneberry who taught human behavior. She‘s really nice, really kind. Because she knew I was interested in psychoanalysis, she shared this link to people talking about psychoanalysis and the connection to black culture. Professor Taylor Hall taught welfare policy. She knew her stuff. I feel like you could have turned the lights and slides off, and she could tell you the history of welfare policy. Professor Wade Taylor — he’s really nice, really kind. He’s funny in his office hours.
What are you looking forward to after graduating? What fields are you interested in working in?
I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do. I do know I want to practice psychoanalysis, so I’m looking forward to get training in that at the Massachusetts Institute of Psychoanalysis. I also want to learn other modalities. I’m certified in Reiki and in meditation coaching. I guess this is some other interest outside of work. I would love to learn more about hypnotherapy. This next subject is niche, but I also want to learn about the implications of plant-based medicines and how that can help people in their healing paths and journeys. I feel like there’s so many modalities out there that I just want to learn more about, even past college. That’s really my path, and to offer that in a wellness service or wellness practice.
What is your dream job in the field of social work?
My dream job would be a position where I can talk with people about their experiences and about their holistic person, mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, and offer a modality that they feel is supportive to them. Whether that’s one of the ones I mentioned or something else, to help them grow towards their dreams and overcome their challenges and their traumas. I would love to do that in a BIPOC focus.
What is your advice for other MSW students?
My advice to incoming MSW students is to be yourself, and to talk to as many people as you can. Everybody has a story, and you can find your people here. Everybody here is very supportive. Make good relationships with your professors. It’s cool to find out who is in the field; what they are doing in the field, and how you can find your place in the field. I don’t know if you know anything about mirror neurons, but we exercise the same parts of our brain when we watch somebody do something as when we do it ourselves. So, by getting somebody else’s story, you are preparing yourself for what you want to do potentially. Then, yeah, just find what brings you joy and do that as much as you can.