It was a long journey, but Andr\u00e9 Guillemin (SSW\u201920) found his calling. \u201cI spent a long time searching for a career that has intrinsic value and gives me a sense of purpose in life,\u201d explains Guillemin, who enrolled in BUSSW\u2019s MSW program at age 45. \u201cThe wait was necessary because I didn\u2019t have the life experience or depth of perspective to do this work 20 years ago.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now a part-time student in the online program<\/a>, he\u2019s able to synthesize knowledge gained from professional experiences that range from cognitive research to nonprofits, and an MBA program to corporate consulting. The cumulative effect was the development of \u201ca broad foundation of experience that provides insight into my clients\u2019 lives and struggles, and guides their treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n Guillemin lives in Greater Boston but chose to enroll in the online MSW program. Older than the traditional student with a family to boot, \u201cI have to continue to work while in school,\u201d he notes. \u201cThe online program provides the flexibility I need to make it all work. Combine that with the opportunity for local placements and BU\u2019s great reputation, and BUSSW was a natural choice.\u201d<\/p>\n Although he is completing his studies remotely, Guillemin says he\u2019s thoroughly enjoying the immersive nature of the program. His first field placement was at the Pine Street Inn, which provides permanent housing, social services, and job training to Boston\u2019s homeless. There, he provided clinical services to tenants, many of whom had dual diagnoses that included serious mental illness, substance use disorder, and chronic physical conditions.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was an amazing, grounding, and humbling experience,\u201d he says. While working one-on-one with the residents, Guillemin learned about his clients\u2019 quality of life. \u201cMost of the folks I worked with indicated in various ways that they were lonely. They simply didn\u2019t have the opportunity to interact socially with their neighbors.\u201d<\/p>\n A recipient of a field education stipend supported by Kate Buttenwieser (SSW\u201963), Guillemin chose to pay it forward. \u201cI took a small amount of the stipend and bought board games, decks of cards, and books. Then I hosted a couple of game nights for the residents.\u201d Afterwards, Guillemin left the games for them to use in the common room. \u201cHopefully, they will use the games as an excuse to connect with each other\u2014and maybe a few will end up feeling a bit less lonely.\u201d<\/p>\n At his current placement with the Walker School in Needham, Massachusetts, Guillemin provides in-home therapy and outpatient counseling services to children, adults, and families. No matter where he lands, Guillemin says his underlying goal will be the same: \u201cto provide clients with a holistic understanding of the neurophysiological, emotional, and sociocultural aspects of their mental health, so they can achieve measurable and meaningful change in their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n After a wide-ranging career, Andr\u00e9 Guillemin found purpose in social work, bringing lived experience to BUSSW\u2019s online MSW program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14869,"featured_media":48963,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7428,8533,4057],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48958"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14869"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48958"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48958\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80751,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48958\/revisions\/80751"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/ssw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nBy Maura King Scully | Impact Magazine, Winter\/Spring 2020<\/strong><\/a><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"