SEAMAAC FIELD PLACEMENT · 2025–2026
From systems navigation to coordinated care.
A supervised community-based placement where I learned to connect assessment, direct support, documentation, interdisciplinary coordination, and follow-through.
- Organization
- SEAMAAC · Health & Social Services
- Location
- Philadelphia, PA
- Period
- September 2025 – April 2026
- Practice context
- Supervised MSW field placement
Practice scope
My work combined case management—systems navigation, direct support, assessment, planning, documentation, and follow-up—with group practice. I co-facilitated art-therapy sessions and photography workshops under licensed supervision.
Community served
I supported immigrant and refugee individuals and families, primarily adults, older adults, and survivors of domestic violence. Many of the clients I worked with were women navigating several systems at once.
Collaboration
Cases often required coordination with nonprofit partners such as Lutheran Settlement House, hospitals, primary-care practices, schools, and legal resources. I communicated with physicians, nurses, attorneys, teachers, and school administrators across referral and follow-up processes.
Professional growth
By the end of the placement, I could independently complete biopsychosocial assessments and service or treatment plans within supervision, follow a case over time, present cases, navigate SNAP and Medicaid processes, document services, and write case notes. I also built a stronger working network of community resources.
Building on this foundation
This foundation now supports my advanced-year placement at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s Sickle Cell Center. In the first week, I began connecting community-practice skills—assessment, cross-cultural communication, care coordination, and systems navigation—to pediatric chronic-illness care.
EVIDENCE FROM PRACTICE
What the work required.
- Presented complex cases to interdisciplinary legal and healthcare professionals, coordinating referrals, intervention plans, and follow-up services.
- Administered evidence-based Danger Assessments, developed individualized safety plans, and connected domestic violence survivors with PFA and legal resources.
- Provided supervised brief interventions using motivational interviewing and CBT/DBT-informed strategies to support emotional regulation, engagement, and client-directed goals.
- Supported 60+ immigrant families with PA COMPASS, Medicaid, SNAP, and community resource navigation to improve access to care and essential services.