Jamelia Willock presents her research at the 2024 Society for Social Work and Research conference. Courtesy photo.
While Jamelia Willock was traveling all over the world as a flight attendant for JetBlue, she spent a lot of time thinking about what she wanted to do with the rest of her professional life.
It was 2020, the height of the pandemic.
Willock, M.S.W.’24, had already earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology from UMass Amherst. She’d worked for the Boston Public Health Commission through an AmeriCorps fellowship, helping youth build healthy relationships. And she’d counseled 13- to 18-year-olds living in a residential home, a role in which she got a close look at the critical role social workers play in supporting the health and well-being of some of the society’s most vulnerable people.
Now, Willock was pondering her next move. As she traveled above the clouds, from city to city, country to country, she reflected on what she wanted to do once she got back on the ground for good.
“It gave me the time and space to really think about ‘Do I want to do public health? Do I want to do psychology? Do I want to do social work?’ And it felt like all signs kept pointing back to social work from all the different ideas that I got and the people I saw in different spaces.”
In fall 2021, Willock enrolled in the master’s program at the Boston College School of Social Work. She says she chose BCSSW to be part of the School’s Black Leadership Initiative, a cohort-based program that prepares students to tackle complex social challenges in Black communities.
As part of the program, she took courses that centered the African diaspora, provided therapy to Black women at a mental health practice called Activated by Wellness, and co-authored a paper that examined the impact of racism on the health of Black immigrants.
The experience gave her a runway to explore her interest in the helping profession, she says, while preparing her to chart a detailed career path.
Willock is currently serving as a clinical social worker at the Dimock Community Health Center in Boston and planning to open her own private practice. After that, she wants to create large-scale support groups for flight attendants, many of whom experience elevated levels of stress because of the nature of their jobs. Then, she hopes to parlay those experiences into a grand effort to improve mental health care in the Caribbean, where she spent the first five years of her life.
We asked Willock to reflect on her time at BCSSW, with a particular focus on how her experience molded her career trajectory.
Jamelia Willock. Courtesy photo.
What role did the BLI play in your decision to choose BC?
The BLI tipped the scales for me to go to BC. I was like, ‘OK, this seems like a cool program,’ and I wanted to know more about it. Was it going to be a program through which I could target my learning a bit more? Or was it going to be more of a support system for Black students on campus? It ended up being like a little bit of both, filling in all the gaps for me.
How would you describe your experience in the BLI?
As a member of the part-time, three-year M.S.W. program, it was nice to have a space to connect with other students within the cohort model. Right off the bat, in my first semester, I didn’t have to worry too much about not knowing anyone on campus.
I think you get so much more out of the classroom experience with the cohort model—it kind of fast tracks the sense of comfort you have with the other people that you’re with. People in the program came from all walks of life—with different experiences, different stories, different ways in which they could contribute to class discussion. And with everyone being comfortable with each other, it was much easier to share life experience without fear of being vulnerable in a new setting.
You belonged to the Afrocentric Social Work field of practice, which required you to take Advanced Practice in Afrocentric Social Work and complete an internship with an organization that supports the Black community. How have the values of Afrocentric social work—namely community, collective action, and well-being in socio-cultural contexts—informed your approach as a social worker today?
I think that understanding the Afrocentric values of social work allowed me to reframe how I connect with my clients. As a baby social worker, while I was learning the ropes, I had a very rigid mindset of ‘OK, I cannot smile, I cannot cry with clients.’ Now I don’t have that fear. The program really humanized the experience for me, with a focus on healing as opposed to taking a more sterile approach.
What’s the most important thing you learned in the BLI?
The most important thing I learned was to value and understand the importance of family and community. I think Afrocentric social work really highlights the community aspect of healing and I try to honor that in my work with people with substance use disorders at the Dimock Center.
Oftentimes, when people are leaving substance use or leaving people they used to use with, it’s hard to cut the cord. These people supported you, even if it wasn’t in the healthiest way—they were there for a reason and filled a need. So I really work on helping people honor the idea of who those supportive people were and what they represented while also reminding them that staying around them might not be the best idea for their long term health and well-being.
What’s your ultimate career goal?
I definitely want to have my own private practice. Another thing that I’m interested in is creating support groups for flight attendants. A large percentage of flight attendants struggle with depression and substance use. The job can be very lonely at times—you’re away from your family, your usual surroundings, and after a long day, you check into your room and often go out for drinks. So I see how both depression and substance use tie in and I have skills to address both of things. Plus, of course, I’ve been a flight attendant.
Ultimately, I want to bring my mental health background back to the Caribbean, build clinics there, and really enhance mental health care in my home community. As part of one of my courses, Afrocentric Organizations, I created a business plan for my work in the Caribbean, complete with background research and a funding strategy.
What advice do you have for prospective students who are considering the BLI?
Consider what your intentions are and what you hope to get out of the program. I knew I wanted to find community and an understanding of how to apply social work in a different way than what I was used to seeing.
Once you develop your social work skills, think about what you want to do with your newfound knowledge and how your ambitions align with your values. For me, I’m always thinking about my values and how I can ensure that I uphold the codes of ethics for the National Association of Social Workers and National Associaton of Black Social Workers.
Also consider what you bring into the classroom and how your experiences might benefit other students. And think about what you hope to get from your peers. Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there so that you can get the most out of your experience.
