Taiga Guterres, MATM/MSW ’22
Assistant director of the Institute for Advanced Jesuit Studies
Clinical Social Work Placement: Massachusetts General Hospital in Chelsea
The intersection of social work and theology is one that continues to inform my own position as a researcher, practitioner, and advocate. My social work training guides me towards an approach to listen for and encounter the mind, body, and spirit of another. It helps to place me in the messiness of understanding evidence-based practices, mechanisms of change, and bio-psycho-social factors to understanding the context of the suffering other. However, my theological training grounds my disposition to search for more than just a skillset. The Jesuit educational psychologist Jaime Castiello argued that an exclusive concern with the acquisition of skills does not always translate towards an acquisition of ideals and virtues through which to approach psychological inquiry and the human condition. There is more needed in order to truly tend to the cura personalis. In his 1975 address to leading officials at Jesuit universities, the Superior General of the Society of Jesus at the time, Fr. Pedro Arrupe, suggested that those receiving a Jesuit education needed to be in “continual contact with the world of science without losing touch with the world of the spirit.” He continues by saying that “the approach to solving [the problems of our time] must be an interdisciplinary one if a truly balanced solution is to be found.” The intersection of social work and theology is one that continues to inform the imago dei that I find in my prayer and in my encounters with others. It is one that helps me to not only seek justice, but informs my understanding and position of a faith that does justice in order to better read the signs of the times.
Claire Erlenborn, MA/MSW ‘22
Clinical Social Work Internship Placement: Northeastern University
In my first year of the MA/MSW dual-degree I remember saying often: “the theology side sustains me while the social work side builds my therapy skills.” There was a balance, studying liberation theology and preferential options for the poor informed how I thought about working with individual clients and writing policy in my social work classes. In year two, the degrees seemed to flip in their roles. Social work, with its rules and evidence-based practice gave me stability to fall back on when my theology courses caused me to ask bigger questions of myself and pushed me to grow into a more mature faith. In my third and final year of graduate school, I have done my best to not think of one degree informing the other, but rather focused on integrating both into my ministry and my practice. In my Reconciliation in a World of Conflict class I am both a social worker and a theologian. When we talk about the most complicated situations of the day, people suffering in the face of violence, a solely psychological or spiritual approach does not feel comprehensive enough. My social work training helps me think about the trauma-informed practices that can best care for people and the theologian within me allows me to sit in the messiness and the unknown. All the while I am reminded that the Spirit is on this journey with me, helping me to sit through heavy conversations supporting both the psychological and spiritual needs of my students.