Alumni News

SHERRAINE FRANCIS, GSS '15, CREATES ONLINE SOCIAL SPACE FOR SOCIAL WORKERS

Social workers helping social workers — it doesn’t get much better than that.

The social work profession will test you. It will present challenges that can leave you feeling helpless. All you wanted to do when you got your MSW was help!

At Fordham GSS, we teach our students how to be catalysts for change — how to go out into the world and advocate for their communities and those who struggle to do it for themselves. 

But social workers need advocates, too. They need support. 

Forming a Social Worker Community

Community is an important word in this field of work. Social workers are in the business of establishing relationships, but sometimes neglect their own — to the detriment of their professional effectiveness, but more importantly, their mental health. 

The bonds you make with your colleagues in your social work program, as well as those you make after graduation throughout your career, have the power to lift you up when things get difficult. This is crucial, because on the other side of those valleys are the mountaintops: a client has a breakthrough, a policy gets passed, the child once in foster care aces their LSAT.

But something that Sherraine Francis, GSS ‘15, noticed after graduating from GSS, was that there seemed to be a shortage of opportunities for social workers to connect off the clock. Francis wasn’t seeing this disparity in some other professions: people boasted about working in tech, or constantly held networking events for their colleagues in the business space.

She wanted to change that. So, she started the Instagram account @melanatedsocialworkers, in hopes that a community would form. And form it did. The page now has over 8,000 followers staying up-to-date with all of Francis’s interview tips, exam advice, and more. She’s even held a few in-person events for her followers, and all social workers, to connect face-to-face.

We sat down with Francis to talk about her page, as well as her experience at Fordham and as a social worker.

Can you tell us a little bit about your journey into social work, and when you decided you wanted to be a social worker? 

I started out at York College for undergrad, and I was a pre dental major. I took an intro to social work class and with a professor named Dr. Rogers. She was really inspiring and told us, this is a rewarding field, and after I took that class with her and met so many others that were also interested in the same social issues and injustices, that made me change my major to social work.

After looking into my career options, I realized I needed an MSW degree to really do what I wanted to do. So I ended up applying for my master’s right after my undergrad. The good thing when you have your bachelor’s in social work, you can go ahead and do the advanced standing program for one year. So I was like, Okay, that’s the goal for me.

I have a lot of good things to say about a bunch of different social work programs I looked at while applying. But when I looked at Fordham, I saw that it had options for Saturday classes. At the time, I was living in Queens, and was working full time — and I needed it to work. Fordham was the most flexible program for working students.

What skills did the MSW program teach you that you use in your career now?

I recommend social work to everyone because of the possibilities that you have with your degree. I know so many people like Jason [Acosta, GSS ‘16] — he’s in the consultant/macro social work world. You also have those who can pursue private practice. I feel like the entire program at Fordham provides you with that well-rounded education to transfer anywhere.

I studied under the clinical track at Fordham. So, I knew that I wanted to do something in that realm. But I’ve also had opportunities to be in administrative roles, and things that I learned from Fordham and my policy classes, were able to transfer in these different roles. It’s such a well-rounded degree.  

Why did you create @melanatedsocialworkers?

I had just left the most toxic work environment ever. This is around 2018.

It felt like, when you’re in college, and you’re being hazed or something. The company kept telling us, we hired a group of melanated folks; we need you guys to present a certain way, and look a certain way, and be mindful of your surroundings.

It was a constant reminder. I was pretty new in my career, too. 

Then on social media, I would see different pages for certain careers: Nursing, Medicine, Tech and Attorneys. I wanted to create something like that for social workers.

When someone visits your page, what’s the biggest takeaway you want them to leave with?

That there’s a whole community of us social workers who are proud of what we do. And there are resources on the page. I have different job postings, information about different mental health diagnoses, tips for the licensing exam and also information about the pioneers of social work. 

I even have created different events and paid for them out of my own pocket. I would rent spaces and create game nights, brunches, and sip-and-paints where other social workers could network. The first brunch I planned, I teamed up with other social workers in the field and came up with the name “Build and Brunch” where social workers were able to come together, build connections, and network with other social workers while having brunch. 

So, there is a community of us that love what we do. Also, just stick in there. Don’t let anyone discourage you from the work that you’re doing.

What is the most common question you get from new social workers about the profession?

How to get into a specific field of social work. A lot of social workers want to get their clinical hours, and want to know the fastest way to go about doing that.

Aside from the flexibility you mentioned before, was there any other reason why you chose Fordham for your MSW experience?

I remember when I was researching the school, I saw that they emphasized that a lot of the professors are also in the field. I thought that it would be a great experience to be able to make those connections with professors — not just learning from them, but maybe eventually working with them. They can give you certain advice because they know what it’s like — because they are actually in the field.

A lot of people would ask me, how was my experience at Fordham? And I tell them that it was the most amazing experience ever. I remember navigating the financial aid process and getting registered for my classes being no hassle. I just showed up, went to my classes, and that was it.

And that’s great, because you can put all of your energy into your work, which is the important part.

What’s the happiest moment of your social work career?

I have two. First, I recently passed my LCSW exam in May. I worked a fee-for-service therapy job since graduating to help me obtain my 2,000 client contact hours, and it was a relief when I was finally finished with my client and supervision hours and was able to sit for my exam.

And the second happiest moment was when I had that Build and Brunch networking event.

Community is really important to me. And hundreds of social workers came together from Connecticut, New Jersey, Long Island, and Brooklyn. I love to see a group of professionals in one space, having a good time, networking and bonding over that one common thing: social work.

Finish this sentence: I am a social worker because…

It’s never boring and I love helping others.