Social Services Alumni Panel : Levett Career Center : Hanover College

Social Services Alumni Panel

November 19, 2013	Return to Alumni Panels page
	Sara Crafton '04 Counselor and Art Therapist Hanover College BA, Major: Psychology Master of Education in Counseling and Personnel Services with an emphasis in Art Therapy Greek affiliation: Phi Mu Sara was unsure of what she wanted to do after graduation so she asked her professor, Skip Dine-Young, to point her in the right direction. He recommended working in a Community Mental Health Center, which she did - and loved it. She worked in a day program for severely mentally ill adults and used art to help the clients. She was thrilled with the result and began pursuing requirements for a graduate degree in Art Therapy and Counseling. In her current work, she finds the everyday small victories of her clients rewarding.

	Ross Dorsey '10 Regional Coordinator Lifeline Youth and Family Services, Inc. BA, Major: Sociology Greek affiliation: Lambda Chi Alpha Ross supervises a team of therapists and case workers in 10 counties in Indiana. He has no typical days. Every day is completely different with new people and new clients. He enjoys the diverse workload and needs to be a jack-of-all-trades for which he believes Hanover College's liberal arts education prepared him. The liberal arts provide flexibility in thinking and the ability to consider and draw on many resources, which is needed in order to solve the myriad of problems his clients encounter. In order to find a job, he connected with Hanover alumni in the court system and they pointed him toward his organization. He likes to hire Hanover alumni because he knows their baseline education is quality.

	Paul Hartman MSSW, LCSW '87 Social Services Coordinator King's Daughters' Hospital BA, Major: Sociology, Minor: Psychology MSSW, Kent School of Social Work, U of L Licensed Clinical Social Worker '03 Greek affiliation: Sigma Chi Paul is a medical social worker and works on the heart, telemetry, and surgical floor of Madison's Kings' Daughter's Hospital. When patients or families are faced with a challenging health condition, or sudden death, he helps the families cope. Sometimes this means that a patient needs to transition to home or nursing care facility. This also means that he may be called any time of the day or night. Paul finds the work challenging, but rewarding. He often runs into families later and they stop and tell them how they are doing. Paul started out working at the Council on Aging for 2 years before a HC alum at the hospital hired him. Now, a Master's degree is required to work in his position.

	Anthony Ooley, MSW, LSW '11 Program Director Extra Special Parents of Indiana BA, Major: Sociology, Minor: Political Science Master of Social Work, University of Louisville Besides working full time, Anthony is working on his PhD online at Arizona State University. He is opening an office of a private business that the state of Indiana requested to provide services that are lacking in parts of the state. This organization provides home-based support to families with children who are struggling with a variety of mental health issues. Anthony's internship at IU for an organization that advocated for LGBT led him to social services work. He has counseled at an in-patient psych ward, advocated for those who experience injustice, and worked to improve child welfare, and worked with those experiencing addictions and substance abuse. He recommends getting involved with the community and doing internships to get your foot in the door and find what you like. He likes to hire Hanover College grads as well.

	Carly Pruitt '12 Program Director Girls, Inc. BA, Major: Health and Movement Studies/Ed. Program Certified Physical Education K-12 Greek affiliation: Phi Mu Carly is in charge of 70 girls per day. She oversees part-time and volunteer staff. She is involved with parents and is in charge of discipline. For this job she has to be flexible and she needed to practice that at Hanover College as well. She was President of her sorority which meant she never know what will happen and when. She recommends being a leader in general. She said to not let the [low] pay prevent you from entering this field. It is very rewarding work. She recommended going into smaller or growing organizations to start your career. And she mentioned they were hiring part-time workers and they need interns. An example of a rewarding experience for her was to see a 5 year old girl who started coming to Girls, Inc. become a confident, comfortable girl a year and a half later because she had a place to go to, rather than an empty house after school each day. Knowing the difference in this girl's life and outlook because of the work they had done was very rewarding for Carly.