Faculty

Mona Berry joined the Office of Field Education as a Field Faculty and LEO Lecturer III in July, 2024. Previously, she served as the School Health/ Social Work Consultant at Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency), providing guidance, professional learning opportunities, training, information and resources to school social workers and educators across Wayne County. With over a decade of experience as a school social worker, Berry mentored colleagues and supervised MSW students, actively contributing to professional development.

William Birdsall joined the School of Social Work as an associate professor of social work in 1973 and was named associate professor emeritus in 2001.

Dr. Lindsay Bornheimer's research program focuses on understanding and preventing suicide death among adults experiencing serious mental illness, with a specific focus on schizophrenia spectrum disorders and bipolar disorder. Her work aims to examine suicide risk and protective factors, advance theories of suicide, develop and test behavioral interventions, and increase the utility and scalability of evidence-informed interventions in mental health care.

Zahraa K. Boussi, LMSW is a licensed clinical social worker and educator with extensive experience in school social work, mental health, and autism consultation. She currently serves as a LEO Lecturer I at the University of Michigan School of Social Work, where she teaches courses focused on school social work practice and interpersonal interventions with children, youth, and families. In addition to her academic role, Zahraa works as an ASD Consultant in public school settings, supporting educators and students through evidence-based, trauma-informed, and culturally responsive practices.

Zaynab Boussi joined the Office of Field Education in 2021, bringing nearly 20 years of experience supporting children, youth and families through clinical practice, community engagement and field instruction.

Stephanie Boys, PhD ’05, has over two decades of experience teaching social work policy at the BSW, MSW and PhD levels. With a dual JD/MSW from Indiana University, she integrates legal analysis into her teaching and practice, offering students a nuanced understanding of policy development and implementation. Her research bridges legal studies with social issues, focusing on reproductive rights, bioethics in the fertility industry and welfare policy.

Amy C. Burandt (she / hers) joined the Office of Field Education team on March 15, 2021. Prior to coming on-board at the School of Social Work, her career focused on crisis intervention and suicide prevention, counseling individuals healing from trauma and sexual violence, mental health counseling and creating plans for resiliency and self-care for those in the mental health field. She served as a field instructor for the University of Michigan MSW Program for 14 years. In that time, she also created and managed an internship training program for over a decade.

Brooke Buys, MSW '13, PhD, focuses on innovative mental health care development, complex family systems and gender-responsive addiction treatment. Buys is the founder and CEO of BLND Health, a mental health care company located in Michigan and Colorado. The BLND team is composed of clinical social workers and psychologists serving individuals, families, couples, groups and organizations. Buys has worked within the social work field with individuals, and community engagement organizations for nearly 15 years.