MSW student Seaira Wainaina’s field education is in the Advocacy, Intervention & Mitigation (AIM) Division of the Washtenaw County Office of Public Defender. The office provides mandated legal defense representation for those facing criminal, civil contempt and juvenile charges.
The office provides mandated legal defense representation for those facing criminal, civil contempt and juvenile charges. The AIM division provides social work services to support clients and complement the work of the office’s defense attorneys. Wainaina is the senior intern in the division.
Each morning, Wainaina begins by reviewing the files in her caseload. If it’s a resource navigation case, she’ll identify any immediate needs and find appropriate resources — perhaps rental assistance and funding support. If she’s preparing an assessment, she starts by reviewing the file, and the police and case reports, and checking for inconsistencies to ensure she has all the information she needs. Writing her first assessment, she says, was one of the most memorable and momentous experiences of her MSW studies.
What’s an assessment? “It is a narrative piece that we write for judges and prosecutors that informs them about the client: background, social history, any type of mental health history, any type of substance abuse history,” says Wainaina. “Assessments are a way for us, as social workers and social workers-in-training, to humanize our clients and give them the voice that they might not be able to have, or might not be able to articulate. We act as the bridge between all these larger powers and the folks who might feel like they don’t have much power in the system. We try to get our clients on a more level playing field because they are humans, too, and regardless of whether or not they committed a crime, they still deserve that same humanity.”
Wainaina’s supervisor is Brittney Williams, MSW ‘17. “Each Wednesday, as part of our supervision, we have what we call ‘Black girl magic time,’” said Wainaina. “Being able to connect with Brittney — as a Black woman, as a social worker and as someone feeling those same pressures of being in that space — and being able to talk and relate and be our full selves is always just the best.
“Field has made this program for me,” says Wainaina. “It’s allowed me to apply concepts and theories that I’m learning in my MSW courses. In a practical sense, field has allowed me to go out into the community and enact real change.”
Wainaina has always looked for ways to help. When she was younger, she wanted to be a doctor or a surgeon. She entered U-M as a Pre-Health student. “When I had an internship on the MICU floor (Medical Intensive Care Unit), I realized that this was not something I was going to be able to sustain within myself. We saw a lot of death, we saw a lot of suffering. Suffering is a reality of everyday life — especially in Black communities — so that’s a reality that I’m used to, but it’s different when your purpose in that space is to help, and you aren’t able to do that.”
As she began to doubt her career and academic path, she turned to her friends in the U-M community for support. Lawrielle West, MSW ‘18, is passionate about community organizing and social justice. She took Wainaina under her wing and along to community events and meetings. “Something inside me clicked,” said Wainaina. “I wanted to get involved.” Wainaina double majored in Women’s Studies and Afroamerican & African Studies with a Community Action and Social Change (CASC) minor. “CASC was my first introduction to social work and, after getting involved with community organizing, I realized that this type of advocacy work is where my heart lies.
“I know that there is no one out there who can make the change that I want to make other than me,” she says. “I also live by the philosophy that if there’s no space for you, make some. There are too many spaces in this world where there isn’t enough space for me. To make the changes that I want in the world, I’m getting an MSW. If it looks like I need an MPP or a JD, then I’ll go get them.”
This summer, Wainaina will intern at the Justice Policy Institute in Washington, DC. The institute’s mission is to use research and data analysis to end mass incarceration and reduce reliance on the criminal and juvenile justice systems. “Justice policy is truly a place where law, social work and policy intersect, so I’m very excited.”
Wainaina is aware of and advocates for the way social workers are changing the field of justice policy. “Social work can be so many different things. Social workers are not just therapists, and not just caseworkers and case managers, but can be integrated into everything. Social work gives us the framework to inform how we move and navigate within systems and power.”