resilience

How resilience, caring, and lived experience created a social worker

Mary Cunningham — Thu, 08 May 2025 20:05:41 +0000

How resilience, caring, and lived experience created a social worker Mary Cunningham Thu, 05/08/2025 - 16:05

Before she ever considered social work as a profession, Rocío Rodríguez Morales was already an advocate for her family, starting at a young age.

Growing up in Southern California as the oldest of five in a Mexican American home, Rodríguez acted as her family’s unofficial translator and guide—managing doctor’s appointments, school meetings, and social services. “I was doing things most children don’t have to do,” she said.

Rocio Rodríguez, MSW '25. Photo by Madalyn Julianna

In high school, Rodríguez’s parents encouraged her to seek out support through the federally funded TRIO program, a college access initiative run through local universities that helps students from disadvantaged backgrounds. “They said, 'I don’t know how to teach you about financial aid, so go ask the lady you see every Saturday.'"

The program opened doors for her to tour college campuses, spend summers in dorms, and get help with tutoring and admissions.

Rodríguez became the first in her family to attend college, earning a bachelor's degree in criminal justice, then a master's in education from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

Her background led her to roles assisting military families and helping students navigate college and financial aid. But in 2020, when she took a job as a case manager for Exodus Recovery—a California nonprofit serving veterans, Medicaid patients, and people facing housing instability—her path came into focus. “I called my parents and said, ‘I found a job doing what I’ve always done: helping people,’” she said.

The team surrounding her, meanwhile, was packed with social workers. "All of them kept telling me, 'You should become a social worker, too. Just do it.'"

“That was my community”

When life as a Marine Corps spouse uprooted her young family cross country to Virginia, Rodríguez enrolled in the online Master of Social Work (MSW) program at �鶹��Ƶ. By that point, it was clear that the formal degree wasn’t just an option—it was a necessity. “Doors for jobs kept closing because I didn’t have my MSW,” she said. “And I needed a career I could carry with me, wherever life took us.”

She began her degree during one of the most tumultuous periods of her life in 2022. Isolated from loved ones out West and newly pregnant with her third child, she was helping her husband recover from an injury that led to his medical retirement while also coping with her mother’s immigration challenges. “It was a very vulnerable time,” she said.

Rodríguez reached out to George �鶹��Ƶ faculty for support—not knowing exactly what she needed, just knowing she couldn’t do it alone. “I finally sent that email saying, ‘I need help,’” she says—and in return she found empathy, flexibility, and guidance toward resources.

The �鶹��Ƶ Community-Academic Partnerships in Behavioral Health (CAP-BH) Program in the Department of Social Work’s became her anchor, providing a $10,000 stipend, training in trauma-informed care and telehealth, and virtual reality-based therapy simulations. She found herself part of a close-knit cohort of about 30 peers.

“That was my community,” Rodríguez said.

Behind the scenes, her husband was a steady source of support. “There were days I’d rush from dropping off the kids straight into a Zoom class, and my husband would be sliding a coffee or plate of food next to me," she said.

Making it official

As Rodríguez worked toward her degree, her career in Virginia expanded. She first led the education arm of a foster care company for unaccompanied children at Adore Children and Family Services, then started conducting foster parent home studies. Since August 2023, she has served as program director for Lutheran Social Services of the National Capital Area’s (LSSNCA) specialized foster care program, helping place unaccompanied refugee minors in safe and supportive homes.

She’s seen the impact firsthand, like with the young man in her program who’s now pursuing a college degree, supporting his recently resettled family, and taking on a “big brother role” to the new kids at LSSNCA. “He shares what worked for him with others,” she said. “That’s exactly what we want.”

Rodríguez will officially become a social worker on May 15, the day she graduates from George �鶹��Ƶ. The same week, she will take the podium as the College of Public Health’s student degree celebration speaker.

From there, she’ll begin logging 3,000 clinical hours, part of her long-term goal to one day open her own practice. “There’s so much stigma around mental health, especially in the communities I care about,” she said. “I want to build a practice that feels safe for military families and Spanish-speaking families."

Rodríguez is even nudging her husband to consider joining her in the field. “I keep telling him, ‘You’ve been my partner through all of this—you’d make a great social worker, too,’” she said.

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Topics

master of social work

Tech inefficiencies, piles of (electronic) paperwork, and increased patient volume contribute to burnout of primary care physicians, study finds

Mary Cunningham — Tue, 30 Jan 2024 18:11:13 +0000

Tech inefficiencies, piles of (electronic) paperwork, and increased patient volume contribute to burnout of primary care physicians, study finds Mary Cunningham Tue, 01/30/2024 - 13:11

In This Story

Debora Goetz Goldberg, PhD, MHA, MBA

Burnout is an occupational phenomenon that results from chronic workplace stress, according to the World Health Organization.

Burnout often includes emotional exhaustion, negative feelings or mental distance from one’s job, and a low sense of accomplishment at work. COVID-19 increased feelings of burnout in primary care physicians, and a new study, sought to understand primary care clinicians’ perspectives on burnout during the COVID-19 pandemic, the causes of burnout, and strategies to improve clinician well-being.

Debora Goldberg

Inefficiencies of electronic health records systems and high levels of documentation contribute to burnout, according to clinicians participating in a recent study led by Debora Goldberg, associate professor in �鶹��Ƶ’s College of Public Health. Other contributors to burnout included high patient volume, staffing shortages, and expectations for responding to patient emails and telephone calls. Most participants also described the need to work after clinic hours to complete documentation.

“The results of this study provide an in-depth view of participating clinicians’ experiences and perceptions of burnout and other mental health challenges. These viewpoints can improve awareness of the issues and strategies to improve the health and well-being of our clinician workforce,” said Goldberg, the principal investigator.

Most of the suggested strategies to improve clinician well-being were changes at the organizational level and included increasing efforts to improve work-life balance, enhancing the use of team-based care models, optimizing electronic health record functions, providing accessible mental health services, granting additional administrative time to complete documentation, and increasing institutional awareness and recognition of the issues surrounding burnout.

Additionally, clinicians reported experiencing traumatic events during the pandemic and in some cases reported both burnout and depression. The study findings align with previous research that reported primary care physicians indicated dramatic increases in their workload since the beginning of the pandemic and an escalation in staffing issues, both contributing to an increase in burnout and stress among clinicians.

This research was funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration, Health and Public Safety Workforce Resiliency Training Program (1 U3NHP45404-01-00), and �鶹��Ƶ College of Public Health Intramural Pilot Study Funding.

“Anxiety, COVID, Burnout and Now Depression”: a Qualitative Study of Primary Care Clinicians’ Perceptions of Burnout” was published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine in November 2023. Tulay Soylu from Temple University; Carolyn Faith Hoffman, a �鶹��Ƶ doctoral student; and Rachel E. Kishton and Peter F. Cronholm from the University of Pennsylvania are co-authors.

Topics

coronavirus; covid-19

Research

�鶹��Ƶ Momentum

Resilience at �鶹��Ƶ in 2020: Take Care of Yourself

Nikita Thadani — Tue, 25 Jan 2022 22:35:25 +0000

Resilience at �鶹��Ƶ in 2020: Take Care of Yourself Nikita Thadani Tue, 01/25/2022 - 17:35

by Lewis Forrest II, Associate Dean within University Life

In 2017, I wrote a blog for Graduate Student Life on Resilience at �鶹��Ƶ. It seems so long ago, and the world was a very different place. This year has been a rollercoaster, and we all have everyday challenges that come with being graduate students. 2020 on the other hand, has brought us all stressors that we could not have imagined.

While life brings many challenges, I’d like to specifically acknowledge the COVID-19 pandemic and the struggle for racial justice via the Black Lives Matter Movement. While COVID-19, has changed the way we operate on a day-to-day basis, it has also challenged our resilience. This pandemic has forced all of us to shift to new home and work environments, has created distance in our personal relationships, and limited many of the activities we enjoy.

The energy our country is experiencing around the social justice movements has tested our emotions, challenged our beliefs, and called many of us to stand up in the face of adversity. During all of this we still have maintained the call to be students. In many ways you are already resilient, and I give you a lot of credit for enduring through virtual classes, and all the ways that the educational environment has shifted.

What also remains from what I wrote in 2017 is the need for us to continually attend to our personal well-being. One of the keys to remaining resilient is knowing when to ask for help and when to take time to – as one of my colleagues reminds me – “Take care of you.” You might be thinking this is a somewhat selfish approach, but in the end, if you cannot take care of yourself, you are less likely to be at your best to attend to your studies and take care of others.

At �鶹��Ƶ, the definition of resilience is: Enhancing the capacity for successful adaptation in the face of stress, challenge, and adversity. Here are a few questions I posed in 2017 that are related to your personal resilience. I think these questions are still relevant to ask today:

1. How are you holding up?

Has anyone asked you this question?

Researchers say having a solid social group and even a mentor has huge gains for your well-being. Steven M. Southwick and Dennis S. Charney’s book Resilience: The Science of Mastering Life’s Greatest Challenges, discusses role models: Your ability to be resilient increases when you have good role models because you can learn by example. Your role model might be someone you know and have an existing relationship with, or your role model might be someone you don’t know but who serves as inspiration.

2. Are you able to attend to your well-being and stay focused during this important time?

What practices do you have in your life to help you maintain your mental health? What do you do to consistently to bring balance to your life?

It may be beneficial for you to find practices (walking, listening to music, journaling, etc.) that make sense for your interests and lifestyle.

3. Are you more resilient than you realize?

Have you thought about this question, and given yourself some grace?

Dr. Kristen Neff’s website has a wealth of resources to help us recognize and embrace self-compassion as a skill to develop in our daily lives.

To help us all continue to be more resilient people, �鶹��Ƶ has developed a fully online, asynchronous learning opportunity called the Resilience Badge that will allow you to further develop your resilience through content knowledge and practices. This experience is backed by the science of resilience and is designed to deepen your own knowledge and become more flexible, more adaptable, and more creative. This will help you when it comes to solving problems, making decisions, and building the life you want. While some of the content may speak to an undergraduate population, much of the experience will be rich for anyone.

As you complete each of the six modules you will:

Discover what resilience is.

Engage resilience through a growth mindset.

Deepen your understanding of optimism to benefit resilience.

Explore fear in the context of resilience.

Find ways to respond to stress from a place of resilience.

To learn more about the value of earning the Resilience Badge click on this link. If you decide you want to learn more, you can access the Resilience Badge via Blackboard. You can enroll by sending your name, G#, and �鶹��Ƶ email address to ResBadge@gmu.edu, or enroll by logging into Blackboard. Click on Life@�鶹��Ƶ (top right of your screen). Select Sign Up Now and then select Submit.

I encourage you to “Take care of you.” It is never too late to attend to your personal well-being and focus on refining your resilience.

Be safe, stay connected, and take advantage of the many resources �鶹��Ƶ has available to you as a student.

Resources

Center for the Advancement of Well-Being
- Twitter: @CWB_�鶹��Ƶ
�鶹��Ƶ Recreation
CAPS
Student Support and Advocacy Center
Gallup CliftonStrengths Assessment (free to all �鶹��Ƶ Students)
- Twitter: @�鶹��ƵStrengths

Lewis Forrest can be contacted by email and on Twitter (@LewMr).

This blog post has been edited to reflect updated information and web addresses.

Edited by Nikita Thadani, 1/25/2022.

Topics

�鶹��Ƶ Grad Insider

wellbeing

resilience

resilience

How resilience, caring, and lived experience created a social worker

“That was my community”

Making it official

Connect with the Alumni Association

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