More than 400,000 Connecticut residents speak Spanish. How can the state’s social workers better communicate with them? Enter the UConn School of Social Work’s program f And yes, the exclamation points are part of the official title. (The word means “forward” in English.)
The two-year program offers bilingual courses for MSW (Master of Social Work) students – one per semester, across three semesters – specializing in the language and terminology of social work and mental health, along with a required elective.
“We have a diverse group of enrolled students from different ethnic backgrounds. You don’t have to identify as Latine to be in the program,” explains Milagros Marrero-Johnson, Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives and Community Engagement, who oversees the program. “Understanding the richness and diversity of the Latine community is vital to our work as social workers. We must continue to recognize the uniqueness of this community, including the various dialects of the Spanish language.”
Students must also complete a minimum 480 hours in the field, in local schools or state agencies, using the language abilities they’ve acquired to serve the mental health needs of children and adolescents.
“In my practicum, I used the skills I learned and the Spanish social work terminology to explain to a family what their child was diagnosed with and provide psychoeducation on it,” says Erik Criollo ‘25 (SSW). An Ecuadorian, he grew up speaking the language, but not the specific mental health terminology. “Without this class, I would have been stuck on how to explain PTSD and anxiety to the family in a way that made sense to them clinically, but also in plain language.”
The first cohort of six students received their degrees this May. An additional 19 current students will return next school year to complete their Connecticut ¡Adelante! program as part of their MSW degree.
“This program has really deepened my understanding of cultural humility,” echoes Iryiana Rivera ‘25 (SSW). Born in the U.S., she learned Spanish growing up from her Peruvian mother and Puerto Rican father, but it wasn’t her native language. “I consider myself open-minded, but I sometimes forget that individuals and families may handle situations in ways that differ from how my own family might approach them.”
Her long-term goal is to work in a clinical setting, providing services to children and families, particularly within the Latine community, while also pursuing advocacy and policy work.
Students in the program are offered scholarships worth up to $10,000, funded through the state’s three-year, $35 million CT Health Horizons initiative to tackle social work shortages, whether linguistic or otherwise. The UConn School of Social Work is one of the leading MSW programs helping close the language gap to meet this urgent workforce demand.
