Marisa Sallen, Winner of the Judith Holm Memorial Student Award

Marisa Sallen, a CUSSW 2003 graduate, has won the Judith Holm Memorial Student Award for Excellence in Preparation for Clinical Social Work Practice sponsored by the American Board of Examiners in clinical social work. Her paper "Cognitive Behavioral Approach to Play Therapy in Hospital Setting" was originally written for CUSSW's Professor Richard Hibbert's Advanced Clinical Practice class. It received the single best score nation-wide.

Marisa, who received $1,000 along with the award, was one of five winners from a pool of over 70 entrants from across the country. Winners were chosen from among graduating second-year students who submitted papers detailing clinical interventions that were utilized in their second-year field practicum placements. Sallen's paper, along with those written by the four other winners, will be submitted for publication in Smith College Studies in Social Work. Sallen, who is currently studying for her licensing exam, says she was intrigued by play therapy because it "allows the practitioner to get down to the child's level, meeting the client where he or she is at, rather than forcing a child to communicate on an adult level."