Social Work Student Receives Leslie N. Wilson–Delores Auzenne Assistantship

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MSW Student Fabienne Alexandre

Fabienne Alexandre, a current MSW student (Clinical Track) at the College of Social Work, was thrilled when she learned that she received a 2020 Leslie N. Wilson-Delores Auzenne Assistantship for Minorities. The assistantship requires a nomination through a student’s department or college and is competitive for students university-wide. Recipients receive a stipend and tuition waiver while completing a research or teaching assistantship with an FSU faculty member.

Working with FSU College of Social Work faculty member Carol Campbell Edwards, Fabienne has been focusing this fall on a project for the Youth Law Center. The Youth Law Center is an organization advocating to transform foster care and juvenile justice systems nationwide to help children and youths thrive. This semester, Fabienne and Carol set about creating a manual for the Youth Law Center’s Quality Parenting Initiative (QPI), an approach to foster care that focuses on parenting excellence for children in the child welfare system.

“The manual will guide participants through the process of training, graduating and becoming a QPI Champion,” explained Fabienne. “QPI is an approach that strengthens the delivery of foster care services. It is a process designed to help child welfare sites align their systems with the goal of providing parent excellence.”

Working with and on behalf of children and adolescents has been a highlight of Fabienne’s experience while at the College of Social Work. Through her coursework, she has been able to volunteer directly with Grace Mission, Pineview Elementary School and the Palmer Monroe Teen Center. “Not only have I been able to work with children, but I have been able to counsel, tutor and come up with fun, interactive games and activities with them,” Fabienne reflected fondly.

Through her first MSW field placement at FSU, Fabienne worked at Georgia Pines, a mental health, addiction and developmental disabilities service provider in Thomasville, Georgia. This experience allowed her to work directly with clients, offering individual and group therapy. She also gained experience providing crisis intervention services and conducting behavioral health assessments. “My experience I got working at Georgia Pines is something that has been very beneficial to me,” she stated, “and I am also grateful for the opportunities the College of Social Work has provided me with.”

Fabienne will graduate in the summer of 2021 and is still exploring her career options. In her Statement of Goals for the assistantship, she also noted that a key influence for life and career paths has been her mother, who earned a master’s degree in mental health counseling and who is also pursuing a doctoral degree. Currently, Fabienne is interested in pursuing social work licensure after graduation with the hope of providing mental health counseling services to adolescents and adults.

Tuesday, November 17, 2020 - 09:11 AM
Last updated: Thu, 03/28/2024 - 04:16 PM