SP2 MSW alumni win all three Annual awards from Pennsylvania Society for Clinical Social Work

In a sweep for Penn’s School of Social Policy & Practice (SP2), alumni of the SP2 Master of Social Work (MSW) Program have won all three of the annual Awards for Clinical Excellence presented by the Pennsylvania Society for Clinical Social Work (PSCSW).

Recipients Sarah Pallivalapil-Karerat, MSW’23 (First Prize); Jennifer Bulcock, MSW’23 (Second Prize); and Jaclyn Spiegel, MSW’23 (Third Prize) won with papers that began as class assignments for SP2 Lecturer Sarah Trotta.

“It’s a wonderful accomplishment for students, Sarah, and SP2, with incredibly positive implications for students’ capacity for effective social work practice,” says MSW Program Faculty Director and Associate Professor Malitta Engstrom.

Says Merin Wexler, coordinator of the awards, “All three papers are superlative case studies of the work they did with clients during their education at SP2. . . . Each of the winners has told me that Sarah was an important part of their social work education at Penn and they deeply valued her as a teacher.”

The winners were recognized as follows at the Annual Meeting of PSCSW this fall:

First Prize: Sarah Pallivalapil-Karerat, MSW’23, for “Unexpected Twinship and the Power of Countertransference,” a sensitive examination of the psychotherapy they conducted with “Tim,” an adolescent experiencing loneliness and depression within the familial context of a triplet triad. As First Prize winner, Pallivalapil-Karerat has been awarded a $500 cash prize and a free one-year membership to the Pennsylvania Society for Clinical Social Work.

First Prize Winner Sarah Pallivalapil-Karerat, MSW’23

Second Prize: Jennifer Bulcock, MSW’23, for “Brief Treatment of Complex Trauma Using Object Relations Theory with an Incarcerated Adult,” the story of Bulcock’s work with an incarcerated man, “Guillermo,” around the time of his release. The paper demonstrates her sensitivity and skill in building an alliance across enormous differences. As Second Prize winner, Bulcock has been awarded a $300 cash prize and a free one-year membership to the Pennsylvania Society for Clinical Social Work.

Second Prize Winner Jennifer Bulcock, MSW’23

Third Prize: Jaclyn Spiegel, MSW’23, for “Confronting Suicidal Ideation as a New Clinician,” a paper that explores with great humility the challenges, clinical and personal, for the beginning social work student whose very first client discloses suicidality. As Third Prize winner, Spiegel has been awarded a $200 cash prize and a free one-year membership to the Pennsylvania Society for Clinical Social Work.

Third Prize Winner Jaclyn Spiegel, MSW’23

The PSCSW Awards for Clinical Excellence were established by the Pennsylvania Society for Clinical Social Work to acknowledge the outstanding clinical work of students. The program is open to all graduating Master of Social Work students in Pennsylvania, who can be considered for the awards by submitting a paper for review by distinguished judges.