Dispatches from the Field聽is a recurring feature聽designed to showcase the school鈥檚 commitment to fostering, through聽field education, fruitful relationships with organizations both in Boston and around the world that are providing critical services to those living at the margins of society.
Mookie Manalili at Marie's Place
Student
Michael Mookie C. Manalili
Agency Partnership
Commonwealth Care Alliance, Marie鈥檚 Place
Primary Responsibilities
Marie鈥檚 Place is a crisis stabilization unit for patients enrolled in Commonwealth Care Alliance鈥檚 (CCA) , a program for individuals who are eligible for both MassHealth and Medicare. The 12-bed unit serves patients with complex diagnoses, such as mental health illness, in addition to substance abuse or physical disabilities.
In his field placement, Manalili facilitates mindfulness and seeking safety group sessions, conducts individual counseling sessions, and assists on rounds with the interdisciplinary care team. He often shadows a clinician or fills in as needed to cover morning check-in or a reflection group. 鈥淲e try to keep it fairly structured,鈥� explains Manalili. 鈥淚n a time of crisis, it鈥檚 nice to feel like the world has some structure to it.鈥�
Leigh Hardy and Mookie Manalili
On Supervision
Manalili鈥檚 supervisor at Marie鈥檚 Place is Leigh Hardy, a behavioral health specialist. Manalili finds that Hardy鈥檚 solution-based approach is a good balance to his focus on mindfulness. 鈥淪he鈥檚 very encouraging, always checks in with what I hope to learn, and is very supportive,鈥� he says. 鈥淪he goes out of her way to ask what I want to learn and has allowed me to observe aspects of CCA, which is extremely helpful as I try to figure out what I鈥檓 drawn to.鈥�
Key Takeaways
Manalili came to BCSSW with an undergraduate degree in civil engineering from Loyola Marymount University, a聽master鈥檚 degree in theology through Notre Dame's Echo program, and a background in teaching and campus ministry retreat work, all of which he draws upon at Marie鈥檚 Place. 鈥淐ombining those aspects, I realized I have a propensity for group work. The high school teacher in me comes out鈥攁 calmness and ability to bring out the best in people,鈥� says Manalili. The experience has challenged his skillset and shifted his perception of success away from tangible measures such as attendance and feedback. 鈥淚 realized it was about creating a space for them to communicate with the concepts, not about my ability to facilitate,鈥� he explains. 鈥淭hey know their stories; they鈥檙e resilient. Remembering their humanity has made me a better group facilitator.鈥�
Manalili is particularly grateful to the entire team鈥攖he nurse managers, nurse practitioners, mental health workers, social workers, and doctors鈥攆or thoroughly integrating him into their multifaceted program. 鈥淚t's made me feel part of the team, and helped to develop my medical language and find my voice as a clinician,鈥� he says.
Manalili is also quick to voice gratitude and appreciation for the patients. 鈥淪ome of their insights are very wise, and I know that wisdom is bought with a lot of life鈥檚 struggles,鈥� he says. 鈥淚 hope to share a little bit of light with them because they have shared that with me, too, even if they don鈥檛 know it.鈥�
Overall, Manalili describes his placement as both fruitful and compelling. 鈥淲hen you鈥檙e in a room with people who are seeking care, you begin to realize the strengths that they bring to treatment and the strengths that you bring as an aspiring clinician. It makes you very aware of the things that you can improve on, and I take that hunger back with me to the classroom, into my research projects鈥攊t all feeds into each other.鈥� 聽
Career Aspirations
After Manalili鈥檚 early teaching experience and a personal challenge with mental health during a low point in his life, he found himself questioning his career path and stumbled upon Man鈥檚 Search for Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl. He was inspired by Frankl鈥檚 existential therapy model, and after noticing that his friends were asking similar questions about life鈥檚 meaning, he decided to explore social work. 鈥淓merging adults are the population I鈥檇 like to work with,鈥� he explains.
In addition to his field placement, Manalili is working as a research assistant to psychologists Dr. David Goodman (Woods College of Advancing Studies) and Dr. Liane Young (Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences). With Goodman, Manalili is seeking to reintroduce philosophical concepts into questions of psychology. 鈥淭here鈥檚 a temptation to reduce the person to a mere psychological machinery in our quest for objectivity,鈥� he explains. 鈥淲e鈥檙e advancing research projects that propose taking into consideration the whole person in the processes of trying to find treatments and cures.鈥� In Dr. Young鈥檚 Morality Lab, Manalili uses neuroscientific techniques with doctoral candidate Minjae Kim to study social questions such as theory of mind, impression聽updating,聽and聽social learning.
Inspired by his research assistant experiences, Manalili hopes to take a class with BCSSW Associate Professor Jessica Black and aims to combine his newfound interest in neuroscience with his drive for examining those larger existential issues faced by young adults. 鈥淚 want to explore questions of apathy, depression, anxiety, and meaning,鈥� he says. After graduation, he plans to pursue a doctorate in neuroscience and work part time as a clinical social worker in either a hospital or university. 鈥淚鈥檓 just never going to sleep,鈥澛燤analili says with a smile, 鈥渂ut I hope to be a clinician, researcher, and a professor at a university.鈥�
Photography by Caitlin Cunningham.