Judy Brown: Helping Social Workers 'Unleash Joy'

The St. Thomas School of Social Work hosted an in-person alumni gathering on Thursday, Nov. 9. The event served as an opportunity for Bachelor of Social Work (BSW), Master of Social Work (MSW), and Doctor of Social Work (DSW) alumni to network with faculty, staff, current students and the broader St. Thomas community. This special event featured Judy Brown, an alumna of the master’s social work program and manager of mental health support services for Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS).

Brown, who earned recognition as School Social Worker of the Year by the Minnesota School Social Workers Association in 2022, delivered a presentation titled, “Healing the Center: Unleashing the Joy Within You.” The topic draws on the “healing centered engagement” model developed by Shawn Ginwright, which shifts attention away from trauma-informed engagement to focus more on healing after trauma.

“People are not their trauma,” said Brown. “This framework is about celebrating the self to help improve lives. When we all have purpose, we do better work.”

At the event, the School of Social Work also announced Judy Brown as the first recipient of its Distinguished Alumni Award.

Brown emphasizes to social work alumni and students the vibrancy in the field of social work. After all, social work is a profession that allows practitioners to work in virtually any field. However, she also acknowledges that social workers can feel isolated in their work. Her presentation aims to help social workers celebrate the elements of their work that ignite their passion to help these professionals bring more joy to their work with clients.

Brown has had a tremendous impact on the mental health services available to students and families in the MPS system. She manages a team of mental health support specialists who respond to crises, provide trainings, and help parents better support their children’s mental health.

Especially in the darkness of the COVID-19 pandemic, Brown and her team brought light to students who needed resources to deal with mental health challenges. She created a new curriculum to address grief and loss and helped MPS recognize the many sources of grief that go beyond the loss of a loved one. From the pandemic to issues of immigration and deportation to domestic and community violence, Brown understood that a wide range of events could trigger grief responses in students, and she worked across the district to build support structures for these students.

Brown has leaned on her experiences at St. Thomas in the development of mental health programming within MPS. As the first social work intern in St. Thomas’ Interprofessional Center for Counseling and Legal Services (IPC), she saw the importance of interprofessional collaboration in support of clients. She also recalls courses on group therapy, school social work, and policy being among the most impactful for her. Even now she is tapping into lessons from her policy lessons to inform advocacy work she is doing at the Minnesota state capitol to change laws related to reimbursement for school mental health services.

“We’re really using community engagement and civic action to change the way lawmakers see mental health,” said Brown.