A Flexible Path to Change Community

Master of Social Work (MSW) student Melissa Pola enjoys the flexibility the School of Social Work’s online program provides. It allows her to balance her responsibilities to both her family and her full-time job as an Addiction Counselor.

“I work full time,” she said, “I have a family and I have a younger child. The online MSW program gives me the ability and flexibility to schedule and function within my other responsibilities.”

While in recovery at the Her Place drug rehabilitation program in Salem, Oregon in 2011, Pola enrolled in the Human Services Program at Chemeketa Community College. She completed her Associate’s degree there in 2015 and became a Certified Addictions Counselor while in Corban University’s online bachelor program. 

She’s worked for seven years now in the addiction field, starting as a Medication Assisted Treatment Counselor. Her past three years were dedicated to helping other women in Salem at Her Place, specifically pregnant and parenting women with substance abuse.

Pola felt she would have more access to make sustainable change in her community with an MSW, leading to her enrollment in the School of Social Work’s online program. Although her specific focus is Clinical Social Work, Pola finds it difficult to pick just one. “There’s so many wonderful electives,” she said. “Anytime I have issues with figuring out what course to take I reach out to my academic advisor Lisa Hawash.” 

Pola’s faculty have shown her the importance of self-care in the program, and how to incorporate it into her busy life to reduce the risk of burnout. “It seems like at every corner, in every turn, they are preparing us for the next segue-way. They have our best interests at heart and guide us,” Pola said about the MSW faculty. “They come alongside us through the whole process. I feel very supported and very heard. I feel like my MSW experience is being tailored to my interests and my needs.”

Pola plans to graduate in 2023.