A Capitol Time

By Stephanie Dawson Pack, MEd, PR/Marketing Assistant, University of Utah College of Social Work

On the autumn day Jessie and I spoke, her to-do list looked something like this:

• Write text and hashtags for possible maternal health tweets
• 11:00 meeting – finalize details for substance use roundtable
• Review summary draft of the upcoming Call to Action on Maternal Health
• 2:00 research and put together a background document on attendees, speakers, and organizations attending the roundtable for Dr. Adams to be briefed on

• 4:00 Talk with Stephanie (College of Social Work)
• Draft remarks for substance use and tobacco prevention speeches

Six months earlier, this wasn’t Jessie Welch-Stockton’s typical workflow—in her senior year at the University of Utah College of Social Work, her to-do list was usually full of tests and papers.  But for the months she was an intern with Dr. Jerome Adams in the national Office of the Surgeon General (OSG) in Washington, DC, this was the norm. 

Though it’s not common for interns or fellows in the OSG to come from a social work program, Jessie’s social work and substance use disorder education was instrumental in the work she did for the office.  Her understanding of mental health, substance misuse, and the opioid crisis were part of the reason she was selected for the internship, and expanded the breadth of her responsibilities.

“Social work gives such a great perspective of people’s actual needs.  It’s a perspective that gives you a base from which you are able to create deep, meaningful relationships with people,” she said.  Because of her background, Jessie was asked to do significant draft work not typical of interns.  “A lot of the presentations Dr. Adams does are meant for mental health workers, so I was asked to help shape those remarks.”  She continued, “One of the main things I asked on projects like this is, What would be helpful for me to hear?”

For Jessie, that often meant considering the racial disparities in both access to healthcare and healthcare outcomes.  “I’m a Native American woman and there’s so much that needs to be done on a community level to help our communities.”  Having seen, firsthand, the impact of mental and physical healthcare professionals in her own life, Jessie brought—and continues to bring—her commitment to her community to all of her projects.

This is also one of the reasons she enjoyed her internship with Dr. Adams so much.  Jessie emphasized that even when issues feel partisan, Dr. Adams always found a way to bring the discussion back to public health.  It’s something she saw multiple times in discussions of how COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting communities of color.  “He doesn’t hide that the disparity is there,” she said.  “He says it’s there and we need to understand why, as a matter of public health.”  This clear commitment to people over policy was so refreshing for Jessie.  “Dr. Adams speaks so highly of the American people and their health is so important to him.”  Though Dr. Adams was an appointed official, his work, and the work of the OSG, was strictly apolitical.  “The professionals who work in this office genuinely care about people’s health.”

Jessie’s internship has been invaluable in helping focus her future career plans.  “I always saw myself in a government job—I’ve always been interested in community health and advocacy—but being in this internship has encouraged and fostered that area of growth.  I hadn’t had a lot of experience with that before, so I just thought it would be interesting.”  She continued, “Being in this office and really seeing what they actually do has solidified my desire to work on a macro level.”

Ultimately, Jessie couldn’t say enough about encouraging other social work students to get involved with opportunities like this.  “The social work perspective is so needed in discussions of health,” she said.  “I think it’s important to realize that, early on in your career, you can start to be an advocate, even as a budding social worker.”