When KaSandre Kirby, MSW '12, walked into her job interview with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, she knew her education and experience made her a competitive candidate.

What she didn't know was that a USC School of Social Work partnership that began more than 20 years ago would give her the edge she needed to land the job.

“I was surprised to see that the job bulletin specifically called for Master of Social Work graduates with a degree emphasis in Community Organization, Planning and Administration (COPA),” Kirby said. “It was almost like the job was created for a USC graduate.”

The Department of Mental Health is one of the largest county mental health departments in the nation, operating 75 program sites and serving more than 250,000 residents each year. For two decades, the Department of Mental Health has been one of the school’s key field partners, giving scores of students opportunities to gain real-world experience with individuals, families and communities impacted by mental illness.

“Our relationship with the department has afforded our students many amazing academic and professional development opportunities,” said Margarita Artavia, a clinical professor of field education. “Not only do students who intern with their agencies have access to the best in training and exposure to implementing evidence-based practices, but they are able to provide mental health and social services to the local community, which is very much in need.”

Each year students and alumni from the school’s COPA, Mental Health, and Families and Children concentrations, as well as the Military Social Work and Veteran Services sub-concentration, join the ranks of the Department of Mental Health's nurses, psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers. Together they provide case management, crisis intervention, rehabilitation, medication and peer support services to children, families, veterans and the homeless in residential facilities, clinics, schools, hospitals, county jails, juvenile halls, mental health courts and even in the home.

“We rely on the School of Social Work to not only supply interns to increase our service capacity, but we also look to them to help us fill the more than 600 psychiatric social work positions we have throughout the system,” said Susan Moser, human resources manager for the Department of Mental Health.

Moser, MSW ’82, often visits the school to talk to students about the benefits of county service and offer insight on the department’s hiring process.

“USC graduates are the quintessential professionals,” Moser said. “They come to interviews prepared and exemplify the type of professionalism we expect from Department of Mental Health personnel.”

In the last five years, the school's relationship with the department has grown, opening more doors for USC alumni, as well as students. Last year, Kirby and Roger Leu, MSW ’12, were hired as management analysts in the department’s Human Resources Bureau, where they contribute to big-picture projects such as the evaluation of organizational charts and review of program site operational structure.

“I felt as if the department understood the skills a COPA graduate could bring to the position and saw these contributions as essential to the job function,” Kirby said. “This not only made me confident in my pursuit of the position, but it also assured me that I would be actually utilizing the skills I learned in school.”

Karla Hubchik, MSW ’12, along with six other School of Social Work alumni who specialized in military social work, joined the Department of Mental Health in 2012, using her COPA skills to help develop the pilot program Veterans & Loved Ones Recovery. Through this field-based program, Hubchik and her team will provide veterans with transitional housing assistance, family resiliency training, case management and mental health services.

“The Department of Mental Health specifically sought USC military social work graduates because we have specialized training in working with military personnel,” said Hubchik, who also serves as a psychiatric social worker. “Our prior field placements and the relationships we developed through them also proved important because collaborating with these same agencies and organizations is central to the veterans program launch.”

Because the department understands the value of the unique education and training USC provides, both MSW students and the Los Angeles communities they serve have benefited from a well-established relationship.

“The department's support of our program has made a real and tangible impact on the lives of our students,” Artavia said. “We at the School of Social Work are forever grateful for their unwavering commitment and dedication to helping us prepare the next generation of social and mental health service workers.”