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Graduation Date

Spring 5-9-2026

Document Type

Portfolio

Degree

Master of Social Work (MSW)

Degree Name

Social Work

School or Department

Social Work

Abstract

This portfolio documents the development of an ecologically grounded and theoretically integrated social work practice across two years of practicum with the Crime Victim Advocate (CVA) program in Missoula, Montana. Drawing on ecofeminism, Indigenous Cultural Responsiveness Theory (ICRT), and trauma-informed practice (TIP), the author frames healing, justice, and liberation as ecological processes rooted in the conditions that surround people rather than the deficits within them. Cherokee teachings on ayetli, or standing in the middle, and a seeds of liberation metaphor serve as orienting frameworks throughout, guiding critical self-reflection, survivor-centered advocacy, clinical practice with domestic violence survivors, and policy engagement. The portfolio demonstrates advanced integrated practice across five elements and ten core competencies, with particular attention to anti-oppressive practice, LGBTQ+ and Indigenous community advocacy, and the structural conditions that produce and sustain interpersonal violence. It concludes with a commitment to continued clinical growth, harm-reduction praxis, and the slow, necessary work of tending to the soil that social work grows in.

Keywords

domestic violence advocacy, trauma-informed practice, ecofeminism, Indigenous Cultural Responsiveness Theory, anti-oppressive practice

Subject Categories

Social Justice | Social Work

Standing in the Middle: Planting Seeds of Liberation

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