by Chris Hilburn-Trenkle
North Carolina is currently facing a critical workforce shortage for qualified social workers. Two master of social work students are helping to fill that need through a practicum placement in the public sector.
Practicum experience is an integral part of every Carolina MSW student’s education. The practicum program provides all University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Social Work MSW students a learning opportunity to work with social services, schools, hospitals, community nonprofits, substance use treatment programs, child welfare agencies, local and state government agencies and other client systems while helping individuals, groups, and communities.
Jay Joyner and Iris Greenspun-Bee, both second-year students in the 3-Year MSW Program, are using that education to spend the 2024—2025 academic year working with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services in the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Use Services.
We spoke with Joyner and Greenspun-Bee to learn more about their practicum placement, their roles with NC DHHS and more. This transcript has been edited for clarity.
Jay Joyner

Why did you become interested in possibly working in the public sector?
I haven’t truly determined my interest yet, but I saw this practicum placement as an opportunity to gaze into the world of the public sector. As a second-year student we have to declare whether we’re going into direct practice or macro practice. I wanted the opportunity to see what macro work was like. My understanding of social work is you can’t do one or the other, really.
I do work at NC DHHS, but I specifically work in the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Use Services. I saw that as a unique opportunity to look at mental health, DVI [domestic violence inventory], developmental disabilities, substance use services and substance use disorders within the North Carolina community, with specific care to rural populations, because that’s typically the population that’s involved in Medicaid and Medicare expansion. That’s the lens that I’m looking at everything through: What is the landscape of North Carolina in terms of mental health, substance use, developmental disabilities, and are there any overlaps. My main interest lies with the LGBTQ population, and [I want to] see if there is any additional information about that landscape.
What is your specific role with the division?
I work on the strategy and planning team. This is a work-based placement. The strategy and planning team is fairly new. My role involves supporting logistics and planning with in-person external affairs and communications based on that. I do work a little bit with internal communications. A lot of people confuse us with DHHS communications, which we’re not, but we do a lot of communications work between the different parts of our division. Day-to-day includes a lot of logistics planning, planning for events, planning for our division director [Kelly Crosbie] to go out and deliver her vision on the various parts of health care.
We’re seeing a critical workforce shortage, especially among underserved populations and in rural areas. How have you seen that shortage through the practicum?
We have advisory board committees, and I see a lot of that through the advisory board committees. Whenever we’re having our monthly provider meetings and monthly clinical meetings, a lot of those conversations are had there with our direct support professionals and our peer support workforce. We’re trying to drive that market back up by providing funding and evening the playing field for peer support workforce professionals.
The biggest barrier is they’re not licensed, and that heavily impacts their credibility with a lot of positions. We’re trying to bring up the peer support workforce in line with the direct support workforce to encourage more people to work in the public sector. We’re trying to create grants and funding to support that work.
How will this placement and the work you’re doing now benefit you moving forward?
Right now, we’re trying to define our spaces in our practicum placement. I want to focus on, ‘How are we communicating with the LGBTQ communities in our rural areas. Are we doing that?’ I think this [experience] will help me get an understanding of what the rural community in North Carolina looks like for LGBTQ individuals.
[I want to see] How plausible it is to create avenues within a government agency to lift up the voices of LGTBQ individuals. We have advisory committees for people who are working in the child behavioral health workforce; who are working in the disability workforce; who are working in the justice system. Can we get all those things together, but also add other things, such as an LGBTQ advisory committee, or a Latinx and Spanish speaking advisory committee to get those voices into the work we’re doing. I don’t know if I’ll continue working with the state, but I want to know if people want this kind of change, then what are the barriers to making that change?Iris Greenspun-Bee

What made you initially interested in working in the public sector?
I have five years of experience working in family advocacy for families enrolled in Head Start [a program of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction]. I reached a point of frustration where I was encountering similar problems experienced by a wide array of people every day and realizing that the reason for that was outside the agency of them and was more of a reflection of larger governing policies that impact people. That ultimately is what led me to go back to school and then when this opportunity came along, I thought it would be a great way to get a holistic perspective of social justice and social welfare systems and how they all connect and explore policy making and implementation.
What is your specific role with NC DHHS?
My official title is external affairs advisor. I’m in a lot of different spaces. The office of strategy and planning is an extension of the division director, so everything that we do is connected to the division director and supports missions, goals, strategic plans. I also work in some campaign spaces.
I’m hoping to embrace this perspective of supporting the division and what we’re aiming to do, and looking for opportunities to collaborate with external partners, build community collaboration, incorporate perspectives of community partners. We work with a lot of different people, including stakeholders, community partners, and consumers.
How do you think this work will benefit you moving forward as a social worker?
Having an opportunity and a foot in the door with the state is huge. There are so many opportunities. Simply that in itself will lead to things I’m not even considering at this point. It offers a holistic, well-rounded perspective of how social change is possible, what the barriers are, how things connect or disconnect.
In my role, I am collaborating with the community and learning how to bridge gaps and find common ground amongst people who have similar interests but maybe don’t align with approaches. I think that is a skill that is applicable anywhere.
Is there anything else you would like people to know about your work with the agency?
I have really enjoyed the people I work with and the level of passion that exists. The division director especially is very ambitious. It’s nice to be in a space where you feel like people are in it for the right reasons and are committed to the work, which has been my experience.
DEADLINE EXTENDED! Please share/apply for this important position now.
The School of Social Work invites applications to serve as our Director of Practicum Education and as a member of our fixed-term clinical faculty. This position is crucial in developing and implementing standards for participating agencies, selecting field instructors, assigning practicum placements for students, and evaluating student learning across the program. Apply here by Monday, Feb. 24.
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