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Hospitals and horses: Meet Scholar Shannon Robinson

Shannon Robinson is a third-year MSW student in our Triangle Distance Education Program. A native of Peninsula, Ohio, she received her B.S. in Biology in 2004 from UNC.

This year she was awarded the Joan Phillips-Trimmer Memorial Scholarship, which will allow her to complete her concentration curriculum in Adult Health and Mental Health.

Robinson held an internship at Duke University Medical Center on the kidney transplant team from 2009-10. Her current field placement is with UNC Hospital’s Psychiatry Crisis Response Service, where she completes psychosocial assessments and provides crisis interventions for patients at the Crisis Walk-In Clinic and in the Emergency Department.

Her future plans include obtaining her LCSW (Licensed Clinical Social Worker credential) and providing mental health services in the hospital setting. As a therapeutic horseback riding instructor at Shiloh Farms Therapeutic Riding Center in Durham, she would like to become certified in Equine Facilitated Psychotherapy following graduation and plans to create a psychotherapy program at Shiloh Farms.

Robinson had the opportunity to meet Carol Oettinger, who established the Joan Phillips-Trimmer Memorial Scholarship in memory of her daughter. “Talking to Ms. Oettinger was an amazing experience,” said Robinson. “She shared with me her daughter’s professional goals which, coincidentally, were quite similar to my own. I hope to honor Joan’s memory in my future as a clinical social worker.”

Please help students like Shannon by giving to the School of Social Work