Natasha completed a field placement displaying excellent interpersonal skills and a strong motivation to learn. She gained confidence working independently with patients and families while also utilizing supervision effectively. Natasha was flexible and engaged well with diverse patients, documenting thoroughly and applying evidence-based therapies. Her supervisors believe Natasha will continue growing into a great asset for future employers and families.

1. Recommendation
From Natasha’s first day in her field placement, she has displayed numerous personal
qualities that will take her far in her upcoming professional career. Natasha has a warm
personality that draws others to her, whether it be patients or staff members, or her peers.
Even when she was anxious and not feeling confident in her abilities early on, her personality
continued to shine through and allow her to make a connection with both staff and the
families she worked with during her placement. Natasha entered her field placement with a
willingness and motivation to learn. She continued to be extremely motivated to learn and be
a productive member of each team she was a part of. She utilized supervision effectively and
sought out numerous opportunities throughout the last twelve months, including
preceptorships throughout the University of Michigan Health System.
As Natasha became more comfortable in her role as an intern, she gained confidence in her
ability to work more independently. She took on numerous cases, both on the inpatient child
psychiatry unit and the child psychiatry consult liaison service, with minimal guidance and
instruction with success. She had a good balance of working independently while also
seeking supervision on cases and always provided an update on how a patient encounter
went. Both in the earlier stages of her field placement and towards the end, Natasha was
flexible in her learning experience, which was necessary for the joint placement she was
chosen for. In addition, Natasha chose to take on extra learning when my role transitioned
from the child inpatient unit to the U-M Comprehensive Eating Disorders Program. She
wanted to stay primarily on the inpatient unit to gain full competency in her skill set there but
was also interested in learning new skills in this program.
Natasha was greatly appreciated by staff members and by us as her supervisors. She was self-
motivated throughout her internship and always made sure to ask how she could help others,
especially on busy days. She managed her time wisely, which can sometimes be difficult to do
as a result of the high acuity of our cases and fast-paced environment. She recognized the
challenging and multifaceted demands of each service and was able to prioritize which
needs had to be addressed first and always made sure her work was complete. Natasha has
excellent verbal communication skills and can connect almost immediately, even with families
that others would struggle to build rapport with. Natasha’s friendly demeanor and disposition
helped her engage easily with patients and families even while having difficult conversations
around safety or diagnosis.
We were able to see Natasha’s confidence grow in her engagement with patients and families
during her internship. Her documentation in the electronic medical record system was always
timely and improved greatly, even within the first few weeks of practicing writing notes. One
of the more challenging aspects of working in a multi-disciplinary team can be recognizing
and appreciating others’ perspectives and respecting their individual roles. Natasha fit in with
each team she worked with. She was respectful of her role as an intern but was also assertive
with staff members, even when she perhaps did not feel totally confident in her abilities

2. (despite us being confident in them). If she had questions about another staff member’s
actions or thoughts about a case, she effectively used supervision to talk through this and
come to her own conclusion about what may be best for the family she was working with.
Natasha frequently used supervision to discuss how she could relate what she was learning in
her courses to what she was doing in her internship. She utilized the evidenced based
therapies, including DBT and CBT, that she learned about in classes with her cases on the unit
and on the consult liaison service.
Natasha displayed strong analytical and critical thinking throughout her field placement.
Natasha came in with good experience from her Bachelor’s degree which she was able to use
to build additional skills throughout the MSW experience. Natasha was able to assess as
situation and anticipate what needs a family may have even prior to the consult being
completed. Natasha has a strong understanding of the values and ethics of social work, which
is emphasized in many classes at the School of Social Work. We appreciate Natasha’s ability to
build rapport with families while also maintaining healthy boundaries.
Natasha worked on many challenging cases throughout her internship. She displayed good
insight into any concerns of counter-transference and sought supervision when she was
struggling with difficult emotions during a complicated or trying case. Instead of getting
frustrated with the families she worked with, she drew on the innate empathy she has in
addition to using a social work lens to better understand where the family was coming from,
whether it was trauma, anxiety related to being in the hospital, not feeling well, or related to
their individual cultural background. Natasha had good insight into understanding the role
psychosocial determinants of health may impact a patient’s care and life outside of the
hospital. She had good insight in the role of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and
religion may be play in a patient’s perception of our service and helped normalize and
reduce stigma of psychiatric interventions. Natasha displayed the ability to engage with
individuals of all backgrounds and not allow her own background or history to impact patient
care.
Natasha is very self-aware and was able to reflect on her strengths in addition to recognizing
how she can continually learn and grow, which she did over the course of her field
placement. She consistently sought out and applied the feedback she received from those
around her to continue growing and improving. We have full confidence that Natasha will be
an asset to her future employer and the families she works with in the future.
Syma Khan
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
(734) 763-7998
Stephanie Koenig
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
(734)-232-0104