Tianna Hill

UConn School of Social Work, Class of 2014

I was raised in Riviera Beach, Florida and attended Goucher College in Maryland, where I received a B.A. in communications. Through college and beyond, I have volunteered and worked for a number of non-profit agencies. While pursuing my undergraduate degree, I volunteered for four years at the Hampden Family Center in Hampden, MD, where I tutored children from underserved populations. I also volunteered my time at the Village Learning Place in Baltimore, MD, where I was instrumental in developing a program about child behavior called HIP (Help Increase the Peace). These children also came from underserved populations and had at least one parent in the prison system. After completing my undergraduate degree, I worked with at-risk youth involved with the judicial system and worked to successfully integrate these youth back into the community through case management, therapy and community service. I have also worked for a non-profit agency providing case management services to individuals with a mental illness and/or substance abuse disorder.

I sought involvement in the Urban Service Track because I wanted to gain an understanding of how individuals working in other health care fields were serving their clients or patients. I believe it is important for me as a social worker to gain a better perspective about how health care practitioners are monitoring and promoting health to clients who are underserved. I also believe it is equally important to build relationships with other health care professionals to ensure that clients and patients are receiving adequate care. I think integrating the services provided by health care practitioners and social workers is important because it provides wraparound services and gives patients and clients the opportunity to have their needs met on various spectrums.