Featured Scholar: Stephanie Boys, PhD
Associate Professor, IU School of Social Work
Law and Social Work: Providing Holistic Services to Benefit Students, the University and the Community
In 2012, Carrie Hagan and Stephanie Boys developed a new service learning opportunity through an interdisciplinary partnership between the schools of Law and Social Work. The purpose of the project was to enhance the joint JD/MSW program, as well as the experiences of JD and MSW students respectively. The researchers redesigned a Civil Practice Clinic, which had formerly involved only law students, to now pair law students and social work students in order to serve the holistic needs of clients. Referrals for the clinic are obtained through Indiana Legal Services, and many clients do not have resources to retain legal counsel or services by other means. The law students address the clients’ legal issues and the social work students ensure the clients are connected with appropriate social services, such as domestic violence counseling and social welfare benefits. The teamwork between students increases law students’ aptitude in client-centered lawyering, and familiarizes social work students with the legal rights and resources available to clients. The investigators have adapted pedagogies of engagement, most notably through problem-based and peer-led interdisciplinary team teaching and learning. Students more effectively and efficiently serve community members in need of legal counsel and social services, resulting in a clinic that is beneficial for both students and community members.
Dr. Boys' work to create an interdisciplinary partnership to better serve clients of the Civil Practice Clinic is another example of how IU Indianapolis’s faculty members are TRANSLATING their RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE.
Selected Publications in IU Indianapolis ScholarWorks
With several research works contributed to IU Indianapolis's free, open access repository, Dr. Boys has made translational research knowledge available to professionals, researchers, students, and communities around the world.
Stephanie Boys. (2015, April 17). Establishing community collaborations in Marion County: Benefits and challenges. Poster session presented at IU Indianapolis Research Day 2015, Indianapolis, Indiana. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/8394
Boys, S. K., Quiring, S. Q., Harris, E., & Hagan, C. A. (2015). Social Work and Law Interdisciplinary Service Learning: Increasing Future Lawyers’ Interpersonal Skills. Journal of Teaching in Social Work, 35(4), 410-424. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/8109
Hagan, C. A., & Boys, S. K. (2015). Catching Fire: A Case Study Illustration of the Need for an Interdisciplinary Clinical Case Partnership and Resulting Student Successes. Asian Journal of Legal Education, 2(1), 46-56. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/8110
Hagan, C., Boys, S. (2014, April 11). Progress through partnership: Providing Holistic Services VIA SERVICE LEARNING to Benefit Students, the University and the Community. Poster session presented at IU Indianapolis Research Day 2014, Indianapolis, Indiana. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/5289
Boys, Stephanie and Carrie A. Hagan. (2013, April 5). Social Work and Law: The Educational Benefits of Collaboration. Poster session presented at IU Indianapolis Research Day 2013, Indianapolis, Indiana. https://hdl.handle.net/1805/7089