October 4, 2024 • 38 mins
Join hosts Charles Schelle, MS, and Dana Rampolla as they interview Michael Allen, MSW '03, chief executive officer of Therapeutic Connections and chairman of the University of Maryland School of Social Work Alumni Board. Allen shares his inspiring journey navigating through being a social worker at the R Cowley Adams Shock Trauma Center at the University of Maryland Medical Center, employee assistance program (EAP) consulting, and his innovative work at Therapeutic Connections. Learn how he leveraged his experiences to make impactful changes in behavioral health services and hear his advice for aspiring social workers.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Charles Schelle (00:00):
Dana, we're just going to call October
(00:02):
Social Worker Month on the UMBpolicy, even though it's
observed in March.
Dana Rampolla (00:06):
Hmm, why do you say that?
Charles Schelle (00:07):
Well, last year we had a recent graduate from
the University of MarylandSchool of Social Work, Melanie
Yates.
She talked about the passage ofthe Josh Siems Act that she was
intimately involved with to testfor fentanyl in Maryland
emergency rooms.
The previous October, we hadDean Judy Postmas talk about
financial abuse and intimaterelationships.
Dana Rampolla (00:28):
Oh my gosh, I didn't even realize that.
Yeah.
It just happened that way.
Charles Schelle (00:32):
Yeah, time has flown, and it kind of makes
sense because these are alldifferent topics, and October is
filled with social workeradjacent months like National
Homelessness Awareness Month andBullying Prevention Month, and
just mentioning those, I feellike I have deja vu talking
about all these months, but thereason I mention that is that
being a social worker, you haveto have a wide range of skills,
(00:55):
and our guest this month is agreat example of that.
Dana Rampolla (00:59):
Yeah, Michael Allen is the chief executive
officer of TherapeuticConnections where he's
responsible for day to dayoperations He's a He graduated
with a Master's of Social Workin 2003 from the University of
Maryland School of Social Work,and he is the current chairman
of the University of MarylandSchool of Social Work Alumni
Board.
What I really like about ourconversation with him is how he
(01:21):
talks about being a student,graduating, what he thought his
trajectory was going to be, andhow he worked in some really
interesting places thateventually led him to be at
Therapeutic Connections.
Therapeutic Connections.
Charles Schelle (01:35):
Absolutely.
And as you will hear him talk,you can choose pretty much any
job you can think of being asocial worker and help people.
So without further ado, here isMichael Allen on the UMB Pulse.
Jena Frick (01:53):
You're listening to the heartbeat of the University
of Maryland Baltimore, the UMBPulse.
Charles Schelle (02:06):
Michael, welcome to the UMB Pulse.
Can you tell our listeners alittle bit how you first came to
Baltimore and what led you tosocial work?
Mchael Allen (02:15):
Yeah, good afternoon.
Thank you both for having mehere.
I moved to Baltimore back in1996 a couple months after
graduating from college.
I went to the State Universityof New York College at New
Paltz, upstate New York, and Ihad a really good friend that
moved to Baltimore about a yearprior to me.
Right after graduation, likemany recent graduates, it was
(02:38):
really challenging findingemployment in New York City.
And my friend encouraged me tocome down here and take
advantage of a lot of theopportunities.
So I took them up on thatinvitation and been here going
on 28 years now.
And one of the best decisionsthat I've made.
Dana Rampolla (02:57):
Wow, that's a long time.
Quite the journey.
I'm sure you'll be telling us alot of things that happened from
there to here.
Michael, before we get started,I have like to do a little thing
with you that occasionally we dowith our guests.
It's called two truths and alie.
So we would love to get to knowyou a little on the personal
side.
Tell us two things that aretrue.
One, that's a lie.
(03:18):
And we're going to try to see ifwe can figure out which is the
not truth.
Mchael Allen (03:23):
Okay, let's go for it.
I think the first one I'm agrandfather.
I speak Portuguese and I visitedArgentina.
Charles Schelle (03:35):
Hmm.
Well, the last two seem tocoincide together pretty well.
Grandfather?
Dana Rampolla (03:45):
And I would not have guessed a grandfather
except you just said 28 years.
So,
Charles Schelle (03:51):
Let's say
Dana Rampolla (03:52):
Portuguese.
Charles Schelle (03:53):
Yeah, I'll, actually I'll say you didn't
visit Argentina.
Mchael Allen (03:59):
Okay, so the winner is It's Charles.
I haven't been to Argentinabefore, but I do speak a little
bit of Portuguese, and I am thegrandfather of two boys Owen,
who is 11, and Orion, who is 3years old.
Charles Schell (04:17):
Congratulations.
Mchael Allen (04:19):
Thank you.
Dana Rampolla (04:20):
Yeah, as a recently new grandparent, it's,
it's funny how those littlegrandbabies change our lives,
right?
Mchael Allen (04:26):
Absolutely.
Dana Rampolla (04:27):
Well, and Michael, what I think has really
I'll say been a big part of yourlife is changing other people's
lives.
You've had an incredible careerjourney.
What was it like working atJohns Hopkins in the community
psychiatry department?
And how did that experienceshape your decision to pursue
your MSW at UMB?
Mchael Allen (04:44):
Wow, it was an incredible experience for me
professionally coming from NewYork to Maryland.
I knew nothing about socialservices, nothing about
community resources, and JohnsHopkins community psychiatry was
one of the best places for me tostart that journey.
But my supervisor at the timewas just incredible.
(05:07):
She was also a University ofMaryland School of Social Work
graduate.
And one day she invited me toher office.
I thought that I had didsomething wrong.
And she sat me down and, andreally encouraged me to submit
my application to the school ofsocial work.
She was able to identify a lotof potential within me and told
(05:28):
me that she thought that I wouldbe an incredible social worker.
And I took her up on a deal.
And she had a recommendation inhand.
She says, now you just have toget two more and get accepted
and you're off on your journey.
And I did, and I'm incrediblygrateful to her for doing so.
Prior to that, I didn't think.
(05:49):
about going and applying to theUniversity of Maryland School of
Social Work.
I thought that just getting mybachelor's degree was just, you
know, top tier and there was no,no other place to go at that
point, but she saw thatpotential in me and believed in
me and got me on the rightcourse.
And again, Johns Hopkins thecommunity psychiatry program was
(06:11):
just a really incredibleopportunity.
Uh, Be introduced to work withsome really challenging
individuals who had somesignificant diagnoses that were
homeless adults with, withmental illnesses many of them
living on the streets forseveral years and really making
that connection with them.
And, and getting them to reallytrust me and, and also allow me
(06:36):
to help them to get connected tothe things that they wanted and
needed and deserved was it'sdefinitely something that I'm
very proud of.
Charles Schelle (06:46):
One of the more interesting parts of your
journey, I think, is when youwere at the University of
Maryland School of Social Work,you did your field placement at
the R.
Cowley Adams Shock Trauma Centerat the University of Maryland
Medical Center, right?
And so most people think fieldplacements, shock trauma, trauma
surgeon potentially.
So what was that experiencelike?
(07:08):
What did you do in shock trauma?
Mchael Allen (07:11):
Yeah, and it was overwhelming.
I think doing an internshipthere, that was the last time
that I had hair after that, Itotally lost my hair, as you can
imagine but I worked with theviolence intervention program,
and I was uh, at the time, Iworked with individuals who were
intentionally injured due tointerpersonal acts of violence.
(07:32):
So we saw a gunshot wound, stabwounds beatings with inanimate
objects, and it was actually aresearch program.
So, it taught me a lot about howto Identify the questions
through the internal reviewboard and get them accepted.
But it was a total of 150questions.
So in the mornings, I would goon the screen and identify who
(07:54):
came to the shock trauma centerovernight with one of those
various injuries and then Iwould go to their bedside and
see if they wanted toparticipate within this program.
The, the idea behind it all wasto approach individuals at their
most vulnerable time.
You know, sometimes folks whenthey're not You know, hit with
(08:15):
those types of challenges.
They're not thinking aboutchange.
But once you almost lose yourlife, you see life a little
differently.
And we were able to connect themand provide case management
services for them.
Therapy services for them.
We would go into the home, meetthe families of these
(08:35):
individuals.
We were all over the place.
If a client was incarcerated,wewould d go down to the detention
center and visit them there.
We would advocate for thoseclients and, and court.
We would share with the judges,with the attorneys all of the
positive things that thoseindividuals were able to
accomplish.
And it, it meant so much.
(08:57):
And for a lot of thoseindividuals, This was the first
time for many of them that theyfelt that someone outside of
their family, like, believed inthem and, and trusted them.
And they tagged me with that.
And I can recall my, my lastpatient that I've ever worked
with.
He was a 54 year old AfricanAmerican male.
(09:17):
And I can remember it like itwas yesterday and I went in to
go through my two part questionswith, with this gentleman and he
was sleeping when I entered theroom and I was about to leave
and he woke up and when he wokeup he was crying and I, I re
entered the room and, and then Iasked him what was wrong and he
was crying because he realizedthat, you know, he was shot
(09:39):
multiple times with a, with anassault.
gun and He realized that hewould never walk again and he
had a dream that he was playingbasketball and that realization
just hit him at that same timethat I had entered the room.
And you know, I'm a young man atthe time and I'm thinking about.
(09:59):
Like what impact like what can Ido for this gentleman and, you
know, I go back to my office andI get online and I'm trying to
find resources I didn't reallyknow, like what I was looking
for, and I came across aproposal a request for proposal
through the American TraumaSociety.
And it was for about$10,000.
(10:22):
So a really small RFP.
So I said, what the heck, Imight as well apply for this,
for this RFP.
And in a couple of weeks, Ireceived notification that that
we were approved for the 10,000.
I went back to my supervisor atthe time and I'm like so excited
that, you know, we were approvedfor this 10, 000.
(10:42):
I'm like, yeah, we got 10, 000.
So she's like, well, what areyou going to do with it?
And I was like, well, I'm, I didmy part.
I put RFP and got it.
So she's like, no, you got it.
So you can decide what you wantto do with this with this money.
So, I thought about that 54 yearold man and I, you know, for
(11:03):
him, it may have been too latefor me to really make a change
within his life, you know, mayhave some of the life decisions
that he may have made prior mayhave gotten him in that
situation, but I thought morealong the lines of, You know,
what about some youth?
What about some Children in thisgreat city of Baltimore?
How can we impact them so thatthey are not in this situation
(11:26):
where they're in the hospitalbed or leaving in a body bag?
So at the time I created aprogram called Promoting Healthy
Alternatives for Youth.
And we call it the PHAT program,which is P H A T and that was
very popular about 20 years ago,not so much with some of the
youth nowadays, in terms ofslang.
But what the program entailedwas to partner with community
(11:48):
youth organizations and havethem to visit shock trauma and
see all of the careers that thatwere available such as social
workers, such as doctors,nurses, technicians, and so
forth.
And we would do like aninaugural.
photograph on the helipad withthe physician Dr.
Carnell Cooper started theviolence intervention program.
(12:11):
We tagged on the PHAT program.
We had two adult victims ofviolence who were like peer
counselors.
They would share their storieswith the youth that, that came
to the facility and that programwent on after I left Shock
Trauma because they ended uphiring me after my internship
and that.
Program was in place for 18, 19years since, since I left.
(12:34):
And I'm very proud of that.
Charles Schelle (12:36):
That's amazing.
That's an incredible pipelineprogram that, that I wasn't
aware of.
So thank you for sharing that.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Dana looks like you were aboutto say something.
Dana Rampolla (12:48):
I was just going to ask, what were the ages of
the youth?
Were they, were they all ages?
Like up to 18 year olds?
Yeah,
Mchael Allen (12:58):
about five years old was like the youngest that
would come all the way up till,you know, early adulthood, 21,
22.
We have a couple focus groupswith them as well.
They really, really enjoyed it.
Yeah.
Again, it was a safe space for,for the participants of the
program to come to yeah, we, wehelped a lot of those
(13:18):
individuals in some of theirdarkest times, some of their
darkest hours we were there withthem.
It really gave me an opportunityto flex a lot of the, the skills
that I learned in the School ofSocial Work clinically.
But also just to connect with ahuman to human.
It was, it was amazingopportunity for me but also a
stressful draining, you know, tothe point where you give as much
(13:42):
as you can give to someone whenyou really just leave home
totally exhausted.
I did experience somesignificant vicarious trauma by
seeing trauma day in day outevery day.
It's, I don't know who can dealwith it and go home and just.
And then skip into their, their,their regular life.
But it was it was a lot ofchallenges.
It was a lot of individuals thatlook just like me young black
(14:03):
males.
And yeah, it was, it wassignificant.
Charles Schelle (14:08):
And I'm sure we can touch on that more that
later about that part of, ofhearing these stories and
processing them.
A lot of it's a tough subject totackle.
And, and, you know, as we kindof continue on talking about
your career journey, employeeassistance programs, EAP, where
people in distress employeesneed help at a moment of, of
(14:30):
time, need to use theseprograms, and they need to talk
to somebody and get resourcesand share their story.
You later worked in this spaceas a consultant for the federal
government.
What inspired you to explorethese these different areas of
social work and, and get to knowEAP is put together?
Mchael Allen (14:50):
Yeah, so, it was an incredible pivot, right?
So leaving shock trauma to go tothe employee assistance program,
right?
It was it was like night andday.
I think, you know, just withshock trauma, I was exhausted,
right?
So I needed a change.
So I, I applied to, I saw it wasjust a job working and I didn't
even know it was like anemployee assistance program.
So I went to the, for theinterview it was like working in
(15:13):
a call center.
I wanted to do something thatwas like really low key, like
put me in a cubicle, give me aheadset and a cup of coffee and
I'm leaving at four o'clock.
Like, I didn't want to doanything extra.
Every day I came to work, I hada suit on.
I was like the only guy in theit was like me and another guy,
but we were on two differentteams.
(15:33):
And every day I came, I had mycoffee.
I'm in my cube.
I knew my, my little script.
I would have folks call from allover the country.
About the employee assistanceprogram.
Trying to get assistance forthemselves, for their family
members, all the like, and I didthat for six months.
And then one day my the CEO ofthe organization called the
(15:56):
meeting and had me come in thereand they saw potential with me
being an account manager.
You kind of see this theme of megetting called to the
principal's office for things.
So it's She called me in andsaid, Hey, we can see you being
an account manager.
They were getting some positivefeedback about how I engaged and
encountered, interacted ratherwith the callers.
(16:17):
Because again, it was not onlythe employees, it was managers,
it was C suite people It was alot of HR representatives, so
really just kind of walking themthrough the program helping them
make some of the tough decisionswithin management.
I was there for them and theysaw that potential within me,
which kind of led me to go intothat account management world.
(16:39):
Now, once I Did the accountmanagement role then that's when
like Mike Allen was born itreally showed me where I needed
to be in terms of like socialwork because as a social worker
you know a lot of peoplesometimes they may think because
you're this age this race thisgender that you should be doing
this specific thing.
(16:59):
So a lot of people kind ofassociated me with, you know,
working in shock trauma anddoing those things, but that
wasn't who I was.
But account management, that wasall me, right?
So I had about.
15 contract accounts, and Iwould meet with them regularly,
pretty much quarterly, go overtheir utilization reports with
(17:20):
them and promote the benefits tothe employees as well as the
organizations.
And it was a breath of freshair.
Little did I know that insteadof and so, you know, inside my
belly was a businessdevelopment, ready to be born,
right?
Ready to be birthed, right?
Because there was a salesdepartment, because as an
account manager, like that wasas high as I could go, but
(17:42):
something was really interestingme had me interested about
sales.
It was something that I justreally wanted to find out more
about.
And although sales.
Within EAP was an avenue that Ididn't really see a lane for
health and human servicesallowed me that opportunity to
(18:03):
do that.
So when I resigned from the EAPa recruiter contacted me from
the to, to work at HHS within 30days, they doubled my salary.
I said, when do I start?
When do I get my ID, right?
I'm ready to come in and getstarted.
And that was great because.
I was also able to sell, right?
(18:23):
So sell, like, automatedexternal defibrillator devices
set up behavioral basicoccupational health clinics.
You can go to federal buildings,you see all of the little
hospitals.
Well, those are customized basedon what those federal agencies
want.
And I was able to help.
These organizations to set thatup and also to see my labor,
(18:46):
right?
So, you know, you can sell an adfor 2, 500 bucks, right?
And and then at the end of theyear my first year I made about
12 million in sales, right?
So it's something that wasmeasurable attainable for me and
um It was it was lights out.
You can see the excitementcoming from me, right charles
I'm totally getting excited I'mexcited now.
I'm hoping I'm staying on trackwith your question, but you see
(19:09):
that light bulb was just kindof, the switch was flipped with
me.
Charles Schelle (19:13):
Yeah.
Oh, absolutely.
And it's interesting to hear theapplication of the intersection
of social work and, and sales,especially, and, and the concept
of that, of providing care,providing elements that's needed
for, for people in differentarenas.
I was wondering if I don't knowif your paths crossed at all
during that time with EAP oreven during your time at the
(19:35):
School of Social Work withProfessor Jody Frey who's now
the Associate Dean of Researchthere.
She's known for her workevaluating EAP.
Mchael Allen (19:45):
Yes.
So, I did take my first researchcourse with Jody Jacobson at the
time before she got married.
And by far, it was one of mymost challenging courses when I
was there.
However, I was able to implementa lot of things that, that she
taught within her course.
She was not integral in me beingexposed to the EAP, but
(20:06):
surprisingly she was.
A part of me going to shocktrauma and because within her
class, the course was sodifficult.
It was just myself and anothergentleman in that class.
And this guy, he knew everyanswer to everything that I
said, I want to study with you.
I want you to be my study buddy.
And when we went, we studied, hegave me a whole Saturday.
(20:27):
Of his life and got me throughthat course, but he also was an
intern over at the University ofMaryland Shock Trauma Center,
and he told me about theinternship opportunity.
So Jody Frey is a part of mystory, but it was from her class
that I met another classmatethat exposed me to working at
(20:49):
Shock Trauma.
Charles Schelle (20:50):
That's fantastic.
Dana Rampolla (20:51):
It's interesting how, how our worlds collide and
in Smalltimore.
Mchael Allen (20:56):
Yes, indeed.
Dana Rampolla (20:58):
So, I'm seeing now that you've, you've really
kind of been drowning and maybeI shouldn't use that word, but
it's shock trauma.
It was very taxing, veryemotionally draining and you
were feeling like you needed toget out needed to figure out
where to go next and then youhad this interlude with the so
now talk to us a little bitabout MZCN enterprises and the
type of training and consultingwork that you do there.
Mchael Allen (21:20):
Wow.
So, so MZCN enterprises was justa way for me to really get that
independence.
within my life at that period ofmy life.
So MZCN, I did a lot ofworkplace training and
development, organization,organizational development
training as well.
So I partnered with differenthuman resource organizations,
(21:42):
foster care organizations reallyjust identify what are the
organizations in this countrythat need this.
training.
And I wanted to step up and bethat individual to provide those
trainings to those organizationsand institutions.
And I did that for a good fiveyears and it was an amazing
journey.
Charles Schelle (22:02):
Awesome.
And that probably leads rightinto your next step.
Therapeutics Connections, tellus a little bit about it.
It's a local business and sharesome, you know, of your biggest
challenges and rewards andrunning a behavioral health
services company.
Mchael Allen (22:17):
Oh, my goodness.
Yeah.
So Therapeutic Connections.
That's my baby right there,right?
So Therapeutic Connections.
If you think about it, it's aculmination of all of those
social work experiences all intoone, right?
Because if you can imaginethere's a lot of things that I
saw working at an EAP, workingat Johns Hopkins, working at
Shock Trauma and being anindividual consultant.
(22:39):
Through mass can enterprises andI wanted to just put it in a big
ball and make it to TherapeuticConnections.
So identifying not only from mypersonal professional
experiences, but also what I sawat some of the organizations
that I was providing theconsultation for like what to
do.
and what not to do, right?
(23:01):
I wanted to create policies thatwas going to be employee focused
and really be an incredibleplace for people to work.
Therapeutic Connections is anoutpatient mental health clinic.
We provide psychiatricrehabilitation services psych
evals, medication managementindividual therapy really we
provide the whole gamut.
(23:22):
We are like a one stop shop foroutpatient mental health
services.
So some of the challenges overthe years has been just dealing
with a lot of the regulationsthat have changed.
As you can imagine, running aclinic, you have to follow all
of the Comar regulations.
And one of the things that myteam and I, we live by a phrase
(23:45):
that we live by is to learn therules of the game and then play
better than everybody else,right?
But it's always challenging whenyou're playing a shell game and
the rules constantly change.
So staying steady, keeping upwith the rules that that has
been like a, an enormouschallenge that we have been
doing well.
We're doing it.
We are approaching our 10th yearnext month.
(24:08):
We will be 10 years in businessand any type of business to, to
survive a decade is something tobehold.
So I'm really proud about that.
One of another thing that makesme proud is my team the team of
individuals that I have workingwith me.
I have about 18 counselors,therapists, admin staff that,
(24:31):
that are on a team that believein me, that believe in the
vision.
Always say that we fertilize thegrass or at Therapeutic
Connections, because some of myteam members have left in the
past.
It was about six of them thatleft the organization, but then
they returned back because theywanted to be big boys and big
(24:51):
girls, see how the world was.
And they came back and they'restill with us.
So that that's really a proudmoment to really quantify.
Bye.
You know how many folks reallysaw the value and came back to
us and also we were able tochurn three MSWs through the
program, which is also reallyrewarding for me and obviously
(25:14):
helping families in need, right?
So when we have a parent thatbrings their children to us to
get therapy or any of ourservices, they're coming to us
at their most vulnerable time intheir life.
So I really take that seriouslybecause that you're trusting us
with the care of your child.
(25:36):
It means a lot.
And we want to give you thatwhite glove service to that,
that optimal care to really notonly treat your child, but also
to educate you on what's goingon with your child.
And once the therapist in thetherapy session is over, what
can you do as a parent?
to help your child to reachtheir goals.
So those are really somerewarding things to me as well.
Dana Rampolla (25:59):
So you've talked about your, your whole
trajectory where, what types ofclientele are you seeming to
work with most of the time thesedays?
Mchael Allen (26:08):
So right now we work mostly with children.
That's just how the referralscome and how we're counting that
we, we get, we get more Childrenreferrals, more youth referrals,
Children who have anxiety as youcan imagine, after Covid, a lot
of adjustment disorder.
So anxiety, ADHD and adjustmentdisorder are the 3 big ones for
(26:33):
the kiddos.
For our adults we get p rimarilya major depressive disorder is
the primary one that that comes.
Charles Schelle (26:41):
I'm at a follow up to that, too.
I know with behavioral healthespecially therapy for, for
adults, there is a obviousshortage of therapists.
And you see social workers stepinto that role a lot and trying
to find help may take a year insome places.
So I was wondering about if youcan kind of speak to what you're
(27:04):
seeing about capacity.
If, if you're at a point likeother places where it's like, we
want to help more people, but weneed more professionals to, to
reach that demand.
Mchael Allen (27:14):
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Yep.
I'm right there, right alongwith them as well.
Well, like seeing thosechallenges, those are one of the
things that keeps me up at nightto say, Hey, how can I recruit
the best talent that I can?
And like I said, I've been inBaltimore since 1996 working in
human services and social work.
So I practice, I read this bookcalled the proximity principle
(27:36):
by Ken Coleman.
And, and it's really talkingabout six degrees of separation,
right?
Because sometimes we look atthese job posts and we want to
post all, the job and reallymake this opportunity available
for a stranger, whereas we mayknow somebody already that's
ready, willing, and able to dothe position that, that we want.
Charles Schelle (27:58):
Yeah.
Well, any students who perhapsare at University of Maryland,
Baltimore County, where ourschool of social work faculty
teach the undergrad program andwondering where should I go?
Keep going.
Get your MSW because people likeMike need you and we need more
social workers out there.
Mchael Allen (28:15):
Absolutely.
Yeah, we have an affiliationagreement with University of
Maryland School of Social Workthat I'm so grateful for.
We definitely received someamazing interns.
We hired one of our interns.
We have someone who started withus like two weeks ago.
We have six other affiliationagreements with colleges and
universities around the countrythat we get interns with.
(28:38):
Or interns from thoseinstitutions.
And yeah, but University ofMaryland is top tier in terms of
the talent that that we get.
And I'm not saying that becauseI went there.
I'm saying it because it istrue.
The education that they have, itreally sets them up to to be
successful.
Dana Rampolla (28:55):
Well, I might now that we're talking about UMB,
University of Maryland, Schoolof Social Work, you are still
involved.
You're not just getting internsfrom the university, but you are
very involved with the thealumni board.
Tell us a little bit about thatand some of the initiatives that
you're working on in that area.
Mchael Allen (29:12):
Okay.
Yeah.
So I've been on the alumni boardsince 2021.
I am the newly elected boardchair of the alumni board.
So that's something to be proudof.
We only had one meeting, whichwas last week on Wednesday.
But this my focus for my nexttwo years is really to focus on
(29:35):
the student experience, right?
I mean, I graduated in 2003 andyou know, the social worker of
2003 is way different than asocial worker that's coming out
in 25.
Right?
So I really want to hear whatare the needs of those students,
like why they're stillmatriculated.
How can we assist them?
(29:55):
Like, where's the school comingshort?
What need do they need?
What, what assistance do theyneed from the alumni?
How can we help them?
them to succeed within theiracademics and professionally.
Charles Schelle (30:08):
Yeah.
Lots of great things to come andit is an exciting time for the
School of Social Work.
This month we have the.
groundbreaking for a newbuilding for the School of
Social Work.
Recently there is a new RISEFamily Support Center that has
opened that watch for UMB News.
(30:29):
You're going to see a lot moreabout that what they offer and
how to help.
So how can alumni play a moreactive role in supporting the
school's growth, especially whenyou have these new projects
coming down the pike?
Mchael Allen (30:42):
Absolutely.
I would say donate, donate,donate.
That's number one.
I, you know, and I'm just notsharing that for people to do.
I'm actually a donor myself.
We do have the Michael HassanAllen scholarship that assists
students each year.
So I'm really proud of thatlegacy that I'm building with
the university.
Obviously come and join thealumni board.
(31:03):
We have just some brilliantminds from all walks of social
work life that bring all greatideas to us to share with, with
students as well.
So yeah, come check out theboard the alumni board share
your ideas, go to the website.
Just, Put alumni in the searchengine and you'll get a ton of
(31:25):
information.
Dana Rampolla (31:27):
Sounds good.
And in that same vein, whattypes of advice do you have for
current students and mayberecent graduates who are just
trying to start weaving theirpath?
Mchael Allen (31:38):
Yeah, I think really, truly talk to somebody
that's doing what you want to doand just ask as many questions
as you possibly can get a mentorreally, you know, at, at this
stage in our lives, right?
I mean, I'm a middle, middleaged man, so in the social work
terms, we're at the, or EricErickson, we're at the
(31:59):
generativity versus stagnationstage, right, where we want to
give back.
So talking to somebody a littlebit older, folks get a lot of
enjoyment and fulfillment withhelping someone.
And also just as that title, asa student really lean into that,
right, lean into being a studentand really.
(32:20):
Use that to your advantage.
So internships, like just don'tgo for the traditional type of
internship, like see somethingthat's, you know, if you want to
go into government and you'venever been in a government,
federal government before, likelook into that.
If you want to go into anemployee assistance program,
like get into a space that youreally don't know anything about
(32:41):
and just learn as much as youpossibly can and just build
relationships.
Take everybody's business cardsbecause if you give them your
number, it's not guaranteed thatthey're going to call you back.
But if you get this, you'll callthem for sure.
So
Dana Rampolla (32:57):
Great advice.
And how do we encourage morepeople from diverse backgrounds
to consider becoming, a socialworker is so important that we
have that diverse workforce andyou know, to be Thank you.
Blunt, you don't fit the typicaldemographic or socio demographic
of what we would think a socialworker would be.
And it's wonderful that you'vehad all of this ambition and
(33:19):
drive and you just kept pushingforward and going further.
How do we encourage others inthat same same way?
Mchael Allen (33:26):
I think what we're doing now, like with this
podcast, I mean, representationmatters, right?
Like representation matters.
Like someone can see me, someonecan see any one of us on this
screen and connect with us.
And it doesn't even necessarilymean how I look.
I mean, that I share that I'mfrom New York, that maybe
there's somebody from New Yorkthat, you know, wants to you
know, they may get a connectionwith me and then they can see
(33:49):
themselves or based on theindustry.
They want to do it.
So I do think thatrepresentation really truly
matters.
So just having platforms likethis where individuals of all
types of backgrounds can sharetheir experience because one
thing's for sure about a socialworker.
Everybody has a story, right?
So it's like, what is your storythat that got you into social
(34:10):
work because everyone has one.
So, yeah, just finding out whattheir story is and connecting
them with people would, wouldreally be a great connection to
get them started and launched intheir career.
Charles Schelle (34:23):
Earlier, we touched a little bit about the,
the growing need for behavioralhealth services and, and a
pathway.
To there, but what do you see asthe future of social work?
What does a modern social workerdo?
Mchael Allen (34:36):
Wow.
That's a great question,Charles.
I'm really what, what I see is.
And some people may disagreewith me, I don't know, but I
really see technology reallybeing a part of this.
Again, I, I lean back to, like,this is technology too, right?
This, this podcast, so lookingat that, I'm looking at
artificial intelligence, right?
I know virtual reality, that wasmore analog, but now AI.
(35:00):
Is just different ways.
It's all types of it's endlesspossibilities when you bring
computers in there because youcan program them and because we
already know what it is, right?
Like we know what the diagnosisis and the best treatment plans
for individuals that have that.
So plug and play, right?
Dana Rampolla (35:19):
Mike, how for our listeners who hopefully we have
some school of social workgraduates listening and as well
as others, how can alumni stayconnected to the school of
social work if they're from UMBand get involved in upcoming
events?
Mchael Allen (35:34):
Yeah, I would just say, you know, again, I'll lean
back to the website.
I did meet with the marketingteam.
A lot of emphasis, a lot ofintentionality is based on
really customizing the websiteto speak to current students as
well as alumni.
You're going to find informationabout the alumni board, about
development alumni resourcesagain.
(35:54):
So I would really steer themtowards the, the uh, website,
which is ssw.
umaryland.
edu.
And you can type in whatever youwant in there.
And it, it really gives you, Ityped my name in there and it
gave me like everything I didwith the university, which was
like amazing, made me feel realpopular, but yeah, you can
(36:15):
really check, check things outthere.
So
Charles Schelle (36:18):
It's it's a wonderful website.
It's a newly redesigned too.
So there's all sorts of thingsthat I'm still discovering today
that's in the new website,
Dana Rampolla (36:26):
Michael.
I think I think just your storyis compelling.
It teaches all of our listeners,especially those young wannabe
social workers about how you canstart https: otter.
ai know exactly where you'regoing to land in life, right?
You, you follow this trajectorythat you think you have, and
then certain doors open and showyou that maybe you're meant for
(36:49):
bigger or better or evendifferent things.
So thank you for sharing yourwhole story.
Mchael Allen (36:54):
Absolutely.
It's been my pleasure, Dana.
When I look at social work andmy career with social work, it's
like a quilt, right?
It has all of these differentpatches with these different
colors and designs.
And you pull back and you look,and it's It's just beautiful.
So, you know, you can do as ifit's a young social worker out
here on aspiring social worker,I really encourage you to join a
(37:15):
profession.
Do so much.
You can do so much with it.
We're respected in highereducation and the federal
government employee assistanceprograms.
You can pivot.
It's so much that you can givein so many lives that you can
change with it.
Charles Schelle (37:29):
Well, this has been amazing.
Like Dana has said, any alumnusalumna.
Listening, any student, I thinkwe'll find a path that they're
inspired to take.
Thanks to you sharing yourstory.
So, with that, Michael, thankyou so much for joining us on
the UMB Pulse
Mchael Allen (37:46):
Thank you both for having me.
It's been a pleasure.
Jena Frick (37:54):
The UMB Pulse with Charles Chalet and Dana Rampolla
is a UMB Office ofCommunications and Public
Affairs production, edited byCharles Chalet, marketing by
Dana Rampolla.
Dana, we're just going to call October
(00:02):
Social Worker Month on the UMBpolicy, even though it's
observed in March.
Dana Rampolla (00:06):
Hmm, why do you say that?
Charles Schelle (00:07):
Well, last year we had a recent graduate from
the University of MarylandSchool of Social Work, Melanie
Yates.
She talked about the passage ofthe Josh Siems Act that she was
intimately involved with to testfor fentanyl in Maryland
emergency rooms.
The previous October, we hadDean Judy Postmas talk about
financial abuse and intimaterelationships.
Dana Rampolla (00:28):
Oh my gosh, I didn't even realize that.
Yeah.
It just happened that way.
Charles Schelle (00:32):
Yeah, time has flown, and it kind of makes
sense because these are alldifferent topics, and October is
filled with social workeradjacent months like National
Homelessness Awareness Month andBullying Prevention Month, and
just mentioning those, I feellike I have deja vu talking
about all these months, but thereason I mention that is that
being a social worker, you haveto have a wide range of skills,
(00:55):
and our guest this month is agreat example of that.
Dana Rampolla (00:59):
Yeah, Michael Allen is the chief executive
officer of TherapeuticConnections where he's
responsible for day to dayoperations He's a He graduated
with a Master's of Social Workin 2003 from the University of
Maryland School of Social Work,and he is the current chairman
of the University of MarylandSchool of Social Work Alumni
Board.
What I really like about ourconversation with him is how he
(01:21):
talks about being a student,graduating, what he thought his
trajectory was going to be, andhow he worked in some really
interesting places thateventually led him to be at
Therapeutic Connections.
Therapeutic Connections.
Charles Schelle (01:35):
Absolutely.
And as you will hear him talk,you can choose pretty much any
job you can think of being asocial worker and help people.
So without further ado, here isMichael Allen on the UMB Pulse.
Jena Frick (01:53):
You're listening to the heartbeat of the University
of Maryland Baltimore, the UMBPulse.
Charles Schelle (02:06):
Michael, welcome to the UMB Pulse.
Can you tell our listeners alittle bit how you first came to
Baltimore and what led you tosocial work?
Mchael Allen (02:15):
Yeah, good afternoon.
Thank you both for having mehere.
I moved to Baltimore back in1996 a couple months after
graduating from college.
I went to the State Universityof New York College at New
Paltz, upstate New York, and Ihad a really good friend that
moved to Baltimore about a yearprior to me.
Right after graduation, likemany recent graduates, it was
(02:38):
really challenging findingemployment in New York City.
And my friend encouraged me tocome down here and take
advantage of a lot of theopportunities.
So I took them up on thatinvitation and been here going
on 28 years now.
And one of the best decisionsthat I've made.
Dana Rampolla (02:57):
Wow, that's a long time.
Quite the journey.
I'm sure you'll be telling us alot of things that happened from
there to here.
Michael, before we get started,I have like to do a little thing
with you that occasionally we dowith our guests.
It's called two truths and alie.
So we would love to get to knowyou a little on the personal
side.
Tell us two things that aretrue.
One, that's a lie.
(03:18):
And we're going to try to see ifwe can figure out which is the
not truth.
Mchael Allen (03:23):
Okay, let's go for it.
I think the first one I'm agrandfather.
I speak Portuguese and I visitedArgentina.
Charles Schelle (03:35):
Hmm.
Well, the last two seem tocoincide together pretty well.
Grandfather?
Dana Rampolla (03:45):
And I would not have guessed a grandfather
except you just said 28 years.
So,
Charles Schelle (03:51):
Let's say
Dana Rampolla (03:52):
Portuguese.
Charles Schelle (03:53):
Yeah, I'll, actually I'll say you didn't
visit Argentina.
Mchael Allen (03:59):
Okay, so the winner is It's Charles.
I haven't been to Argentinabefore, but I do speak a little
bit of Portuguese, and I am thegrandfather of two boys Owen,
who is 11, and Orion, who is 3years old.
Charles Schell (04:17):
Congratulations.
Mchael Allen (04:19):
Thank you.
Dana Rampolla (04:20):
Yeah, as a recently new grandparent, it's,
it's funny how those littlegrandbabies change our lives,
right?
Mchael Allen (04:26):
Absolutely.
Dana Rampolla (04:27):
Well, and Michael, what I think has really
I'll say been a big part of yourlife is changing other people's
lives.
You've had an incredible careerjourney.
What was it like working atJohns Hopkins in the community
psychiatry department?
And how did that experienceshape your decision to pursue
your MSW at UMB?
Mchael Allen (04:44):
Wow, it was an incredible experience for me
professionally coming from NewYork to Maryland.
I knew nothing about socialservices, nothing about
community resources, and JohnsHopkins community psychiatry was
one of the best places for me tostart that journey.
But my supervisor at the timewas just incredible.
(05:07):
She was also a University ofMaryland School of Social Work
graduate.
And one day she invited me toher office.
I thought that I had didsomething wrong.
And she sat me down and, andreally encouraged me to submit
my application to the school ofsocial work.
She was able to identify a lotof potential within me and told
(05:28):
me that she thought that I wouldbe an incredible social worker.
And I took her up on a deal.
And she had a recommendation inhand.
She says, now you just have toget two more and get accepted
and you're off on your journey.
And I did, and I'm incrediblygrateful to her for doing so.
Prior to that, I didn't think.
(05:49):
about going and applying to theUniversity of Maryland School of
Social Work.
I thought that just getting mybachelor's degree was just, you
know, top tier and there was no,no other place to go at that
point, but she saw thatpotential in me and believed in
me and got me on the rightcourse.
And again, Johns Hopkins thecommunity psychiatry program was
(06:11):
just a really incredibleopportunity.
Uh, Be introduced to work withsome really challenging
individuals who had somesignificant diagnoses that were
homeless adults with, withmental illnesses many of them
living on the streets forseveral years and really making
that connection with them.
And, and getting them to reallytrust me and, and also allow me
(06:36):
to help them to get connected tothe things that they wanted and
needed and deserved was it'sdefinitely something that I'm
very proud of.
Charles Schelle (06:46):
One of the more interesting parts of your
journey, I think, is when youwere at the University of
Maryland School of Social Work,you did your field placement at
the R.
Cowley Adams Shock Trauma Centerat the University of Maryland
Medical Center, right?
And so most people think fieldplacements, shock trauma, trauma
surgeon potentially.
So what was that experiencelike?
(07:08):
What did you do in shock trauma?
Mchael Allen (07:11):
Yeah, and it was overwhelming.
I think doing an internshipthere, that was the last time
that I had hair after that, Itotally lost my hair, as you can
imagine but I worked with theviolence intervention program,
and I was uh, at the time, Iworked with individuals who were
intentionally injured due tointerpersonal acts of violence.
(07:32):
So we saw a gunshot wound, stabwounds beatings with inanimate
objects, and it was actually aresearch program.
So, it taught me a lot about howto Identify the questions
through the internal reviewboard and get them accepted.
But it was a total of 150questions.
So in the mornings, I would goon the screen and identify who
(07:54):
came to the shock trauma centerovernight with one of those
various injuries and then Iwould go to their bedside and
see if they wanted toparticipate within this program.
The, the idea behind it all wasto approach individuals at their
most vulnerable time.
You know, sometimes folks whenthey're not You know, hit with
(08:15):
those types of challenges.
They're not thinking aboutchange.
But once you almost lose yourlife, you see life a little
differently.
And we were able to connect themand provide case management
services for them.
Therapy services for them.
We would go into the home, meetthe families of these
(08:35):
individuals.
We were all over the place.
If a client was incarcerated,wewould d go down to the detention
center and visit them there.
We would advocate for thoseclients and, and court.
We would share with the judges,with the attorneys all of the
positive things that thoseindividuals were able to
accomplish.
And it, it meant so much.
(08:57):
And for a lot of thoseindividuals, This was the first
time for many of them that theyfelt that someone outside of
their family, like, believed inthem and, and trusted them.
And they tagged me with that.
And I can recall my, my lastpatient that I've ever worked
with.
He was a 54 year old AfricanAmerican male.
(09:17):
And I can remember it like itwas yesterday and I went in to
go through my two part questionswith, with this gentleman and he
was sleeping when I entered theroom and I was about to leave
and he woke up and when he wokeup he was crying and I, I re
entered the room and, and then Iasked him what was wrong and he
was crying because he realizedthat, you know, he was shot
(09:39):
multiple times with a, with anassault.
gun and He realized that hewould never walk again and he
had a dream that he was playingbasketball and that realization
just hit him at that same timethat I had entered the room.
And you know, I'm a young man atthe time and I'm thinking about.
(09:59):
Like what impact like what can Ido for this gentleman and, you
know, I go back to my office andI get online and I'm trying to
find resources I didn't reallyknow, like what I was looking
for, and I came across aproposal a request for proposal
through the American TraumaSociety.
And it was for about$10,000.
(10:22):
So a really small RFP.
So I said, what the heck, Imight as well apply for this,
for this RFP.
And in a couple of weeks, Ireceived notification that that
we were approved for the 10,000.
I went back to my supervisor atthe time and I'm like so excited
that, you know, we were approvedfor this 10, 000.
(10:42):
I'm like, yeah, we got 10, 000.
So she's like, well, what areyou going to do with it?
And I was like, well, I'm, I didmy part.
I put RFP and got it.
So she's like, no, you got it.
So you can decide what you wantto do with this with this money.
So, I thought about that 54 yearold man and I, you know, for
(11:03):
him, it may have been too latefor me to really make a change
within his life, you know, mayhave some of the life decisions
that he may have made prior mayhave gotten him in that
situation, but I thought morealong the lines of, You know,
what about some youth?
What about some Children in thisgreat city of Baltimore?
How can we impact them so thatthey are not in this situation
(11:26):
where they're in the hospitalbed or leaving in a body bag?
So at the time I created aprogram called Promoting Healthy
Alternatives for Youth.
And we call it the PHAT program,which is P H A T and that was
very popular about 20 years ago,not so much with some of the
youth nowadays, in terms ofslang.
But what the program entailedwas to partner with community
(11:48):
youth organizations and havethem to visit shock trauma and
see all of the careers that thatwere available such as social
workers, such as doctors,nurses, technicians, and so
forth.
And we would do like aninaugural.
photograph on the helipad withthe physician Dr.
Carnell Cooper started theviolence intervention program.
(12:11):
We tagged on the PHAT program.
We had two adult victims ofviolence who were like peer
counselors.
They would share their storieswith the youth that, that came
to the facility and that programwent on after I left Shock
Trauma because they ended uphiring me after my internship
and that.
Program was in place for 18, 19years since, since I left.
(12:34):
And I'm very proud of that.
Charles Schelle (12:36):
That's amazing.
That's an incredible pipelineprogram that, that I wasn't
aware of.
So thank you for sharing that.
Absolutely.
Yeah.
Dana looks like you were aboutto say something.
Dana Rampolla (12:48):
I was just going to ask, what were the ages of
the youth?
Were they, were they all ages?
Like up to 18 year olds?
Yeah,
Mchael Allen (12:58):
about five years old was like the youngest that
would come all the way up till,you know, early adulthood, 21,
22.
We have a couple focus groupswith them as well.
They really, really enjoyed it.
Yeah.
Again, it was a safe space for,for the participants of the
program to come to yeah, we, wehelped a lot of those
(13:18):
individuals in some of theirdarkest times, some of their
darkest hours we were there withthem.
It really gave me an opportunityto flex a lot of the, the skills
that I learned in the School ofSocial Work clinically.
But also just to connect with ahuman to human.
It was, it was amazingopportunity for me but also a
stressful draining, you know, tothe point where you give as much
(13:42):
as you can give to someone whenyou really just leave home
totally exhausted.
I did experience somesignificant vicarious trauma by
seeing trauma day in day outevery day.
It's, I don't know who can dealwith it and go home and just.
And then skip into their, their,their regular life.
But it was it was a lot ofchallenges.
It was a lot of individuals thatlook just like me young black
(14:03):
males.
And yeah, it was, it wassignificant.
Charles Schelle (14:08):
And I'm sure we can touch on that more that
later about that part of, ofhearing these stories and
processing them.
A lot of it's a tough subject totackle.
And, and, you know, as we kindof continue on talking about
your career journey, employeeassistance programs, EAP, where
people in distress employeesneed help at a moment of, of
(14:30):
time, need to use theseprograms, and they need to talk
to somebody and get resourcesand share their story.
You later worked in this spaceas a consultant for the federal
government.
What inspired you to explorethese these different areas of
social work and, and get to knowEAP is put together?
Mchael Allen (14:50):
Yeah, so, it was an incredible pivot, right?
So leaving shock trauma to go tothe employee assistance program,
right?
It was it was like night andday.
I think, you know, just withshock trauma, I was exhausted,
right?
So I needed a change.
So I, I applied to, I saw it wasjust a job working and I didn't
even know it was like anemployee assistance program.
So I went to the, for theinterview it was like working in
(15:13):
a call center.
I wanted to do something thatwas like really low key, like
put me in a cubicle, give me aheadset and a cup of coffee and
I'm leaving at four o'clock.
Like, I didn't want to doanything extra.
Every day I came to work, I hada suit on.
I was like the only guy in theit was like me and another guy,
but we were on two differentteams.
(15:33):
And every day I came, I had mycoffee.
I'm in my cube.
I knew my, my little script.
I would have folks call from allover the country.
About the employee assistanceprogram.
Trying to get assistance forthemselves, for their family
members, all the like, and I didthat for six months.
And then one day my the CEO ofthe organization called the
(15:56):
meeting and had me come in thereand they saw potential with me
being an account manager.
You kind of see this theme of megetting called to the
principal's office for things.
So it's She called me in andsaid, Hey, we can see you being
an account manager.
They were getting some positivefeedback about how I engaged and
encountered, interacted ratherwith the callers.
(16:17):
Because again, it was not onlythe employees, it was managers,
it was C suite people It was alot of HR representatives, so
really just kind of walking themthrough the program helping them
make some of the tough decisionswithin management.
I was there for them and theysaw that potential within me,
which kind of led me to go intothat account management world.
(16:39):
Now, once I Did the accountmanagement role then that's when
like Mike Allen was born itreally showed me where I needed
to be in terms of like socialwork because as a social worker
you know a lot of peoplesometimes they may think because
you're this age this race thisgender that you should be doing
this specific thing.
(16:59):
So a lot of people kind ofassociated me with, you know,
working in shock trauma anddoing those things, but that
wasn't who I was.
But account management, that wasall me, right?
So I had about.
15 contract accounts, and Iwould meet with them regularly,
pretty much quarterly, go overtheir utilization reports with
(17:20):
them and promote the benefits tothe employees as well as the
organizations.
And it was a breath of freshair.
Little did I know that insteadof and so, you know, inside my
belly was a businessdevelopment, ready to be born,
right?
Ready to be birthed, right?
Because there was a salesdepartment, because as an
account manager, like that wasas high as I could go, but
(17:42):
something was really interestingme had me interested about
sales.
It was something that I justreally wanted to find out more
about.
And although sales.
Within EAP was an avenue that Ididn't really see a lane for
health and human servicesallowed me that opportunity to
(18:03):
do that.
So when I resigned from the EAPa recruiter contacted me from
the to, to work at HHS within 30days, they doubled my salary.
I said, when do I start?
When do I get my ID, right?
I'm ready to come in and getstarted.
And that was great because.
I was also able to sell, right?
(18:23):
So sell, like, automatedexternal defibrillator devices
set up behavioral basicoccupational health clinics.
You can go to federal buildings,you see all of the little
hospitals.
Well, those are customized basedon what those federal agencies
want.
And I was able to help.
These organizations to set thatup and also to see my labor,
(18:46):
right?
So, you know, you can sell an adfor 2, 500 bucks, right?
And and then at the end of theyear my first year I made about
12 million in sales, right?
So it's something that wasmeasurable attainable for me and
um It was it was lights out.
You can see the excitementcoming from me, right charles
I'm totally getting excited I'mexcited now.
I'm hoping I'm staying on trackwith your question, but you see
(19:09):
that light bulb was just kindof, the switch was flipped with
me.
Charles Schelle (19:13):
Yeah.
Oh, absolutely.
And it's interesting to hear theapplication of the intersection
of social work and, and sales,especially, and, and the concept
of that, of providing care,providing elements that's needed
for, for people in differentarenas.
I was wondering if I don't knowif your paths crossed at all
during that time with EAP oreven during your time at the
(19:35):
School of Social Work withProfessor Jody Frey who's now
the Associate Dean of Researchthere.
She's known for her workevaluating EAP.
Mchael Allen (19:45):
Yes.
So, I did take my first researchcourse with Jody Jacobson at the
time before she got married.
And by far, it was one of mymost challenging courses when I
was there.
However, I was able to implementa lot of things that, that she
taught within her course.
She was not integral in me beingexposed to the EAP, but
(20:06):
surprisingly she was.
A part of me going to shocktrauma and because within her
class, the course was sodifficult.
It was just myself and anothergentleman in that class.
And this guy, he knew everyanswer to everything that I
said, I want to study with you.
I want you to be my study buddy.
And when we went, we studied, hegave me a whole Saturday.
(20:27):
Of his life and got me throughthat course, but he also was an
intern over at the University ofMaryland Shock Trauma Center,
and he told me about theinternship opportunity.
So Jody Frey is a part of mystory, but it was from her class
that I met another classmatethat exposed me to working at
(20:49):
Shock Trauma.
Charles Schelle (20:50):
That's fantastic.
Dana Rampolla (20:51):
It's interesting how, how our worlds collide and
in Smalltimore.
Mchael Allen (20:56):
Yes, indeed.
Dana Rampolla (20:58):
So, I'm seeing now that you've, you've really
kind of been drowning and maybeI shouldn't use that word, but
it's shock trauma.
It was very taxing, veryemotionally draining and you
were feeling like you needed toget out needed to figure out
where to go next and then youhad this interlude with the so
now talk to us a little bitabout MZCN enterprises and the
type of training and consultingwork that you do there.
Mchael Allen (21:20):
Wow.
So, so MZCN enterprises was justa way for me to really get that
independence.
within my life at that period ofmy life.
So MZCN, I did a lot ofworkplace training and
development, organization,organizational development
training as well.
So I partnered with differenthuman resource organizations,
(21:42):
foster care organizations reallyjust identify what are the
organizations in this countrythat need this.
training.
And I wanted to step up and bethat individual to provide those
trainings to those organizationsand institutions.
And I did that for a good fiveyears and it was an amazing
journey.
Charles Schelle (22:02):
Awesome.
And that probably leads rightinto your next step.
Therapeutics Connections, tellus a little bit about it.
It's a local business and sharesome, you know, of your biggest
challenges and rewards andrunning a behavioral health
services company.
Mchael Allen (22:17):
Oh, my goodness.
Yeah.
So Therapeutic Connections.
That's my baby right there,right?
So Therapeutic Connections.
If you think about it, it's aculmination of all of those
social work experiences all intoone, right?
Because if you can imaginethere's a lot of things that I
saw working at an EAP, workingat Johns Hopkins, working at
Shock Trauma and being anindividual consultant.
(22:39):
Through mass can enterprises andI wanted to just put it in a big
ball and make it to TherapeuticConnections.
So identifying not only from mypersonal professional
experiences, but also what I sawat some of the organizations
that I was providing theconsultation for like what to
do.
and what not to do, right?
(23:01):
I wanted to create policies thatwas going to be employee focused
and really be an incredibleplace for people to work.
Therapeutic Connections is anoutpatient mental health clinic.
We provide psychiatricrehabilitation services psych
evals, medication managementindividual therapy really we
provide the whole gamut.
(23:22):
We are like a one stop shop foroutpatient mental health
services.
So some of the challenges overthe years has been just dealing
with a lot of the regulationsthat have changed.
As you can imagine, running aclinic, you have to follow all
of the Comar regulations.
And one of the things that myteam and I, we live by a phrase
(23:45):
that we live by is to learn therules of the game and then play
better than everybody else,right?
But it's always challenging whenyou're playing a shell game and
the rules constantly change.
So staying steady, keeping upwith the rules that that has
been like a, an enormouschallenge that we have been
doing well.
We're doing it.
We are approaching our 10th yearnext month.
(24:08):
We will be 10 years in businessand any type of business to, to
survive a decade is something tobehold.
So I'm really proud about that.
One of another thing that makesme proud is my team the team of
individuals that I have workingwith me.
I have about 18 counselors,therapists, admin staff that,
(24:31):
that are on a team that believein me, that believe in the
vision.
Always say that we fertilize thegrass or at Therapeutic
Connections, because some of myteam members have left in the
past.
It was about six of them thatleft the organization, but then
they returned back because theywanted to be big boys and big
(24:51):
girls, see how the world was.
And they came back and they'restill with us.
So that that's really a proudmoment to really quantify.
Bye.
You know how many folks reallysaw the value and came back to
us and also we were able tochurn three MSWs through the
program, which is also reallyrewarding for me and obviously
(25:14):
helping families in need, right?
So when we have a parent thatbrings their children to us to
get therapy or any of ourservices, they're coming to us
at their most vulnerable time intheir life.
So I really take that seriouslybecause that you're trusting us
with the care of your child.
(25:36):
It means a lot.
And we want to give you thatwhite glove service to that,
that optimal care to really notonly treat your child, but also
to educate you on what's goingon with your child.
And once the therapist in thetherapy session is over, what
can you do as a parent?
to help your child to reachtheir goals.
So those are really somerewarding things to me as well.
Dana Rampolla (25:59):
So you've talked about your, your whole
trajectory where, what types ofclientele are you seeming to
work with most of the time thesedays?
Mchael Allen (26:08):
So right now we work mostly with children.
That's just how the referralscome and how we're counting that
we, we get, we get more Childrenreferrals, more youth referrals,
Children who have anxiety as youcan imagine, after Covid, a lot
of adjustment disorder.
So anxiety, ADHD and adjustmentdisorder are the 3 big ones for
(26:33):
the kiddos.
For our adults we get p rimarilya major depressive disorder is
the primary one that that comes.
Charles Schelle (26:41):
I'm at a follow up to that, too.
I know with behavioral healthespecially therapy for, for
adults, there is a obviousshortage of therapists.
And you see social workers stepinto that role a lot and trying
to find help may take a year insome places.
So I was wondering about if youcan kind of speak to what you're
(27:04):
seeing about capacity.
If, if you're at a point likeother places where it's like, we
want to help more people, but weneed more professionals to, to
reach that demand.
Mchael Allen (27:14):
Yeah.
Absolutely.
Yep.
I'm right there, right alongwith them as well.
Well, like seeing thosechallenges, those are one of the
things that keeps me up at nightto say, Hey, how can I recruit
the best talent that I can?
And like I said, I've been inBaltimore since 1996 working in
human services and social work.
So I practice, I read this bookcalled the proximity principle
(27:36):
by Ken Coleman.
And, and it's really talkingabout six degrees of separation,
right?
Because sometimes we look atthese job posts and we want to
post all, the job and reallymake this opportunity available
for a stranger, whereas we mayknow somebody already that's
ready, willing, and able to dothe position that, that we want.
Charles Schelle (27:58):
Yeah.
Well, any students who perhapsare at University of Maryland,
Baltimore County, where ourschool of social work faculty
teach the undergrad program andwondering where should I go?
Keep going.
Get your MSW because people likeMike need you and we need more
social workers out there.
Mchael Allen (28:15):
Absolutely.
Yeah, we have an affiliationagreement with University of
Maryland School of Social Workthat I'm so grateful for.
We definitely received someamazing interns.
We hired one of our interns.
We have someone who started withus like two weeks ago.
We have six other affiliationagreements with colleges and
universities around the countrythat we get interns with.
(28:38):
Or interns from thoseinstitutions.
And yeah, but University ofMaryland is top tier in terms of
the talent that that we get.
And I'm not saying that becauseI went there.
I'm saying it because it istrue.
The education that they have, itreally sets them up to to be
successful.
Dana Rampolla (28:55):
Well, I might now that we're talking about UMB,
University of Maryland, Schoolof Social Work, you are still
involved.
You're not just getting internsfrom the university, but you are
very involved with the thealumni board.
Tell us a little bit about thatand some of the initiatives that
you're working on in that area.
Mchael Allen (29:12):
Okay.
Yeah.
So I've been on the alumni boardsince 2021.
I am the newly elected boardchair of the alumni board.
So that's something to be proudof.
We only had one meeting, whichwas last week on Wednesday.
But this my focus for my nexttwo years is really to focus on
(29:35):
the student experience, right?
I mean, I graduated in 2003 andyou know, the social worker of
2003 is way different than asocial worker that's coming out
in 25.
Right?
So I really want to hear whatare the needs of those students,
like why they're stillmatriculated.
How can we assist them?
(29:55):
Like, where's the school comingshort?
What need do they need?
What, what assistance do theyneed from the alumni?
How can we help them?
them to succeed within theiracademics and professionally.
Charles Schelle (30:08):
Yeah.
Lots of great things to come andit is an exciting time for the
School of Social Work.
This month we have the.
groundbreaking for a newbuilding for the School of
Social Work.
Recently there is a new RISEFamily Support Center that has
opened that watch for UMB News.
(30:29):
You're going to see a lot moreabout that what they offer and
how to help.
So how can alumni play a moreactive role in supporting the
school's growth, especially whenyou have these new projects
coming down the pike?
Mchael Allen (30:42):
Absolutely.
I would say donate, donate,donate.
That's number one.
I, you know, and I'm just notsharing that for people to do.
I'm actually a donor myself.
We do have the Michael HassanAllen scholarship that assists
students each year.
So I'm really proud of thatlegacy that I'm building with
the university.
Obviously come and join thealumni board.
(31:03):
We have just some brilliantminds from all walks of social
work life that bring all greatideas to us to share with, with
students as well.
So yeah, come check out theboard the alumni board share
your ideas, go to the website.
Just, Put alumni in the searchengine and you'll get a ton of
(31:25):
information.
Dana Rampolla (31:27):
Sounds good.
And in that same vein, whattypes of advice do you have for
current students and mayberecent graduates who are just
trying to start weaving theirpath?
Mchael Allen (31:38):
Yeah, I think really, truly talk to somebody
that's doing what you want to doand just ask as many questions
as you possibly can get a mentorreally, you know, at, at this
stage in our lives, right?
I mean, I'm a middle, middleaged man, so in the social work
terms, we're at the, or EricErickson, we're at the
(31:59):
generativity versus stagnationstage, right, where we want to
give back.
So talking to somebody a littlebit older, folks get a lot of
enjoyment and fulfillment withhelping someone.
And also just as that title, asa student really lean into that,
right, lean into being a studentand really.
(32:20):
Use that to your advantage.
So internships, like just don'tgo for the traditional type of
internship, like see somethingthat's, you know, if you want to
go into government and you'venever been in a government,
federal government before, likelook into that.
If you want to go into anemployee assistance program,
like get into a space that youreally don't know anything about
(32:41):
and just learn as much as youpossibly can and just build
relationships.
Take everybody's business cardsbecause if you give them your
number, it's not guaranteed thatthey're going to call you back.
But if you get this, you'll callthem for sure.
So
Dana Rampolla (32:57):
Great advice.
And how do we encourage morepeople from diverse backgrounds
to consider becoming, a socialworker is so important that we
have that diverse workforce andyou know, to be Thank you.
Blunt, you don't fit the typicaldemographic or socio demographic
of what we would think a socialworker would be.
And it's wonderful that you'vehad all of this ambition and
(33:19):
drive and you just kept pushingforward and going further.
How do we encourage others inthat same same way?
Mchael Allen (33:26):
I think what we're doing now, like with this
podcast, I mean, representationmatters, right?
Like representation matters.
Like someone can see me, someonecan see any one of us on this
screen and connect with us.
And it doesn't even necessarilymean how I look.
I mean, that I share that I'mfrom New York, that maybe
there's somebody from New Yorkthat, you know, wants to you
know, they may get a connectionwith me and then they can see
(33:49):
themselves or based on theindustry.
They want to do it.
So I do think thatrepresentation really truly
matters.
So just having platforms likethis where individuals of all
types of backgrounds can sharetheir experience because one
thing's for sure about a socialworker.
Everybody has a story, right?
So it's like, what is your storythat that got you into social
(34:10):
work because everyone has one.
So, yeah, just finding out whattheir story is and connecting
them with people would, wouldreally be a great connection to
get them started and launched intheir career.
Charles Schelle (34:23):
Earlier, we touched a little bit about the,
the growing need for behavioralhealth services and, and a
pathway.
To there, but what do you see asthe future of social work?
What does a modern social workerdo?
Mchael Allen (34:36):
Wow.
That's a great question,Charles.
I'm really what, what I see is.
And some people may disagreewith me, I don't know, but I
really see technology reallybeing a part of this.
Again, I, I lean back to, like,this is technology too, right?
This, this podcast, so lookingat that, I'm looking at
artificial intelligence, right?
I know virtual reality, that wasmore analog, but now AI.
(35:00):
Is just different ways.
It's all types of it's endlesspossibilities when you bring
computers in there because youcan program them and because we
already know what it is, right?
Like we know what the diagnosisis and the best treatment plans
for individuals that have that.
So plug and play, right?
Dana Rampolla (35:19):
Mike, how for our listeners who hopefully we have
some school of social workgraduates listening and as well
as others, how can alumni stayconnected to the school of
social work if they're from UMBand get involved in upcoming
events?
Mchael Allen (35:34):
Yeah, I would just say, you know, again, I'll lean
back to the website.
I did meet with the marketingteam.
A lot of emphasis, a lot ofintentionality is based on
really customizing the websiteto speak to current students as
well as alumni.
You're going to find informationabout the alumni board, about
development alumni resourcesagain.
(35:54):
So I would really steer themtowards the, the uh, website,
which is ssw.
umaryland.
edu.
And you can type in whatever youwant in there.
And it, it really gives you, Ityped my name in there and it
gave me like everything I didwith the university, which was
like amazing, made me feel realpopular, but yeah, you can
(36:15):
really check, check things outthere.
So
Charles Schelle (36:18):
It's it's a wonderful website.
It's a newly redesigned too.
So there's all sorts of thingsthat I'm still discovering today
that's in the new website,
Dana Rampolla (36:26):
Michael.
I think I think just your storyis compelling.
It teaches all of our listeners,especially those young wannabe
social workers about how you canstart https: otter.
ai know exactly where you'regoing to land in life, right?
You, you follow this trajectorythat you think you have, and
then certain doors open and showyou that maybe you're meant for
(36:49):
bigger or better or evendifferent things.
So thank you for sharing yourwhole story.
Mchael Allen (36:54):
Absolutely.
It's been my pleasure, Dana.
When I look at social work andmy career with social work, it's
like a quilt, right?
It has all of these differentpatches with these different
colors and designs.
And you pull back and you look,and it's It's just beautiful.
So, you know, you can do as ifit's a young social worker out
here on aspiring social worker,I really encourage you to join a
(37:15):
profession.
Do so much.
You can do so much with it.
We're respected in highereducation and the federal
government employee assistanceprograms.
You can pivot.
It's so much that you can givein so many lives that you can
change with it.
Charles Schelle (37:29):
Well, this has been amazing.
Like Dana has said, any alumnusalumna.
Listening, any student, I thinkwe'll find a path that they're
inspired to take.
Thanks to you sharing yourstory.
So, with that, Michael, thankyou so much for joining us on
the UMB Pulse
Mchael Allen (37:46):
Thank you both for having me.
It's been a pleasure.
Jena Frick (37:54):
The UMB Pulse with Charles Chalet and Dana Rampolla
is a UMB Office ofCommunications and Public
Affairs production, edited byCharles Chalet, marketing by
Dana Rampolla.
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