A longtime Girl Scout troop leader, Kate Barbier applies a classic Girl Scout mantra to her roles at Washington University School of Public Health: Leave the world better than you found it.
As director of the Office of Student Applied Practice at the school, Barbier, MPH, MSW, oversees the applied practice experience — or practicum — program for students working toward their master of public health (MPH) degrees. Her aim is not only to help provide students with invaluable learning experiences that help shape their paths in public health, but to bridge students and the school with organizations and communities that likewise benefit.
“Girl Scouts want to leave their space better than they found it,” said Barbier, who is also a lecturer at the school. “Let’s help leave the organization in a better place. The goal is for this to be relational and beneficial to the organization, because our preceptors (advisers at such organizations) invest an enormous amount of time and resources into helping our students grow personally and professionally.”
There are more than 150 community partners in St. Louis and across the globe involved in the practicum experience for MPH students. Preceptors guide students both academically and professionally as mentors while the students’ work assists organizations in achieving goals attached to their overall missions. This creates a mutually beneficial relationship: Students gain practical experience in public health while organizations benefit from their contributions.
Barbier also brings personal experience to her roles. She previously worked as a social worker and public health professional in behavioral health, reproductive health, and teen pregnancy prevention. The skills and insight gained throughout her career help her as she counsels MPH students through navigating their goals and aspirations, then finding the right community partner or faculty research project that fits their vision of what they want to accomplish.
A Wisconsin native who came to St. Louis for college, Barbier said St. Louis has a unique quality that makes the applied practice piece of the MPH program that much more meaningful.
“The people doing great work in St. Louis are deeply engaged and truly passionate about the folks who live here and the communities where we work, learn, live and play,” Barbier said. “People have such a heart for their fellow St. Louisans, and that goes a long way in terms of capacity, energy, and passion for doing the work.”
Here, Barbier discusses her role at WashU Public Health, and what she wishes for SPH students and the communities they work with.
Q: What inspired you to do this work, and what was your journey to this position?
“Before I came to WashU and before I had any inkling of becoming a faculty member, I always knew that the way for me to enter into this world would be through practicum and applied practice, because I had been a preceptor for so long. That has been a consistent through line through all of my work experience, because I had such transformative practicum experiences myself. I wanted to make sure that students had the opportunity to grow and learn, to lean into their growth or learning edges in a safe and supported way so that they could understand what a truly supported professional environment looks like.
“It seriously was the relationship I had with my preceptors. My very first practicum placement was with one of the Catholic Charities neighborhood agencies. The executive director was my practicum supervisor and demonstrated every day what it was like to show up for people and what living your professional values looked like. In my dual MSW/MPH practicum, Lorien Carter was my practicum preceptor and allowed me to deepen my skills but also pushed me to do new things and apply what I was learning in the classroom.”
Q: What does a typical day look like for you?
“I teach Program Planning, Implementation and Evaluation typically in the fall, and Public Health Seminar 2 in the spring. (SPH lecturer) Bill Effah and I co-teach the Foundations of Field Education, which next year will be called Foundations of Applied Practice. We meet with students as one-on-one consultants, thought partners, brainstormers, problem solvers and facilitators. We wear all of those hats to talk through practicum search, portfolio products, or how to negotiate something with practicum supervisors.
“We are also there for our community partners — organizations such as St. Louis Integrated Health Network, Community Health Commission of Missouri, the St. Louis City and County Health Departments, and the Illinois Public Health Association. We have partners across the country and globally, including Maji Safi Group in Tanzania, a global health practicum site focused on water, sanitation, and hygiene practices. Students also work with CVS Health, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and faculty here at WashU who conduct community-engaged research.”
Q: What are the biggest challenges of your position?
“Without a doubt, it’s when either a student is struggling, or a site is struggling to provide the student with the experience they were hoping for. But overall, I thank the universe for guiding me down this path. My MSW skills and training and all of my previous years doing group facilitation and project management have helped me get a perspective on: What are the goals here? What are we trying to achieve? What are the barriers to success? What does success look like? We have open, frank conversations with students, with preceptors, and then together. Sometimes it means we need to connect the student to services that can help them become successful. Sometimes it means this student and this site are not a good fit. Sometimes we need to pause the project with the student and the organization if something doesn’t feel right on either side. Not easy conversations, but if we’re deeply committed to doing meaningful public health work and bringing the equity lens to applied practice, that means having hard conversations in a transparent and intentional way.”
Q: What makes St. Louis special for practicum experiences, and what does WashU School of Public Health offer that is unique?
“I am not a St. Louis native, but over the years here I have learned that St. Louis has both a rich and troubling history. There’s a reason we still talk about the Delmar Divide — the stark socioeconomic and health disparities that split the city along Delmar Boulevard — and how where a person lives determines their health. It can offer a perspective to students who maybe haven’t had that firsthand experience. The people doing great work in St. Louis are deeply engaged and truly passionate about the folks who live here and the communities where we work, learn, live and play. People have such a heart for their fellow St. Louisans, and that goes a long way in terms of capacity, energy and passion for doing the work.
“WashU and the School of Public Health have committed, dedicated folks at the university level and in SPH who are committed to being truly community engaged and community driven. We have an opportunity with the new school to create that. One thing we’re working on is the Public Health Practice Corps — a cohort model of four to six students who go to an organization or cluster of organizations and work collaboratively. This builds capacity for organizations and gives additional faculty support. We’re helping students shift their mindsets to understand they’re developing what we call power skills — relational skills, leadership, negotiation, collaborating across disciplines.”
Q: What should an MPH student expect going into a practicum?
“My hope is that they have a rich, rewarding experience. That when they come out of practicum, they are able to apply the competencies they selected and take those foundational knowledge areas and become much more deeply rooted and grow their skills. That they have a real understanding of what public health practice is like. That they were able to do meaningful work and contribute to the mission and vision of the organization or team they were working with. And a little bit selfishly, that they say, ‘Kate and Bill were right in saying that practicum could be astounding and amazing and a professional touchpoint.’
“Also, students should be open to not just focusing in one area but developing power skills — learning to communicate with others, seeing things in real time. I’m still a Girl Scout, a troop leader. Girl Scouts want to leave their space better than they found it. Let’s do our best to leave the organization in a better place.”
The Office of Student Applied Practice is seeking new organizations interested in hosting MPH students for their applied practice experience. If you are interested in learning more and becoming a partner site, please email sphapex@wustl.edu
Writer
Hayley Abshear is the School of Public Health’s digital content strategist and social media coordinator. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Webster University and was previously a freelance writer for national publications and a content creator at a PR firm. She brings almost a decade of experience in writing, content strategy and social media marketing to the team.