SOCIAL WORKER WITH PAGEANT PAST Brightside Intensive Outpatient Program Social Worker Cambri Brewer, LMSW, found her career path while competing as Miss Pearl River Valley in the Miss Mississippi pageant. Her platform was combating human trafficking. She decided it was a problem worth fighting personally. “I just wanted to contribute in any way I could,” Brewer said. “Then I fell in love with the therapy aspect of social work.” She has also represented Petal, her hometown, in the Mississippi Miss Hospitality Competition to select the state’s goodwill ambassador for economic development and tourism. She is now director for the competition’s Petal region. INTERNSHIPS BENEFIT HOSPITAL, STUDENTS, COMMUNITY 2024 Fall/Winter 12 Internships at Covington County Hospital provide hands-on training for osteopathic physicians and social workers, valuable services for the hospital, and extra care and support for community members seeking help. William Carey University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine and The University of Southern Mississippi School of Social Work, both in Hattiesburg, supply the interns, who are not paid. Internship Locations They work at the Brightside Intensive Outpatient Program for older mental-health patients, Covington Place Therapy & Counseling, and the hospital’s Senior Care Unit. Cambri Brewer, LMSW, worked as an intern from September 2023 to May 2024 at Brightside. “It was a lot more hands-on than some of my classmates were able to experience,” she said. “I was actually able to sit in on all of the groups and get to build that rapport with the patients.” It also led to her current job as a Social Worker at Brightside. Kimberly Bennett, LCSW, CDP, the Brightside Program Director, also oversees the intern program. The Whole Picture Bennett hired Brewer after months of watching her interact with patients. “You can interview somebody, and you don’t get the whole picture,” Bennett said. “But when they’re an intern, and they’re coming in every day, you have a good idea how they’re going to work out.” For students, real-world experience teaches things that classwork can’t. For example, Brewer said, “I got to learn documentation, which was a big thing.” Precisely documenting what happens with patients is crucial for billing and insurance reimbursement. “I got so much out of it,” Brewer said. Cambri Brewer, LMSW
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