Fynn Levery (BSW ’25) interned at the Champaign-Urbana Public Health District (CUPHD), an agency that serves the entire community through a wide range of services, from environmental health to employment support. In their role as the Bridge Counseling Intern, Fynn worked closely with community members to help connect them to insurance services. Their responsibilities included matching referrals to appropriate insurance or payor status, a detail that can significantly impact access to care.

“I learned a lot about insurance, more specifically Medicaid, and various other self-pay and no-pay options that local agencies have available to individuals,” Fynn says. “The biggest lesson that I learned when working with insurance is that you have to speak their language in order to get accurate information from agencies and insurance assistance workers, and to advocate for your clients.

Knowing insurance lingo and the proper words to talk about insurance made my life a whole lot easier,” they continue, “and also taught me a lot about how talking with insurance companies is inaccessible because of overcomplicated, and often hard to translate, verbiage.”

What surprised Fynn the most about working in this role was how close to clinical spaces they were, and how they could assist clients throughout their experience of navigating the healthcare system and other similar assistance systems. “Being able to break down the steps of how to access different kinds of care for people,” they share, “ultimately taught me how to care for myself better as well throughout the healthcare system.”

Fynn also worked closely with the team at CUPHD on the 2025 Adolescent Health Referral Guide, a document created to act as a resource for other local organizations. “The [guide] was a project I did alongside my other responsibilities. My main responsibility with the 2025 Adolescent Health Referral Guide was to call and ensure all the facility information was correct for each business and agency that was listed within the guide.”

Fynn also worked to ensure that each agency consented to having their information published on the CUPHD website, and on finding businesses that would be accessible to the target demographic and could be included in the guide.

“We took many things into consideration when considering the effectiveness and accessibility of the Adolescent Health Referral Guide,” Fynn shares when asked about the process of creating the guide and collating all the information. “I cannot speak for my colleagues, but when I was looking for new applicable agencies, I looked for whether or not they accepted Medicaid, and if they did not accept Medicaid, I would see if they did a sliding scale or if they were an unpaid service.”

Ensuring that services were affordable to individuals the guide was trying to reach was a top priority. “For staff and other community agencies, simply knowing about all of the community resources can be incredibly helpful to case managers and individuals doing interpersonal work with adolescents.”

Accessibility to the guide was also considered, with the guide being transformed into both a viewable PDF and Adobe link. “The link was sent via email to a massive list of local youth serving organizations, schools, libraries, and more,” Fynn says. “It is also emailed to a few community groups including the Human Services Council and the Coalition for Comprehensive Sex Education. All emails encourage staff to share the guide amongst their networks. The most recent updated edition is always available on CUPHD’s website as well.”

The project, which was identified as a need and listed as a deliverable on CUPHD’s Adolescent Health Program grant, was overseen by one of Fynn’s supervisors, Kelly Flanigan, an alum of the School of Social Work.

For Kelly, who graduated with her BSW in 2017 and MSW in 2018, the School of Social Work had a large impact on the trajectory of her life. “Being able to remain connected has allowed me to feel a sense of belonging and kinship beyond graduation,” she says. “As an alum of the program, I know firsthand the School of Social Work does an amazing job at educating the next generation. It means a lot to give back to the field in this way.

Professionally, I love that mentoring students allows me the opportunity to grow and transition into a new chapter with the School of Social Work. Staff at the school I looked up to when I was just a student, I now consider my counterparts.”

Kelly completed her own internship at CUPHD during her time as a student, but unlike now, the Bridge Counseling Program that Fynn is a part of had not yet been created. “Typically, BSW interns connected with the community on a more macro level. Some of the activities I participated in as a BSW intern included attending local outreach events, bringing the CUPHD mobile to local high schools, and general support to Wellness and Health Promotion activities. 

The Bridge Counseling Program has opened up new opportunities for BSW interns to work on a more micro level,” she continues. “BSW interns can now work one on one with clients in our Teen and Adult Services clinic. They get first-hand experience of working in an integrated setting. Their office is located right in the middle of the clinic, where they have regular interactions with nursing staff, care coordinators, clients and more. Towards the beginning of the internship, we task interns with updating our Adolescent Referral Guide. This provides them with a great foundational knowledge for many local community resources. They then can use and expand on that knowledge while working with clients throughout their internship.”

Working in a clinic setting requires a steep learning curve.  “Even though we try to give our interns a lot of time to get onboarded, trained, and comfortable, there is still so much to learn and get acquainted with!” Kelly shares. “Interns quickly learn how to navigate things like health insurance, local resources and their various referral processes, and electronic medical records. In addition, working with clients one on one brings a whole new variety of challenges including but not limited to learning how to use the language line, practicing cultural humility, and allowing clients to have self-determination.

The opportunity for interns to practice these skills in a real life setting under supervision is vital for their development as social workers. They can take these foundational skills with confidence and build on them as they move into either graduate school or a career.”

For Kelly, she hopes that students like Fynn take away more than just skills from the internship, but also the mission, vision and values of CUPHD, which align with the values of the social work profession.

“We embrace the diversity of our community and commit to providing exceptional service to all,” is one such value. “I hope that BSW interns leave here not only having the skill set to work with diverse populations, but carrying the value of dignity and worth of a person,” she explains. “It is so important to treat each individual with respect and compassion, regardless of their circumstances. This coupled with valuing a client’s right to have self-determination and make their own decisions will help social workers foster relationships with clients for many years to come.”

 “We respond to the changing needs of our community and advocate for the necessary resources to meet those needs,” is another.

“On a community-based level,” Kelly goes on to say, “every intern is given information about the process of creating the Bridge Counseling Program, which was created in response to identified gaps in access to local mental health services. A small team of three CUPHD staff were able to recognize these gaps, and after some data collection, advocated for the creation of the program to help “bridge” the gap. Interns are always encouraged to provide feedback about modifications that could be made to improve the program as the needs of our clients and community change. A lot of their feedback comes in the form of advocating specifically for the clients they serve.”   

On a more macro level, CUPHD works to educate their interns about local, state, and federal issues. One example that Kelly provides is the timeline for Medicaid expanding in Illinois and now being cut back for some populations. “Interns get to see the direct impact of these cutbacks when working with clients who have been impacted,” she says. “Interns are also encouraged to attend Advocacy Day in Springfield, IL which is a great opportunity to dip their toes into the advocacy world.”

For Kelly, it is important for interns to leave their time at CUPHD valuing advocacy at all levels and the great impact it can have. “Helping interns understand the power advocacy can have, will hopefully encourage them to look for opportunities to advocate in some way beyond their internship.”

CUPHD values hands-on experience and works with their interns to make them comfortable in such a personable internship. “Every internship experience brings a similar moment that really reminds me why this kind of hands-on learning is so valuable,” Kelly shares. “The moment when things really click. Interns come to CUPHD, they are onboarded, they are trained, and they are ready to meet with clients… but they are understandably so nervous to start seeing clients. In their own time, they start to relax, they hit their stride, and the nerves are replaced with a new-found confidence in their work.

Providing interns the space to learn, grow, and practice their skills under the supervision of a mentor helps them to gain confidence in a supportive environment. That has immense value as they move into the next step on their journey beyond internship.”