Future Leaders
Delfin Bautista
Delfin Bautista’s path into social work was a natural, yet winding, one. Currently a 2006 MSW candidate, he grew up doing missionary work and social work, “in the sense that helping others was always part” of his family. As a teenager, he volunteered at a shelter serving meals, and worked closely with an order of religious sisters and priests called Union Lumen Dei. Although he never visited missions outside of the country while he was growing up, he still developed a sensitivity for the needs of others.
His involvement with missions work continued through college: he participated in a nine-day missions trip to Jamaica while he was an undergraduate student at Florida International University in Miami. For a time, Delfin intended to be a priest, and after attending college for two years, he entered the seminary in the Dominican Republic. During his time there, he gained an outside perspective on “how the US is viewed.” But after one year in the seminary, he returned to the United States. Upon arrival he worked as a hospital Chaplain and then re-enrolled into Florida International University graduating Magna Cum Laude with his Bachelor’s degree in Social Work in 2005.
Because he already has a BSW, Delfin was able to complete his MSW in just one year through the School’s Advanced Standing program. He is the recipient of a Consuelo W. Gosnell Scholarship, which is given by the NASW to Hispanic social work students at the Masters degree level who want to work with minority populations after graduation. As a bilingual, gay man, Delfin recognizes the stigma within various faith groups and the Hispanic population against homosexuality, and would like to work with both Hispanic/Latino and gay and lesbian populations when he finishes his MSW. He would also like to work towards bridging the gap between spirituality and the GLBT community.
His concentration is direct, or clinical, social work practice, and this year he interned at Action Aids, working as a case manager for individuals with HIV/AIDS who have recently been released from prison. In his one year as a Penn MSW student, Delfin’s involvement in the School extended well beyond classes and field placement: he was a member of QSWAP (Queer Social Workers and Allies at Penn), was involved with the Penn Newman Center, and served on the School’s student graduation committee.
As graduation approaches, Delfin is looking to the future and deciding how he will put his MSW degree into practice. As an undergraduate social work student, he was focused on clinical social work, but he points out that one of the good things about this field is that “you’re not limited to one thing – you can do a variety of things.” For Delfin, that “variety of things” ranges from private practice to working in an agency to doing social policy at an organization like the United Nations.
For the time being, however, he has decided to focus on direct practice after graduation and has accepted a position as a trauma therapist at Victim Services Center in Miami. Here, he will be helping victims of crime deal with trauma through the use of Traumatic Incident Reduction. Additionally, he is discerning two possible post-MSW degrees to complement his social work formation. One is a Masters in Divinity in order to bridge spirituality and social work practice. The other is a law degree so that he can work in the field of Human Rights. Regardless of where Delfin’s natural and winding social work path takes him next, there is no doubt that he will be using his degree and his compassion to bring about social change and social justice.