Rosalind Corbett is a lecturer in the undergraduate social work program. She has a Master of Science Degree in Counseling Psychology, a Doctor of Divinity Degree and is a Certified Addictions Treatment Counselor. She began her career at Temple University in Pennsylvania as a career development counselor. Rosalind’s career journey took a different path when she came to San Diego. She began working in crisis centers in San Diego, assisting individuals with co-occurring disorders. Rosalind said she felt passionate about her work in this field and soon found herself developing a co-occurring disorder program for women in recovery in North County. After several years she became a well-known expert in the field and opportunities came knocking on her door. She worked closely with school of social work director Dr. Melinda Hohman, developing research with women with co-occurring disorders.
In 2007 another opportunity presented itself as Rosalind was invited to team teach an advance standing course at SDSU School of Social Work. More recently, Rosalind teaches undergraduate level courses such as cultural pluralism and dimensions of human behavior in the changing life course. She enjoys teaching these courses because she is able to have conversations with students about race, values, the social environment, and their impacts on how students see themselves now. She hopes to inspire students to “expand their awareness of themselves as individuals and their personal power to create change.” Rosalind believes that it is important for instructors to “teach what they need to learn,” because social work is ever-changing and in this fast-paced field, and we are all students and teachers of one another.
Rosalind is multi-task oriented. In addition to teaching she facilitates cultural competency, motivational interviewing, and co-occurring disorder workshops across the state. Rosalind said she imparts knowledge by telling stories. In the course of her professional life, Rosalind has found that her mission is to help students and those already in the field to heal and use their expanded self-awareness to create change. Finally, she would like to tell students to “walk through open doors, because opportunities do not always come in straight paths.”
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Written by Claudia Gonzalez, MSW student
