Julian Leus Receives CSWE MFP Fellowship

Julian Leus (pronouns: they/them/siya) is a second-year MSW student at SFSU SSW. After a competitive three-round review process, Julian was selected as one of 40 MSW fellows for the 51st Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Master’s Minority Fellowship Program (MFP) Cohort! Congratulations, Julian!

Beginning in 1974 as a result of the Civil Rights Movement, the CSWE MFP originally supported minority social work doctoral student fellows who were interested in pursuing social work faculty positions. Since 2014, MFP added a clinical track for Master of Social Work (MSW)–level students to the fellowship (reference for the history of MFP). The master’s MFP is a program designed to enhance the training of full-time, master’s-level social work students in their final year of study at a CSWE-accredited institution who are passionate about providing mental health and/or substance use disorder services. Applicants must identify mental health and/or substance use disorder service delivery as their focus and be committed to seeking employment in mental health and/or substance use disorder services or prevention immediately after graduation, for at least 2 years.

Julian’s long-term goal is to become a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) and to provide psychotherapy, case management, and gender affirmative healthcare to LGBTQ+, HIV-positive, and BIPOC clients seeking safety, healing, and personal/collective growth. Julian is especially interested in helping transgender and gender diverse (TGD) folx live as their truest, healthiest, and most euphoric selves. Through the MFP, Julian will have access to various professional development and training opportunities, networking at the national level with other minority social workers, and generous stipends to assist with cost of attendance and preparation for licensing exams.

For Julian's social work master’s thesis project at SFSU, they are designing a creative healing workshop for TGD adults that blends expressive arts and spirituality with traditional social work theories and practices. As a budding creative researcher and behavioral health clinician, Julian hopes to broaden the scope of what it means to provide “mental health care” as a social worker. 

Julian is more than happy to talk to students who might be interested in applying for the CSWE Master’s MFP in the future.