MSW + Master of Theological Studies

Finding a Master of Social Work (MSW) program that would accommodate a spiritually informed approach to clinical work was critical in Casey Flynn’s graduate school search. He found it in the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work (GSSW) and Iliff School of Theology dual-degree program.

“When I visited the two schools, I was very impressed and drawn to them. With respect to GSSW, my impression was that the students were engaged and enthusiastic, the faculty available and supportive and the curriculum interesting and wide-ranging,” Flynn says.

He earned an MSW with a mental health concentration in 2017, the same year he earned a Master of Theological Studies (MTS) from Iliff. During his time in the MSW/MTS dual-degree program, he was awarded an alumni scholarship from GSSW and two scholarships from Iliff. Additionally, he received the Office of Graduate Studies Doctoral Inclusive Engagement Fellowship in 2017.

Today, Flynn is a PhD student in religion in a joint DU-Iliff program. He works as a writer, producing nonfiction and poetry. He has presented several papers at conferences and has been published in numerous outdoors-themed magazines.

Currently, his key writing focus is his doctoral dissertation, titled “Reading as Exposure to Another: Vulnerable Reading as a Re(ve)lational Method in Emmanuel Levinas and Susan Howe.”

“As offshoots of that project, I am also working on practices of vulnerable writing that involve poetry, nonfiction writing and letter writing,” Flynn says.

At GSSW, Flynn’s practical experiences included working with domestic violence and substance abuse offenders, working at a community mental health center and working as a therapist.

“During my field training, I was exposed to many different people with different histories, locations in society and varieties of strengths and suffering. In classes, I learned about viewing and approaching the issues of society from a systemic point-of-view. I learned a tremendous amount about the complications and complexities of humanity that inform the work that I currently do,” he says.