Field Placement:  The Wellness Community-West Los Angeles
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Preceptor: Ellen Silver
Student Name: Ashlee Halbritter
Year: 2008

Over the course of three months, I worked at The Wellness Community-West Los Angeles. They are an international non-profit organization providing mind-body classes, emotional support, and educational lectures to cancer patients, caregivers, and their loved ones. During my time here, I may not have found a cure for cancer, and I may not have saved a life, but I learned very important professional and life lessons.
My main project was helping to develop the strategic plan. This included organizing meetings with oncology providers in Los Angeles County, and arranging focus groups with The Wellness Community-West Los Angeles (TWC-WLA) participants and non-participants. Essentially, I conducted a needs assessment to find out what public perceptions are of TWC-WLA, what services are still needed, suggestions for expanding marketing efforts, and, in general, whether we are meeting the needs of people with cancer and their caregivers. In addition to the Strategic Plan, I was in charge of increasing our community outreach, which included forging new relationships with other psycho-social support services and community clinics in Los Angeles County.

My preceptor at The Wellness Community-West Los Angeles was the organization’s Executive Director, Ellen Silver. I cannot give her enough accolades. She was very interested in my skill development and making an investment in my future. She helped make the fieldwork more meaningful than I could have ever imagined.

In conclusion, I would highly recommend this field placement to anyone, especially those with little actual public health or real world experience because there is so much to learn here, and even more to learn from Ellen Silver. The work environment is very different from an academic setting, but it was adapting to, and working through, these changes that taught me so much.

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