Caitlin Jividen is the University Social Worker, serving in the Division for Student Affairs at Fairmont State University, in Fairmont West Virginia. She is a licensed social worker and has experience in a wide variety of settings. She has provided services and support for families, “at risk” youth and adolescents, residentially challenged and special needs individuals, incarcerated and formerly incarcerated populations, and people experiencing and affected by addiction and recovery. She is trained and certified to help individuals deal with various aspects of trauma, including recent events, childhood trauma, conflict, and abuse. Caitlin is also a certified instructor for the Inside-Out Prison Exchange program, an international educational program, in which Fairmont State University participates, designed to bridge social divides.
In her role as a social worker in a higher education setting, Caitlin believes in fostering a holistic approach to helping students overcome life’s challenges and succeed in both the classroom and in life. As Fairmont State’s first University Social Worker, she has placed a priority on building networks of support with campus partners and community stakeholders, on supporting student empowerment and resiliency by identifying student strengths and challenges, on identifying institutional best practices as well as gaps in service to address critical areas of unmet student needs, and on working with all campus departments to establish a rapport and an understanding of how to best work together to achieve the goal of meeting students’ needs so they are empowered to thrive, as evidenced by improved education and positive outcomes of retention and graduation rates, especially among at-risk populations of students.