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Like Moira Like Daughter

Like Moira Like Daughter

June 24, 2021

Born into Social Work: Like Moira like Daughter

CSW Alumnus (MSW ’18) and her mother Moira Dugan (BSSW ’87) discuss their social work values and appreciation for The Ohio State College of Social Work.

“Growing up with those values that were very much social work values guided me on what would be most important in a career.”

CSW Alumnus (MSW ’18) Emily Bango is as close as it comes to being born into the social work profession. From a small age, Emily felt compelled to help others, assuming she would ultimately become a teacher; however, she also felt herself interested in addressing systems as a whole. What led her to strive for this ambitious level of social change at such a young age? A mother who walked an almost identical path three decades prior.

After obtaining her BSSW from The Ohio State College of Social Work in 1987, Emily’s mother Moira received her MSW from The University of Pittsburgh. As one of nine children, Moira also developed her passion for helping others at a young age. Her older brother was born with developmental disabilities, which meant she spent a significant portion of her life acting as a caregiver, witnessing the care he received from professionals, and interacting with others like him. This fueled her passion to work in behavioral health and pursue a career where she could support individuals with physical and developmental disabilities. In the last 30 years, Moira has worked in healthcare, geriatrics and the mental health space. For the last 24 years she has worked in home health care for The Cleveland Clinic and most recently begun operating a private practice part-time.

Because her husband is also a mental health professional, Moira always instinctively felt that her children would follow a similar path.

“Our kids were born into an awareness of social justice,” she noted, reflecting on their influence on her children. “With Emily, my husband and I both encouraged her to go the social work route because of the vast options she could work under as well as the variety of work she could do.”

Emily is equally grateful for the passions she shares with her parents.

“Growing up with those values that were very much social work values guided me on what would be most important in a career. Just having my mom (and my dad too) there as a role model or resource makes a huge difference. Having somebody there to answer questions is super helpful and has made things a lot easier.”

Emily’s passion is community development and advocacy. She currently works for Providence House Crisis Nursery in Cleveland, an organization that focuses on family preservation by supporting children (ages 0–12) by providing them a safe place to stay while supporting parents navigate various crises.. Long-term she plans to remain flexible and open to different roles in community engagement. More than anything, her focus is to continue to provide support and opportunities to the children and families that need it the most.

With slightly different career paths, Moira and Emily are in agreement about one thing: they are both extremely grateful for the knowledge and mentorship they received from CSW faculty and staff.

Moira recalls one particularly influential professor, “The woman who taught our geriatric class worked for the governor in the geriatric program (as the Ohio Director of Aging) and started the PASSPORT program. The fact that our teacher had this amazing experience working within the government was so inspiring. I still feel like our professors were top-notch.”

“For me it’s been the mix of knowledge of both theory and applied practice because my professors have had really good knowledge and experience.” Emily noted, “You know that they have practiced what they teach.”