Class of 2024: Love of books inspires an artistic pathway to social work degree

As a child, there was nothing that Trisha Punzalan enjoyed more more than browsing the stacks of the Village Square Library following her swimming lessons at the adjacent leisure centre. She’d spend hours soaking in the illustrations and stories from her favourite books while her mom used the computers. Before long, she was creating her own illustrated stories and in high school even tried writing a novel.

So it’s fitting that, when she crosses the stage at the University of Calgary’s fall convocation with her Bachelor of Social Work degree, Punzalan will be celebrating more than getting her parchment. She’ll also be celebrating the recent release of her children’s book, Backpack, that she researched, wrote and illustrated, during a unique self-directed practicum that was the exclamation mark on her degree. Backpack explores resilience and the importance of supportive relationships for children facing life’s challenges.

Punzalan and her mother came to Calgary from the Philippines when she was just two. Her mom unwittingly enrolled her in a French-immersion school and was amazed when Punzalan started to come home babbling in another language.

Her mom rolled with it, however, and Punzalan thrived in bilingual education, adorning the margins of all her notebooks with the charming illustrations her family and friends loved so much. She decided, early on, that she was going to be a nurse, even taking health-care aide courses during high school. But she didn’t enjoy the health-care settings she experienced, so, she decided to try social work, “I still really wanted to be in a profession with people, interacting with people,” Punzalan says. “I thought social work would be a good alternative.”

Experiential learning — or practicum — is a big part a future social worker’s education that allows them to try different professional experiences. Following her first practicum, with Alberta Health Services, she decided that she wanted to explore social work outside of a healthcare setting. For her second practicum, she thought she would take advantage of the Faculty of Social Work’s unique, self-directed practicum that allows students to pursue a project of area of special interest — or passion — under the guidance of a faculty member.

For this, Punzalan combined her interest in trauma, particularly childhood trauma and complex PTSD, with her love of reading and drawing, ambitiously deciding to create a children’s book that would introduce young readers and their parents to concepts of resilience and protective factors in a relatable, accessible way.

Backpack tells the story of a young boy named Ben and uses the brilliant idea of a backpack as a metaphor to describe personal resilience.

“The story starts off with our main character, Ben. He’s a baby, so he has an invisible backpack, but it’s empty,” says Punzalan.

As Ben grows, he learns life lessons from family, friends and teachers, such as the importance of making mistakes and then learning from them, she says. These lessons go into his backpack as protective factors, helping him through tough times. When a tragic event strikes and Ben loses a close friend, he finds strength in these lessons and begins helping another friend fill her own “backpack” with similar tools.

The process of creating the book was informed by research, what she’d learned in her BSW and the guidance of her practicum supervisor, Stephanie Grant.

For Punzalan, a children’s book with delightful and simple illustrations was the perfect vehicle to help children understand the complex ideas she was trying to get across. “It’s a bit like the (Disney film) Inside Out, kind of bubble thing,” she says, describing how each lesson Ben learns takes form and goes into his invisible backpack.

Backpack, which is available on Amazon, has already garnered enthusiastic response from friends, family and her extended personal network. She shared the book with her mom who was so proud, she promptly sent it to everyone she knew.

But the book is being praised and getting serious notice from those who work with the children and youth that Punzalan is trying to help, including Calgary’s Luna Child Advocacy Centre.

Her hope is that Backpack will become a resource for families, teachers and mental health practitioners to encourage conversations about resilience and connection.

“I hope that some kid out there reads it and finds hope,” Punzalan says. “It’s okay to make mistakes, it’s okay to ask for help and it’s okay to be vulnerable.”

With graduation approaching, Punzalan is taking some time to reflect and rest. She plans to celebrate with a bucket-list trip to Japan with her mom, during which she’ll have the chance to explore a culture she admires, including exploring her passion for Japanese anime and illustration, as the home of Sanrio and Hello Kitty.

After that, she thinks her path will look for ways to use her degree outside of a health-care setting, in more of a community outreach position. Not surprisingly, Punzalan thinks her dream job might be to go full-circle to where it kind of all started for her, as a library social worker. Like many new grads, she’s not yet sure of the next step, but she’s excited about the possibilities, knowing her journey has only just begun.

“I think social work is really valuable, not just in my professional life, but also in my personal life,” Punzalan says. “I’m glad that I’ve chosen social work as a degree and that I had the chance to share this story.”