Written by Bev Caruso, Co-President of MSCSW
Is 50 or 60 years a sufficient number of years to be devoted to serving social justice, clients, clinicians, students, and your community? Not for Carol Schreier, who is in her 63rd year and going strong. After graduating from Creighton University (1962), Omaha Nebraska, working at Merrick Community Center for three years and then gaining her MSW at the University of Minnesota School of Social Work (1967), Carol launched into working for Hennepin County General Hospital Inpatient Psychiatry, as a team social worker and later Hennepin County Mental Health Center, where she worked as a clinician, trainer, supervisor, consultant and as a suicide prevention clinician. Carol was among that group of social workers who worked for social work licensure and was awarded an LICSW in 1989.
Even prior to licensure, Carol served as Interim Executive Director for the Women’s Resource Center, and launched her private practice in 1987, which she continued until her partial retirement. One opportunity leads to another, and in 2009 she found herself at St. Thomas/St Catherine’s Graduate Schools of Social Work as an adjunct instructor teaching “Clinical Supervision/ Program Management”. Life presented Carol with a health crisis, another opportunity, and a way to serve again when, after her personal experience with cancer, she became a group facilitator with Gilda’s Club, “Living with Cancer” (2015-2018).
All this plus, Carol never left her social justice advocate self behind. After protesting the Vietnam War, she demonstrated for Milwaukee Open Housing and has through the years worked for voting rights for all. Her current effort is her Friday afternoon (5:00-5:30pm) neighborhood protest (50th St. and Thomas Ave. S.) to advocate for the preservation of our democracy. The group is growing weekly. I’ll be there soon and hope to see you all.
Social work had much to thank Carol for. She developed and initiated the Advisory Counsel for the Board of Social Work, the ethics seminars, was one of the first teachers in the License Education Review Course, and wrote the manual for the LBSW level. Her contribution to the Clinical Society is notable as she served as President on two occasions and initiated the mentor groups for new clinicians. In addition to the Clinical Society Board, she served on the Minnesota Midway YMCA Camp DuNord, Women’s Resource Center, and the Minnesota Mental Health Association Boards. Her volunteer activity list is long and generous: Giving Voice; choral group for people with Alzheimer’s; Refuge Healing Group; fundraiser garage sales for YMCA Camp DuNord, creating and maintaining native /shade gardens for Minneapolis Parks and Recreation, Gardening Club of Minneapolis, neighborhood podcast group during the pandemic. And after all that, she manages to volunteer at her grandson’s elementary school.
Carol’s life is one of giving and also self-care.
She loves reading, writing, hiking, pickleball, bridge, gardening, theater, and any experience with young children, especially her grandson. Travel? Sure? Besides the USA, she has enjoyed Canada, Mexico, South America, Europe, Israel and even found service in Vietnam as a Global Volunteer, teaching blind massage therapy students English.
I asked Carol what she has learned over her social work career.
She shared:
- We are all more alike than different
- We all yearn for connection, closeness, love
- Meaning is more important than facts
- Talking helps: it changes the brain
- Self-awareness is essential
- When in doubt, consult
You can still find Carol for consultations, co-leading one of the Clinical Society supervision groups and advising the Membership Committee.
It seems too little to say- thank you for all you do. So we will add – Congratulations on an auspicious and generous career.
Photo from Carol’s neighborhood protest in Minneapolis, 2025
