Karina Davis (MSW ’26), a 2025–26 CSWE Minority Fellowship Program Fellow, is focused on advancing more equitable, community-driven approaches to mental health and social services. Drawing on her experiences in the East Bay and her interdisciplinary academic background, Davis is committed to reshaping how care is delivered and to ensuring that those most impacted by systems have a voice in transforming them.
What drew you to pursue an MSW, and what led you to Berkeley Social Welfare specifically?
Examining the limitations of operating exclusively under the medical model, I shifted to examining the structural and environmental determinants of health, prosperity, and emotional wellness. My interests in sociology, demography, psychology, and anthropology led me in the direction of pursuing a more interdisciplinary degree that connects these subjects with historical contexts and social justice theory and orientations.
Prior to all of this, I was motivated to pursue a degree in social work after witnessing and experiencing barriers to adequate healthcare, education, housing, and opportunity in my own communities of diverse queer women in the East Bay and with first-generation community college students at Laney College (Peralta Unified School District). I collaborated on researching shared experiences, themes, and possible interventions with other students who had previously “dropped out” due to financial hardship, housing instability, becoming incarcerated, and/or taking on caretaking responsibilities.
Later, I found community at UC Santa Cruz while completing an intersectional analysis of the impact of economic inequality on cognitive, emotional, interpersonal, intergroup, and physiological health outcomes. I was extremely motivated to integrate community health and policy development after taking courses led by Dr. Alicia Riley and shadowing research conducted by Dr. Roxy Davis on criminalization of poverty and homelessness. That experience reinforced my belief that the criminal legal system is a tool for perpetuating racial and economic hierarchy, one that leads to marginalized populations being overcharged beyond what is substantiated by their cases along with subsequent, ongoing health inequity.
It also led me to apply to Berkeley Social Welfare (BSW) with the goal of continuing to work with underserved populations in non-profits, community-based organizations, and medical social work settings in Alameda County and the greater Bay Area.
Can you share a bit about the communities or experiences that have shaped your commitment to social work?
The BSW MSW program has informed me of additional gaps in our current social service, legal, and educational systems, and motivated me to engage in multilevel social work practice aimed at reforming the structure of service delivery and its oppressive nature. In part, I aim to help elevate the voices of the individuals and communities we work with to inform decision makers and implement changes based on the demands of those who directly utilize services.
This is because it is clear that policymakers and many practitioners do not understand what needs to be changed in the same way that oppressed communities do. In partnership with LifeLong Medical Care’s supportive housing program and the East Bay Community Recovery Program, I have been organizing a mental health and community integration support program in downtown Oakland, collecting qualitative data based on our meetings and participant interviews, and analyzing the data to inform stakeholders of community needs and possible interventions for improving mental health care services in Alameda County.
I was also incentivized by the CSWE to begin co-facilitating a LGBTQIA+ support group at my job site to collectively address existing barriers to care and the importance of considering intersectionality of identities in social work and medical care provision. My hope in the short-term is that this work will generate a shared sense of community and empowerment. In the intermediate to long-term, I hope that these support programs will not only continue to be used to inform folks in positions of power, but also to influence a shift in distribution of power to the hands of those who are directly affected by marginalization, stigmatization, and ableism.
What does being selected as a CSWE Minority Fellowship Program Fellow mean to you personally and professionally?
Being awarded the CSWE MFP fellowship award is one of my biggest personal and professional accomplishments! It means that I can continue to learn and be in community with like-minded individuals post-graduation. It creates a sense of connectedness that is much-needed in the face of political upheaval and the disruption of so many critical services. It presents a critical juncture in my life that forces me to reflect on the closure of one transformative chapter while anticipating the beginning of the next.
My focus is on humanization of our experiences of navigating complex systems and institutions in alignment with the motivations of the CSWE, which is dedicated to empowerment of minoritized groups in political, educational, and social work settings.
What changes would you like to see in mental health or substance use services, particularly for historically marginalized communities?
I’d like to see more person-oriented projects and trust being placed on systems-impacted folks to lead based on experience and so that we can develop more informed, educational interventions, rather than punitive ones. And ideally, I’d like to see divestment in the prison complex system and accountability in the legal system for the systemic conflation of stereotypes and oppression of poor people under the guise of legal impartiality, fairness, and “justice”.
In a time of shifting policies and uncertainty for many communities who rely on social services and mental health supports, what sustains and motivates you in this work?
In a time of shifting policies and uncertainty for many communities who rely on social services and mental health supports, I am sustained by exchanging mutual support and resources with my local communities and engaging in acts of self-preservation in the form of resting (when possible), seeing live performances, and visiting beautiful places around the Bay.
I find motivation through participating in diverse, knowledgeable, and mutually empowering communities that focus on emotional wellness, continuous learning, and building opportunities, rather than stagnance and homogeny. I am also personally motivated by my grandmother who always saw the good in each person and taught me the value of truly listening and being in community with each other.