Maggie Carrasquillo

Director of Training of The Bronx Defenders’ Social Work Practice 

 

Being a defense social worker can be a lonely world. That’s what one participant shared with me during a lunch break at our inaugural Defenders Academy: Social Work Edition last November. Social workers and advocates often work in the most human, complex, and emotionally charged parts of defense work in criminal, housing, immigration, and family courts. We fight alongside the people we represent—in hospitals, jails, living rooms, shelters, schools, family policing system offices, and court hallways —to hold their lives together. We walk straight into the center of crises we did not create. We sit with grief we didn’t cause. And we look for solutions that often seem not to exist.  

Most importantly, we show up with creativity, compassion, and fight.  

And yet, professional development opportunities for social workers that recognize the complexity and breadth of our work are few and far between. In 2023, The Bronx Defenders decided to change that. We piloted a track for social workers in our flagship Defenders Academy that had focused historically on improving attorneys’ oral advocacy skills for trial. Our pilot was so successful that in 2025 we were finally able to launch our inaugural Defenders Academy: Social Work Edition.  

From the moment registration opened, the need was undeniable. Our academy reached full capacity quickly, and throughout the week attendees affirmed what we had long felt: specialized training grounded in holistic defense values had been missing from the field. The energy, vulnerability, and commitment participants brought into the room reassured us that we were filling a critical gap in professional development for defense social work. 

The program reflected the heart of our practice: immersing participants in hands-on workshops, simulation-based learning, and expert-led sessions spanning the full arc of holistic defense work. 

Stories are twenty-two times more memorable than standalone facts, and for social workers, our ability to be compelling is inseparable from our ability to provide a strong defense for the people we represent. In the academy, we hosted arts faculty that taught us how the pace of our speech and the pitch of our voices are tools for persuasion. At the end of the week, participants shared how invigorating and empowering it felt to work on using voice towards their advocacy.  

We held a lived-expert panel, including a parent advocate, re-entry advocate, and a criminal legal reform advocate who grounded the conversation in real experiences while reminding us to think long-term about the people we represent. They challenged us to see that the people we represent are not defined by the mistake that led to their system involvement, and inspired us to reflect on the role we can play in helping shape brighter outcomes, supporting individuals through difficult moments with the hope of a more positive ending, and making sure we keep our clients’ priorities and voices at the forefront of all decision making .  

Participants also asked the panel how they manage their own triggers while working within systems that have deeply impacted their own lives, and what empowered them to speak openly about their experiences. For defense social workers, moments like these, of vulnerability and recognition, are rare and valuable, offering a space for connection, validation, and collective resilience. 

Defenders Academy: Social Work Edition 2026 

We are thrilled to share that the Defenders Academy: Social Work Edition is returning this fall, November 16-20.  

This year, we are proud to introduce something new: in addition to our core training tracks, we are launching a pilot Policy Track. Many advocates shared that they often witness harmful policies firsthand yet are rarely given the training or platform to influence meaningful change. This pilot is our response to that gap: a space where practice expertise meets policy strategy, and where on-the-ground insights can support systemic transformation. 

Through this track, participants will explore how systems-level decisions are made, where defense-based advocates fit into that process, and how the stories of individual clients connect to community impact and legislative change.  

… 

In my opening remarks at last year’s Academy, I said I believe in your work, I believe in your power. So, this Social Work Appreciation Month, I want to say to every defense social worker and advocate: The loneliness this work can carry is real, but so is the community we can build inside of it. I believe in our work; I believe in our power.