The seemingly unconnected talents of Mary Kenefick ’82 are actually quite complementary. by Bridget Meeds ’91 It’s the year 2050. A young woman arrives at the therapy center, enters a private booth, and sits down in front of a computer terminal. "How are you?" appears on the screen. "Well, not so good," she types. "Work was really terrible today." "Tell me how that makes you feel," the computer responds. This futuristic scenario is one way to imagine computers being used in the social work professions. And it’s not all that far-fetched. While she would never want to remove the human interaction from healing therapy, Mary Kenefick ’82 is working to find a way to improve its efficacy through the use of modern technology. Her new business, New England Multimedia Design, specializes in CD-ROM products to be used with clients and in training therapists. The company’s first CD-ROM, "Two Tales of a Town," is intended for use by survivors of incest and sexual abuse. "It’s an artistic-educational CD-ROM," explains Kenefick, "that takes people through not only the trauma, but also things they might be experiencing later in life that they haven’t put a name to before." Kenefick has seen a lot of clients with post-trauma symptoms that include panic attacks or depression. "The action of the CD-ROM takes place in a fictitious town called Littleville, which could be anywhere," she says. Just like victims of violence can be anyone, anywhere. "Everything looks fine on the outside, but on the inside there’s a whole lot else going on that you don’t see." Kenefick, who grew in Ilion, New York, and now makes her home in the Berkshires of Massachusetts, uses the program in her clinical practice by sitting with a client as he or she moves through the presentation. The material then becomes a springboard for discussion. It can also be used to train therapists to recognize symptom clusters or understand trauma situations they may not have experienced personally. Kenefick designed the entire program, including the concept, programming, design, and marketing. Combining artistic endeavors and social work is not new for Kenefick. She’s always been drawn to both. She began at Ithaca College as a music composition major, studying with Mary Ann Covert and Karel Husa. But after an injury that prevented her from playing the piano, she switched to sociology. Back then, her mentor, Martin Rand, was experimenting with the use of computers as an intake tool for therapists. But few such experiments were widely successful. "I think that’s because you need a human being in this process," Kenefick suggests. "As good as any program is, it always needs someone behind it." After graduating from Ithaca, Kenefick earned a master of social work degree from Smith College while teaching music in her private studio. She’s been working since 1987 as a social worker in private practice, focusing on treating survivors of incest and sexual abuse. But now she’s ready for a change. Pressures have also encouraged Kenefick to try a new career direction. "The social work field is saturated in this area, and managed health care makes it even more difficult," she says. And three years ago Kenefick adopted her daughter, Shasta Yemayah, who has special needs. "Being a parent has made me want to do something at a slower pace. And that’s very difficult," she says. "I think I’m going to end up having a dual career in social work and multimedia." Kenefick is currently training at Greenfield Community College, which has a strong program in multimedia design. She’s considering going on for another master’s or bachelor’s degree in the field. She has also begun playing music again. Recently she performed four of her compositions for solo piano at Smith College. "My music is a combination of folk and classically-oriented contemporary music," she explains. She hopes to integrate her own compositions into her multimedia work. She also plans to expand her multimedia business into several other areas. "I [already] put together family albums with soundtracks through animation, for special events like weddings and anniversaries," she says. "The photos fade from one to another, with text in between. What I’m planning next is to work for start-up businesses, to make CD-ROMS and websites that describe their products." As of now, artificial intelligence researchers have not come up with a machine that can match the complexities of the human mind and emotions. But they have created some technologies that can help humans help each other. Mary Kenefick is making good use of them. Photo by Nate Jasper
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A. Ozolins, Ithaca College Office of Publications, 27. Nov. 2001