Springfield College Master of Social Work Student Jeremy Lipka Earns BusinessWest 40 Under Forty

Springfield College master of social work student Jeremy Lipka has made a strong career focused on helping others as a recovery coach supervisor at the Center for Human Development (CHD), work that has earned Lipka a spot in BusinessWest’s 40 Under Forty Class of 2018.

Lipka currently supervisors the recovery coach program at the CHD in Greenfield overseeing a staff of seven coaches. It’s during his time at the CHD that allows Lipka to follow his passion of helping others as he assists those individuals in need of support.

“The program has a peer to peer focus, so all of the coaches, including myself are in recovery,” said Lipka. “It was during my time of volunteering at the CHD that led me to find my passion to do the work I am doing. It has led to this wonderful career that I feel grateful for, and I truly love going to work every day.”

While working at the CHD, Lipka quickly realized he wanted to continue his education, so he enrolled at the Springfield College School of Social Work, a school he truly feels is the perfect fit to help him achieve his future goals.

“Being a social worker is all about helping others and being an advocate for change, so it just seemed like a perfect fit for what I want to do,” said Lipka. “The School of Social Work has faculty who are always willing to support you in any way possible. The master of social work program is designed to pretty much make you succeed as a student.”

So as Lipka continues to balance his work at the CHD and his studies at the Springfield College School of Social Work, he has a vision for the future, and it continues to include service to others.

“I would like to get into directorship and running a recovery program,” added Lipka. “I would also like to get into implementing a little bit of change in programs we currently have already. I feel many of the programs are built around enforcement, which you do need, but I think we can improve some of the encouragement as it relates to some existing recovery programs.”