About
Marisa Barlow
The children whom Marisa Barlow (MSW ’03) counsels at Mercy Behavioral Health in Pittsburgh have one question on their minds: “What do I tell people when I come back?” Many were removed from school after being diagnosed with severe mental health disturbances, and they’re apprehensive about returning.
Barlow, who works as a liaison between Mercy and local school districts, tries to ease their fears while advising their teachers and other educators. Emotionally fragile students need support at home, school, and in the community, Barlow says: “Everyone has to keep their eye out for what’s going on.” Pitt's School of Social Work left her “very well-prepared,” she says, for a job that straddles both education and mental health. Events in her own life changed Barlow’s perspective as well. In 2006, she was diagnosed with a brain tumor; she returned to work in fall 2007 after surgery and chemotherapy. “At first I had a very hard time asking other people for help,” Barlow says. “Now I know what it feels like when you’re confronted with a sickness at a very young age. …It’s helped me understand what it’s like to be on the other side of the desk.”