Sheila Weaver’s path to social work at Boise State University started more than 20 years ago, before she even knew what the profession was.
A first-generation college student, Weaver took her first class at Boise State in 2002 and quickly felt out of place in an academic setting. She left school and instead built a career in public service, spending years at the Idaho Department of Health and Welfare before eventually finding her way back to the university. Along the way, she discovered social work, a path that let her transform her lived experience into a profession centered on care, advocacy, and creating change within systems.
Today, Weaver is program manager for the Family Caregiver Navigator Program within the Idaho Caregiver Alliance, a grant-funded initiative housed in Boise State’s School of Population and Public Health. She also serves as an adjunct professor in the School of Social Work, roles she said feel deeply intertwined.
“Graduation days are my favorite days of the year,” Weaver said. “I love seeing students become colleagues, then hearing from them as they’re out in the field. Being a small part of their social work story is a tremendous privilege.”
Experience shapes future
Weaver’s own story is closely tied to the families she serves. Raised by her grandparents, she grew up in a family affected by substance use, mental illness and incarceration. Those experiences, she said, shape how she shows up for others.
“I’ve walked through many of the same struggles our clients face,” she said. “It gives me a deep empathy and a very real connection to the work.”
With support from mentors and colleagues, Weaver returned to Boise State and completed her Bachelor of Social Work as a Child Welfare IV-E scholar. She went on to earn a Master of Social Work and later a Master of Public Administration, both from Boise State. That combination of clinical and policy training now informs much of her leadership.
Weaver serves as vice president of the Idaho Society for Clinical Social Work and has been involved with National Association of Social Worker – Idaho’s Legislative Education and Advocacy event for more than a decade. Last year, she helped bring Legislative Education and Advocacy Day back to the Statehouse in person for the first time since 2020, welcoming more than 300 social work students from across Idaho.
“I can’t fix every policy problem,” she said. “But I can help educate 300 more informed Idaho voters every year who know how to engage with their legislators. That matters.”
The importance of caregivers
In the Family Caregiver Navigator Program, Weaver and her team support Idahoans who are caring for family members, often with little formal recognition or support. That includes caregivers for older adults, people with disabilities and children whose parents are unable to care for them.
“Family caregivers are wildly under-supported in Idaho,” she said. “There are grandparents, aunts, uncles and neighbors quietly stepping in to raise kids or care for loved ones of all ages, often without a roadmap. Our job is to walk alongside them, connect them to resources and remind them they’re not alone.”
Weaver’s community work extends beyond formal titles. She points to a recent evening spent doing expressive art activities with children at a Spanish-speaking community event as an example of how simple presence can be powerful.
“I don’t speak Spanish, but I know social work values,” she said. “Sometimes the work is just showing up, sitting with people and creating a small pocket of joy or calm in a really hard time.”
Advice for future social work students
For students entering the field, Weaver’s advice is direct: get involved early and often.
“Engagement is one of the most powerful parts of your social work journey,” she said. “Organization of Student Social Workers, Phi Alpha, the Idaho Society for Clinical Social Work, these spaces give you mentorship, leadership opportunities and a sense of what’s happening in our community.”
She also encourages students to remember the communities that have shaped Idaho but are often overlooked.
“Our state was built by immigrants, Indigenous communities, women of color, LGBTQIA+ people and so many others whose contributions are invisible in policy conversations,” she said. “Social workers have a responsibility to pay attention to whose voices are missing and to show up accordingly.”
Looking ahead, Weaver hopes to continue working at the intersection of social work and policy and is exploring the possibility of pursuing a doctorate in public policy.
“We need more social workers in policy spaces, in rooms where decisions are made,” she said. “My hope is to keep growing as an educator, advocate and troublemaker in the best sense of the word, and to help the next generation of social workers see that they belong in those rooms, too.”