Brian Overbey

Brian Overbey

     Brian Overbey’s father told him to follow his heart, do what he loved. Even so, he tried something else first.

     He decided to study construction management, but realized he was more interested in working with teenagers than figuring out how to complete a building project. “I couldn’t get away from that,” Overbey said of his interest in helping people.

     Overbey decided to switch directions and joined the BSW program at IUPUI. Suddenly, he found his new path filled with excitement. If he was full of his passion for becoming a social worker, it was an emotion he found reflected in faculty as well.

      “You’ve got passion,” Overbey remembered being told. “Now let us show you how to be effective.”

       Classes, he found, are more than a recital from a textbook, but a teacher relaying practical experiences to enhance whatever he and his classmates are learning.

      For his first practicum, or internship, Overbey was placed at an agency working with teenagers with addiction problems, young people who came from a background much different than his.

      To say he is thrilled with the opportunity is an understatement. “Their reality is so different from mine and they are teaching me so much,” Overbey said. “This practicum has really opened up my eyes.”

      None of the teens he is working with have asked for sympathy or a shoulder to cry on, Overbey said. Instead, they want to know why he cares about what happens to them.

     The teens come from low-income backgrounds and Overbey has discovered how much he likes to work with them.

      “I love it.”