"I hope to help children and families enhance strong connections, heal from trauma, create healthier patterns, and live the lives they desire. I believe when more individuals and families have the tools they need to live well, our whole community will be healthier and thrive.”

Courtney Yaple is a dedicated advocate and mother earning her MSW at the University of Michigan. Through years of tending to her family and working in the social services field as a rehabilitation specialist, an advocate and mentor for youth, and a home visitor in infant mental health, Courtney never lost sight of her educational goals. Instead, she became further motivated to take the personal experiences and challenges of these years to help other individuals and families heal.

Nine years after completing her undergraduate degree in psychology, Courtney’s persistence and motivation to give back led her to return to school with the goal of becoming a child and family therapist. She reflects, “With my MSW, I hope to help children and families enhance strong connections, heal from trauma, create healthier patterns, and live the lives they desire. I believe when more individuals and families have the tools they need to live well, our whole community will be healthier and thrive.” She is equally committed to making an impact by working to change the systems of power that marginalize and harm communities.

Courtney is deeply committed to her education and strengthening her gifts, and she has maintained a 4.0 GPA while raising her two young children. In March 2023, she also earned the Infant Mental Health Endorsement from the Michigan Association for Infant Mental Health. She is recognized by her mentors, supervisors, and professors as a “wise and wonderful” mother, community leader, and future social worker who is “dependable, organized, and passionate about her work.”

CEW+ applauds Courtney’s persistence and dedication to helping children and families and names her a Margaret Dow Towsley Scholar.