Required Learning Practicum — 1-Hour Mentoring with LCSW for Alliant University
10 PARTICIPANTS · Monday, September 28, 2026 · 8:28 PM EDT · 1 hour 24 minutes
On Monday, September 28, 2026, ten members of the VoiceUp practicum community gathered virtually for an hour of mentoring with Danica Nestor, LCSW. Art Fuller opened the evening with administrative reminders — weekly logs current, Base44 explored, standards videos watched — and a briefing on the Muse application, which he called a consolidating assistant for the 20+ VoiceUp platforms. The heart of the session was project updates. Sabrena Marie showed her family-education app for regional-center clients; Aasha Byers brought a traditional athlete-counseling website as her starting reference; Adawna Danly laid out a reentry-resources concept for people leaving incarceration; Jose Rosiles demoed his "Caseload Copilot" AI agent inside Haven Clinician; Diana Cisneros, brand new to the group, named her aim — connecting immigrant families to mental-health services; and Carah Ann reported progress on her women's and adolescent health app. Across every update, the mentors pressed the same principles: state your work in one or two sentences, start small enough to get it right for one person, root the work in lived experience and passion, use existing evidence instead of reinventing categories, and design for privacy and plain language. Raymond Williams named the throughline: "project versus passion" — work that comes from passion carries further. The group left with homework, mentor pairings, and a new standing ritual: next week, everyone opens with their lifeline.
Details
Date
Monday, September 28, 2026
Time
8:28 PM EDT · 1 hour 24 minutes
Location
Virtual (Alliant University Mentoring)
Facilitator / Mentoring LCSW
Art Fuller · Danica Nestor, LCSW
Key Developments
- Alliant University students were reminded to keep weekly logs and time tracking current — no end-of-semester reconstruction.
- Art Fuller briefed the group on the Muse application and said he is "tripling down" on it as a consolidating assistant across platforms.
- New standing format adopted: every attendee will open next week's meeting by stating their project in one or two clear sentences (the "lifeline").
- Sabrena Marie is building a family-education app for regional-center clients (Services tab, pre-IPP tab, calendar/reminder tab under consideration); homework: connect her multilingual work to the Bill Gates five-year AI-languages initiative.
- Aasha Byers built a traditional website for athlete counseling as a starting reference; Jeff Cheeks and Raymond Williams paired as her mentors.
- Adawna Danly is building a reentry-resources app for incarcerated people upon release; guidance: narrow to one county and ground categories in existing reentry data.
- Jose Rosiles added an AI recap feature and a "Caseload Copilot" agent to Haven Clinician; he will share it with the full group next week for feedback.
- Diana Cisneros (new attendee) will connect immigrant families to mental health services; she will narrow to a specific population and research its top barriers first.
- Carah Ann is building a women's/adolescent health app; Art will connect her with Dr. Sahibia, author of a book on living with PCOS.
- 17 Doctor of Public Health students joined VoiceUp this week and are available as an additional resource to the group.
Know the Five Principles Your Reflection Is Graded On
Read before you reflect
Every reflection you submit is graded against Voice Up's five core principles: Collaboration, Humility, Precision, Patience, and Empathy. Read the Student Resource Guide before you answer — it explains what each principle looks like in practice.
Read — Student Resource GuidePrize: A $25–$50 gift card, drawn every week.
Eligibility: Be a registered Voice Up member; read the full minutes above; check the confirmation box; answer all three reflection questions.
Closing: Entries close Sunday at 11:59 PM ET each week. Each week's drawing covers that week's meetings.
Winners: Winners are announced in the following week's meeting minutes and notified by email.
Last week's winners: Alabi Omotola (Miriam) and Carah Ann. Congratulations!
No purchase necessary. Official raffle terms pending legal review.
Voice Up Leadership / Staff
Art Fuller
Facilitator; Founder, VoiceUp
Danica Nestor, LCSW
Mentoring LCSW for the practicum
Jeff Cheeks
VoiceUp core leadership team
Raymond Williams
VoiceUp core leadership team
Participants
Sabrena Marie
Student; service coordinator with regional centers; building family-education app
Aasha Byers
Student; aspiring sports psychology counselor; building athlete counseling website
Adawna Danly
Building reentry-resources app for incarcerated and released individuals
Jose Rosiles
Building Haven Clinician app; developed "Caseload Copilot" agent
Diana Cisneros
New attendee; service coordinator with regional centers; immigrant-family mental health access
Carah Ann
UTA public health student; building women's/adolescent health app
Full Meeting Record
(9 sections · tap to expand/collapse)Art Fuller opened the meeting, welcomed attendees, and noted it was his birthday weekend. Alliant students were reminded to submit weekly logs and time tracking promptly — no reconstructing at the end of the semester. Two activities for the week: (1) join and experiment with the Base44 platform, and (2) watch at least one standards video.
"For the Alliant University students, I just want to make sure … did you submit your weekly log? It is very important that you submit that … so you don't have to try to figure things out towards the end of the semester."
— Art Fuller
Art strongly encouraged exploring Muse, which consolidates work across many platforms, confirms actions before sending, and can operate his 20+ VoiceUp Base44 apps on instruction. Raymond Williams is still researching how Muse connects to work systems; Art endorsed the research and said he is "tripling down" on it.
"If you have not taken the moment to explore what Muse can do, you literally are just hurting yourself … time is the most valuable thing we have."
— Art Fuller
"I am tripling down … on [Muse]."
— Art Fuller
Sabrena is working on the Services tab educating families before assessments; she previously built a pre-IPP tab with plain-language intake questions (families can save responses as PDF). Feedback: Danica asked how families are routed to the app; Jeff asked whether responses flow to the social worker; Diana suggested calendar reminders ahead of IPPs; Jeff suggested user accounts for appointments. Homework: connect multilingual work to the Bill Gates five-year AI-languages initiative.
"I'm finding that families are coming in very uneducated and not aware of the services that they're able to have."
— Sabrena Marie
Aasha built a traditional website (career counseling, rehabilitation therapy) as a starting reference instead of Base44. Art affirmed it as a valid point of reference; assigned mentors Jeff Cheeks and Raymond Williams.
Adawna laid out a resource-app concept (transitional housing, jobs, medical, driver's license/ID) for people upon release. Jeff noted federal prisons have social workers and suggested QR-code posters linking to location-based resources; Aasha suggested workforce-office partnerships; Danica advised starting from existing reentry data and defining high-level categories first; Sabrena shared a Folsom prison social-worker contact. Art's guidance: start small — get it right for one person, then grow.
"I want to be able to offer and help the incarcerated that are being released with resources … when they walk out the gate."
— Adawna Danly
"You don't have to reinvent the wheel. There's a lot of data out there in regards to reentry, and that's probably where you want to start."
— Danica Nestor
"You got to start small … once you do get it right with just even that one person, then that's the foundation where you can get it right with two people or three, and then that's how it grows."
— Art Fuller
Jose added an AI recap feature and built a "Caseload Copilot" agent that retrieves dated notes; he plans more agents. Art asked permission to share Haven Clinician with the full group; Jose agreed; feedback session next week.
Diana, new to the group and "really lost" on Base44, was undecided between website and app. Her one-sentence statement: "I would like to connect immigrant families to mental health services." Raymond advised narrowing to a specific population and identifying top five needs/barriers; Danica pressed on mechanism and payment; Sabrena suggested a confidentiality/anonymity feature and shared her ChatGPT-to-Base44 workflow; Jeff suggested Diana ask her own family about barriers directly. Art called her lived experience "irreplaceable."
"I would like to connect immigrant families to mental health services."
— Diana Cisneros
"Project versus passion … if it comes from passion, you're going to actually put a lot more into it versus … a project."
— Raymond Williams
"I'm an immigrant myself … survival needs comes first … I need to be able to feed my family and keep my job."
— Danica Nestor
Carah met her UTA lab director for a public-health assignment; discussed undiagnosed adolescent conditions (endometriosis, PCOS); uploaded an existing application file into Base44 and iterated on its suggestions. Art will connect her with Dr. Sahibia, author of a book on living with PCOS.
"You have to just take it one person at a time … if you are able to do something that helps one person get a little bit better, that is worth it."
— Art Fuller
Standing requirement announced: everyone opens next week stating their project in one or two clear sentences. Guidance: start small, take all feedback, align work with passion. 17 Doctor of Public Health students joined VoiceUp this week as a resource.
"When you come back next week, the first thing I'm going to ask you is to explain what you want to do in one or two sentences … clear, precise."
— Art Fuller
Action Items
| # | Action | Owner | Due |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Submit weekly logs / time tracking | All Alliant students | Ongoing weekly |
| 2 | Experiment with the Base44 platform; watch at least one standards video | All students | Next meeting |
| 3 | Explore the Muse application | All attendees | Next meeting |
| 4 | Circulate the Bill Gates five-year AI-languages initiative article | Art Fuller | This week |
| 5 | Continue Services tab; evaluate calendar/reminder tab; keep family-held design | Sabrena Marie | Next meeting |
| 6 | Mentoring sessions on athlete-counseling direction and Base44 | Jeff Cheeks + Raymond Williams with Aasha Byers | Next 2 weeks |
| 7 | Send Aasha Byers' website link to Jeff Cheeks and Raymond Williams | Art Fuller | This week |
| 8 | Narrow reentry app to one county; research existing reentry data | Adawna Danly | Next meeting |
| 9 | Continue Caseload Copilot agent development | Jose Rosiles | Next meeting |
| 10 | Prepare Haven Clinician for group share and feedback | Jose Rosiles / Art Fuller | Next meeting |
| 11 | Research immigrant mental-health barriers; narrow to a specific population | Diana Cisneros | Next meeting |
Voices — Key Quotes
"For the Alliant University students, I just want to make sure … did you submit your weekly log? It is very important that you submit that … so you don't have to try to figure things out towards the end of the semester."
— Art Fuller
02:37
"If you have not taken the moment to explore what Muse can do, you literally are just hurting yourself … time is the most valuable thing we have."
— Art Fuller
~05:00
"I am tripling down … on [Muse]."
— Art Fuller
08:58
"I'm finding that families are coming in very uneducated and not aware of the services that they're able to have."
— Sabrena Marie
10:54
"I want to be able to offer and help the incarcerated that are being released with resources … when they walk out the gate."
— Adawna Danly
38:32
"You don't have to reinvent the wheel. There's a lot of data out there in regards to reentry, and that's probably where you want to start."
— Danica Nestor
40:55
"You got to start small … once you do get it right with just even that one person, then that's the foundation where you can get it right with two people or three, and then that's how it grows."
— Art Fuller
45:09
"Your lifeline sums up whatever you have to offer … your lifeline speaks to your passion … in two or three sentences, no more than three sentences, and that's the foundation."
— Raymond Williams
47:54
"I would like to connect immigrant families to mental health services."
— Diana Cisneros
54:18
"Project versus passion … if it comes from passion, you're going to actually put a lot more into it versus … a project."
— Raymond Williams
1:02:30
"I'm an immigrant myself … survival needs comes first … I need to be able to feed my family and keep my job."
— Danica Nestor
1:04:41
"You have to just take it one person at a time … if you are able to do something that helps one person get a little bit better, that is worth it."
— Art Fuller
1:11:30
"When you come back next week, the first thing I'm going to ask you is to explain what you want to do in one or two sentences … clear, precise."
— Art Fuller
1:16:04
Session Themes
Every project in this room started with someone's lived experience. In your own words, what is the one-or-two-sentence "lifeline" for the work you are building — and what is the smallest first step you can take this week to prove it with one person?
Write Your Lifeline
From the September 28 practicum: every attendee was asked to state their project in one or two clear sentences. Write yours here — it saves to your record.
Answer three questions
What lived experience or passion drives you?
Start with what you've lived. Your hardest chapter is often your greatest asset.
Who is the ONE person you want to help first?
Don't start with the world. Start with one person — get it right for them, then grow.
What will change for them because of you?
Name the concrete outcome: what will they do, get, or become?
Write it — your lifeline in one or two sentences
0 characters · aim for one or two sentences
Your lifeline will appear here as you type...
Real examples from the Sep 28 practicum
"I want to help incarcerated people being released with resources — transitional housing, housing, jobs, licenses and ID — when they walk out the gate."
— Adawna Danly
"I would like to connect immigrant families to mental health services."
— Diana Cisneros
Save your lifeline
You're not signed in. Your lifeline will be saved to this device only. to save it to your account.
Continue the conversation — meet with Art
An important next step for everyone in the room: take the conversation from the practicum into a real one-on-one. Use the link below to set up an initial meeting with Art and keep the momentum going.
- Aasha — set up an initial meeting with Art at the link below. It's also the best way to connect with both Jeff and Raymond and continue the conversation from the meeting.
- Diana — use the same link to set up an initial meeting with Art and continue your conversation.
Reflection Questions — Raffle Entry
Answer all questions from this meeting's minutes. Upon submission you'll receive real-time AI feedback graded on Voice Up's five core principles — and you'll be entered into this week's $25–$50 gift card raffle.
Monday, October 5, 2026 · 8:28 PM ET · Virtual meeting. Standing agenda: each attendee opens by stating their project in one or two clear, precise sentences.
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