Month: January 2023

SSW Marks Black History Month with Call for Racial Justice

From the Desk of Dean Heller

Dear Colleagues,

While Black History Month presents us with the opportunity to celebrate the contributions of African Americans to our nation’s history, at this moment we are also called to redouble our commitment to the cause of racial justice.Black History Month graphic

As many of you know, in early January, 29-year-old Tyre Nichols of Memphis, Tennessee died after being fatally beaten by police officers during a traffic stop. His death is a painful reminder that just three years after George Floyd’s death, Black people remain disproportionate targets of police violence. At the School of Social Work, we are staunchly opposed to systemic racism and will continue to use the tools of teaching, scholarship, and community and professional action to call attention to and end the structural inequities that harm Black communities.

Fittingly, the theme for this year’s Black History Month is “Black Resistance.” According to the Association for the Study of African American Life and History, the theme addresses the fact that “African Americans have resisted historic and ongoing oppression, in all forms, especially the racial terrorism of lynching, racial pogroms, and police killings since our arrival upon these shores.” We are all too aware of how anti-Blackness continues with efforts to erase Black history and excuse violence. As long as such anti-Black oppression exists, the School of Social Work will work to challenge it, locally and globally.

The School’s Black History 365 committee engages in this work by honoring and highlighting Black lives, contributions, and culture throughout the year. On Feb. 1, we’re hosting “Giving Voice to the Black Experience,” an event with local artist Miles Wilson-Toliver who will discuss a form of resistance – the rejection of Euro-classical voice technique which paved the way to a more universal technique: RSVP at http://s.uconn.edu/BH365.

All month long, I strongly encourage you to explore opportunities at UConn and in your community to highlight the accomplishments and impact of Black and African American communities on our history, society, and culture. Visit a museum, attend a lecture, read a book, volunteer. These efforts advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism, as well as our goal to support and value the experiences of our Black students and colleagues.

In solidarity,

 

Nina Rovinelli Heller, Ph.D.
Dean and Professor
Zachs Chair in Social Work

 

 

 

 

 

Understanding Grief in Children/Teens in Foster/Residential Care

Ruth Pearlman, LCSW, LICSW, M.ED
Wed, March 29, 2023Register Now for CE programs now
10 am – 12 pm (ET)
2 CECs

$40 – UConn SSW Alumni and Current Field Instructors
$50 – All Others

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

As social workers, we tend to have limited training in the grief of children. How they cognitively and psychologically understand loss is often omitted from our core learning objectives. For children in foster or residential or alternative care, the research is even more limited. This webinar will focus on the specific bereavement and grief experiences of children in alternative care. We will explore how a child, to even “be” in alternative care, is to be a griever. Any alternative care for a child, by its very definition, requires that the child in care has either lost a family member(s) to actual death or another form of loss that often feels like a death.

How have we systemically viewed these grieving children? Are we more likely to diagnose their expressions of grief as negative behaviors? Can the most oppositional child we treat be among the most bereaved children we have encountered?

This webinar will examine children in alternative care as disenfranchised grievers. We will address the bereavement needs that so often, and unintentionally, go untreated. We will also explore why this grief has been systemically undertreated due to a system that was never given adequate resources to address the bereavement needs of these children.

Participants will:

  • be able to identify the common symptoms of grief experienced by children in care
  • be able to identify how grief manifests in behavioral symptoms
  • learn positive interventions to address grief and loss issues of children in alternative care

Celebrating Martin Luther King Jr. Day

From the Office of Dean Heller

Dear Colleagues,

On Monday, January 16, we recognize Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. For four decades, this holiday has provided an opportunity to celebrate the life and contributions of this legendary civil rights leader. At UConn School of Social Work, we also take this moment to reaffirm our commitment to Dr. King’s Dream and the ongoing struggle for racial justice.

The goal of achieving racial, social, and economic justice is central to our School’s mission and a major focus of Social Work for Impact: Our Five-Year Strategic Plan. Our faculty and staff are deeply committed to continuing to engage in meaningful dialogue about diversity, equity, inclusion, and anti-racism in our community and in our work. We also pledge to hold ourselves accountable and to take action to advance racial justice.

As part of this commitment, we recently published our School’s definition of anti-racism in order to clarify our purpose and goals moving forward. It states that anti-racism is “collective and individual actions designed to ensure that all members of our community experience, in equal measure over time and place, belonging, power, esteem, success, and wellness.” As a community of social work students, faculty and staff, we know that our mission can only be realized when justice is achieved for those who have long been excluded, especially racially oppressed people in our community and world.

On MLK Day, I encourage you to participate in events organized at UConn and in our community. These include the MLK Living Legacy Convocation and the MLK Day of Service.  For information about these events and other events across the state, please visit UConn’s Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice website.

 

In solidarity,

Nina Rovinelli Heller, Ph.D.
Dean and Professor
Zachs Chair in Social Work

 

 

Developing Comfort and Confidence with Tapping (EFT)

Catherine Ewing, LCSW, MDivRegister Now for CE programs now
Monday, March 27, 2023
10 am – 12 pm (ET)
2 CECs

$40 – UConn SSW Alumni and Current Field Instructors
$50 – All Others

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete

This webinar is a great follow up for those who have taken Fundamentals of Emotional Freedom Technique: Care for Clients and Practitioners, other Entry Level EFT classes, or practicing on their own. Based on feedback from prior participants, this follow up class has proven helpful in deepening understanding and developing confidence in using EFT.

Getting comfortable using EFT comes with practicing on yourself and with clients who are generally well-functioning but may be struggling with anxiety, physical pain, intrusive thoughts, self-limiting beliefs or life changes. The more you use EFT and see the consistent positive results, the less strange it will feel and the more opportunities you will find to use it for your clients and your own self-care.

This webinar will include a review of the Basic Recipe for tapping, including tapping points, set-up phrase and basic tapping protocol. Additional topics to be introduced and further explored will be the Personal Peace Procedure, Tapping to Install Positive Beliefs, Borrowing Benefits, and how EFT dovetails with the Law of Attraction. There will be ample time for group tapping, demonstration, and Q&A.

Participants in this interactive webinar will:

  • Develop more comfort and confidence using EFT for self and with clients
  • Understand the Personal Peace Procedure and its appropriate use
  • Learn protocol for Tapping in Positive Beliefs
  • Learn about the power of Borrowing Benefits in group settings
  • Understand the energetic integration of EFT and the LOA

Fundamentals of Emotional Freedom Technique

Catherine Ewing, LCSW, MDivRegister Now for CE programs now

Monday, Feb 27
10 am – 12 pm (ET)
2 CECs

$40 – UConn SSW Alumni and Current Field Instructors
$50 – All Others

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete

Emotional Freedom Technique is a form of Energy Psychology, combining psychotherapy and energy healing techniques. It is based on the understanding of the human body as an electrical system and the recognition of the systems of subtle energy that surround and interface with the physical body. When that energy system is disrupted, a person experiences mental, emotional or physical imbalance.

EFT has application across a broad range of issues, including stress and anxiety related disorders, PTSD, physical pain, self-sabotage, cravings and addictions and performance. It draws from a variety of proven modalities, including Thought Field Therapy, acupuncture, biofeedback, EMDR, hypnosis, cognitive behavioral therapy and applied kinesiology.
Various forms of Energy Psychology have been practiced since the early 1980s. In recent years, EFT has been researched in more than 10 countries, by more than 60 investigators, whose results have been published in more than 20 different peer-reviewed journals.

In this engaging workshop, participants will learn how to use Emotional Freedom Technique both for their own self-care and for working with their clients, students, colleagues and families.

In this engaging seminar, participants will:

  • learn about the psychological and medical roots of EFT
  • learn the Basic Recipe and Tapping Sequence of EFT
  • understand how EFT can be used to bring down high emotional charge in both current issues such as anxiety and fear, as well as from past trauma
  • have a direct experience of the benefits of tapping
  • learn how to use Emotional Freedom Technique with their clients and for their own self-care

 

Art of Diagnosis – Webinar

Register for CE programs nowJennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-II
Virtual

Thurs, Oct 12, 2023
10 am – 12 pm (ET)
2 CECs

Registration Fee: $50
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and current SSW Field Instructors

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

Although a large component of the daily work of social workers is to diagnose psychiatric illnesses, there is little education on how to do that well. This training teaches how to differentially diagnose using specific questions and provides distinct tools that clinicians can use in sessions.

In this live webinar, you will:

  • Explore common diagnostic mistakes clinicians make
  • Learn to accurately use the Mental Status Exam as a diagnostic tool
  • Gather the assessment tools available in the DSM 5 and elsewhere
  • Practice differential diagnosis by disorder type through vignettes

The Clinical Interview

Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-IIRegister for CE programs now
Virtual

Thurs, Nov 9, 2023
10 am – 12 pm (ET)
2 CECs

Registration Fee: $50
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and current SSW Field Instructors

Trainings on assessment and diagnosis typically focus on client symptoms and psychopathology, and examine existing diagnostic assessment tools. This training has the actual clinical interview at its focus, exploring how to gather the information you need from each client. Participants will learn how to prepare, what skills are needed, and where to focus each section of the interview.

Learning Objectives:

  • Gather all the needed questions to conduct a solid clinical interview
  • Learn the components of motivational interviewing
  • Explore how to direct and redirect the path of the clinical interview
  • Practice clinical interviewing skills; identify strengths and challenges

Making Sense of the DSM 5

Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-IIRegister for CE programs now
Virtual

Thurs, Oct 26, 2023
10 am – 12 pm (ET)
2 CECs

Registration Fee: $50
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and current SSW Field Instructors

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

The 5th edition of the DSM brings with it some of the most significant changes between editions. In addition to changes in the disorders themselves and how they are grouped, the diagnostic system has been revamped. Are you prepared to incorporate the changes into your practice and to diagnose your clients accurately? This training shows you how to use the DSM5 to enhance your assessment skills.

Learning Objectives:

  • Understand the major philosophical changes to the diagnosis process in the DSM 5
  • Learn the categorical and disorder changes and additions introduced in the DSM 5
  • Examine the assessment tools published with the DSM 5
  • Practice diagnosis using the DSM 5 through numerous clinical vignettes

Racial Justice and Implicit Bias: Fostering Authentic Engagement

Provides 2 hours of content on cultural competence.

Qur-an Webb, MSW and colleagues from Welcome 2 RealRegister Now for CE programsity

Tuesday, October 24, 2023
6:00 – 8:00 pm
2 CECs
Webinar

Registration Fee: $50
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and current SSW Field Instructors

The webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

This webinar will examine implicit bias, the differences between equality and equity, and how to recognize equitable practices. Participants will learn to talk about race constructively within their workplace, with colleague organizations, and with their clients by having conversations about racial justice work to help foster authentic engagement. The training will enable participants to apply what they know about racial justice and equity to build a further understanding and agreement. Participants will learn which facilitation tools to use when faced with hot button issues and how to lead conversations about race with presence, grace, and authority.

Learning Objectives:

  • Discuss how biases and discriminatory practices effects clients and their families
  • Explore strategies to help improve our work with the children and families we serve
  • Explore next steps for applying concepts and strategies to advance racial equity

Why the DSM 5 Doesn’t Acknowledge Sensory Integration Symptoms and How that Harms Our Clients

Register for CE programs nowRuth Pearlman, LCSW, LICSW, M.ED
Virtual

Wed, Oct 4, 2023
10 am – 12 pm
2 CECs

Registration Fee: $50
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and current SSW Field Instructors

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD) is a condition where a person has difficulties regulating their senses within their environment. These are our clients who can experience the world as being “too loud” or “too intense”. They can experience the world as being so sensory over-whelming that their bodies go into a defensive “fight, flight or freeze” stance. For many people with SPD, their constant need to re-regulate their senses to adapt to the stimuli around them, creates symptoms of distractibility, irritability, anxiety, and depression.

So where is SPD in the DSM 5? It isn’t. Although more than half of all the diagnostic criteria of disorders in the DSM 5 describe symptoms of SPD, the APA refuses to acknowledge SPD as a disorder. Therefore, DSM 5 conditions such as ADHD, PTSD, Tourette’s, ASD, ODD, the Anxiety Disorders as well as Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders, are never understood or treated through the lens of sensory integration. Yet all of the above disorders are, in large part, sensory-based disorders. Imagine trying to treat a client with ASD or PTSD and not teaching the client about their sensory system reactions?

In this interactive webinar, participants will:

  • Explore the long-delayed need to incorporate sensory integration issues into our working knowledge of the DSM 5
  • Recognize that negative behaviors of are better de-escalated when sensory overload can be quieted (calmed down), similar to “sensory rooms” and “sensory placed” used in schools
  • Consider the clinical cost of these misinterpretations for both children and adults