Month: October 2024

William T. Grant Foundation Funds Study on Child Welfare and Cash Assistance

Two UConn School of Social Work faculty, Meg Feely, Ph.D., and Ann Marie Garran, Ph.D., MSW, LCSW, have joined a national mission to investigate whether increasing economic support to low-income families can improve child maltreatment outcomes.

The project, Empower Parenting with Resources (EmPwR), received $350,000 in funding from the William T. Grant Foundation, and is the first large scale study in the U.S. to evaluate how families identified by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services as at risk of child maltreatment respond to strengthened financial security. Researchers hope to ultimately determine if monthly cash gifts over the course of a year prevent future involvement with the Illinois child welfare system by randomly assigning 800 families who are receiving services through the Intact Family Services program to receive a monthly stipend. This is one of the first studies to test this type of intervention across varying geographies (urban to rural), tailor it for child welfare involved families, and explicitly address the role of systemic racism.

Feely and Garran, associate professors at the UConn School of Social Work, began working with EmPwR’s co-principal investigator, Will Schneider, MSW, Ph.D., several years ago.

“We’re looking to understand if and how families’ ability to provide safe and consistent care for their children changes when they have more resources. Additionally, we want to explore the mechanisms, or what types of changes influence improved care when families have more money,” Feely noted.

Child maltreatment, defined as abuse or neglect of a child under the age of 18, remains a substantial problem in the U.S. particularly among families who struggle with meeting their basic economic needs.  Feely also says that this program may have important implications for racial and ethnic equity. Compared to their respective presence in the general population, nationally and in Illinois there are a disproportionate number of BIPOC children and families relative to white children and families in the child welfare system.

“Part of our contention is that while individual biases, implicit and explicit, are relevant factors in disproportionality, economic oppression and in particular the impact of structural and systemic racism are the strongest drivers of the racial and ethnic disproportionality in child welfare. For case workers, really understanding the powerful role of systems and structures in shaping and constraining the choices of individuals is an important perspective in comprehending families’ behaviors and choices,” she said, explaining this is why she is thrilled with the anti-racist and anti-oppressive process lens Garran brings to this project.

“Ann Marie is someone I not only enjoy working with, but one of the best people in the country to do this work,” Feely noted.

Garran, who has been at UConn for 15 years, has lectured nationally and internationally on anti-racism, anti-oppression, and inequality. She is a published author on those topics and regularly leads trainings across the U.S. including one with this project, which will help case workers understand their socialization, how that creates implicit biases, and the ways that structural inequality and economic oppression unknowingly influence those biases, assumptions, and stereotypes.

“I was brought in on this project because of my expertise in anti-racism, but also to help understand the case worker’s mindset in terms of their work with the families,” she said.

Garran will work with both the families and case workers to understand their own values, belief systems, and biases that come into play, such as, “What will it mean to them to be a part of this study in terms of cash transfers for families? Are these families deserving of this money, why or why not?” She will also encourage them to move away from a stance of blaming individuals for their circumstances, instead considering the ways that structural oppression influences the options available to families and their decision-making processes.

Feely, Garran, and their research team will compare the outcomes of families who receive the subsidies with the families in a control group who do not. The goal: gain a better understanding of whether financial subsidies work for some families more than others in reducing neglect, particularly when it is led by a lack of resources; understand the amount of cash needed and timeframe and determine if the outcomes vary by race or ethnicity, family structure, or type of community (e.g. rural vs suburban). The researchers will also interview families to track if cash transfers improved risk factors for maltreatment such as parents’ mental health, child health, and parental cognitive load.

Read more about the EmPwR program.

Researchers Receive UConn Internal Funding Award to Study Refugee Community Sponsorship

During the Biden administration, the U.S. Departments of State and Health and Human Services launched a new initiative for community and private sponsorship of refugees. UConn School of Social Work faculty and doctoral students are among the first in the U.S. to conduct qualitative research on this new model.

Under this model, community members take the lead responsibility for resettling refugees in their local community. This support includes locating housing, assisting refugees in finding jobs, and facilitating access to schooling, healthcare, and social services.

Kathryn Libal, Ph.D., director of UConn’s Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute and social work and human rights professor, is the principal investigator of a qualitative study, “Refugees and Asylum Seekers’ Perspectives on Community Sponsorship Initiatives in the United States,” that received a 2024 UConn Internal Funding Award REP (Research Excellence Program) grant of approximately $25,000.

Libal leads a team of co-PIs including: associate professor and associate dean for academic affairs, Scott Harding, Ph.D., and social work professor S. Megan Berthold, Ph.D., LCSW, along with recent UConn SSW alumna, Madri Hall-Faul, Ph.D., assistant professor of social work at the University of Kentucky, and social work doctoral students Craig Mortley, Elnara Klicheva, and Yvonne Mbewe.

Libal’s interest in working with refugees began in 2007 when she and Harding initiated research to understand social work’s role in advocacy for Iraqi refugees who had been displaced after the U.S.-led war in Iraq. They partnered with Berthold to form a team with expertise in clinical and policy related issues on forced migration.  Berthold brings 40 years of experience in understanding and supporting the experiences of refugees adapting to life in a new world. She serves as the newly appointed Fulbright Canada Distinguished Research Chair in Public Affairs in North America: Society, Policy, Media, at Carleton University, a prestigious award that will allow her to expand the collaborative refugee research with Libal and Harding to Canada.

Throughout the course of their current project, the team has interviewed community sponsorship volunteers and medical, mental health, and immigration attorneys throughout the U.S. to learn about how they operate, where they excel, what challenges they face, and how community sponsorships could be strengthened. The next project phase entails interviewing refugees who have experienced the community sponsorship program in the U.S. and Canada where Berthold will conduct research with refugees, service providers, and community members.

Harding, whose research interests include forced migration and refugee resettlement, served for eight years on the Board of Integrated Refugee and Immigrant Services (IRIS). The nonprofit organization was an early innovator of community sponsorship and has helped thousands of refugees and displaced people start new lives in Connecticut as well as across the U.S.

“This project can ideally help us contribute to better preparation of social work students and allied practitioners to understand the challenges refugees themselves are experiencing and repoint them in terms of their transition to life in a new country,” Harding said. “We intend to use this information to better meet their needs, whether that’s their health needs, service needs, educational needs, whatever it might be. In that sense, the research will allow us to provide support in different ways to community sponsorship groups, and better promote their health and well-being.”

In the first phase of the project, the team focused on interviewing people in the U.S. who supported refugee resettlement, including community sponsorship group members. In the second phase, they will seek insights from refugees who experienced community sponsorship and gather their feedback on the program firsthand. The team has expanded the research to Canada due to Canada’s leadership in community and private sponsorship programs. They hope to apply insights from Canada’s model to inform research and advocacy on similar approaches that could be implemented in the U.S.

Berthold believes more trauma-informed care is needed that is accessible to refugees, which is another focus for the project.

“Refugees by definition have been persecuted. They have experienced one or more traumas on top of fleeing their homeland and often have been separated from family members. We are asking refugees for their insights regarding how appropriate the services they have received are given their culture and experiences of trauma,” Berthold said. “We are also exploring their experiences in trying to access health, mental healthcare, and social services.”

Libal, Berthold, and Harding are particularly interested in hearing refugees’ feedback about working with community service organizations.

“We seek to better understand how newcomers feel about teams of people working with them in their first year in the U.S. and Canada,” Libal said. “Imagine arriving in a new country and then having a large team of individuals volunteer their time to support your family. We want to know what is that like? How do refugees build and sustain relationships with volunteers? What are their perceptions of being welcomed into new communities by community sponsor volunteers? How do they grapple with the challenges of securing work, getting children into schools, learning a new language, and making connections with others in the community, while being supported by volunteers?”

As importantly, Libal added, interviewing refugees can lead to a better understanding of how community sponsorship may be strengthened in the future and how social work can play a more robust role in supporting this approach.

Innovations Institute Receives New U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration Grant

Innovations Institute has partnered with the Mental Health and Recovery Board of Union County, Ohio (MHRBUC) in a new U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration grant of just over $1 million to expand needed infrastructure, processes, and services to build strong early childhood mental health services.

The funds will help address an observed increase in mental health needs for children from birth to eight years old—consistent with nation-wide findings—and gaps in the continuum of care for the youngest residents of Union County. As the fastest growing county in Ohio, the needs of Union County families are rapidly changing. This underscores the need to be data driven in the approach to this work and to focus on continuous quality improvement (CQI) that ensures all families have access to services.

Margo Candelaria, Ph.D., research associate professor at UConn’s School of Social Work and co-director of the Parent, Infant, Early Childhood (PIEC) team at Innovations Institute will serve as the evaluation principal investigator for the project.  Accordingly, Innovations Institute will develop an evaluation plan with annual goals and specific measures, relying on established evaluation practices.  Evaluation approaches will include the use of survey tools to collect required client outcome data, progress measures and training impact; qualitative interviews to assess family and provider experiences; and network analyses to track partner growth.

Innovations Institute will also engage in collaborative data interpretation to inform progress using continuous quality improvement cycles, data dashboards and visualizations, and implementation science principles to ensure that the project decisions, changes, and adjustments are data driven. Researchers will examine who is served (e.g. race, ethnicity, geography), how and where families are served, and identify access and implementation barriers.  Kate Sweeney, assistant extension professor at UConn School of Social Work and co-director of the PIEC team at Innovations Institute will offer technical assistance and serve as a content expert. She will assist with implementation of infant and early childhood mental health evidence-based programs including the Pyramid Model, Circle of Security Parenting, and the Chicago Parenting Program.

Collectively, the Innovations PIEC team will work with MHRBUC to expand the array of infant and early childhood mental services, build the workforce capacity to work with Union County’s youngest children, and use evaluation practices to demonstrate positive outcomes and inform needed programmatic changes.

This Building Strong Foundations project builds on the work of MHRBUC and its partners to link child serving systems, behavioral health providers, and payers in support of expanded mental health services to Union County youth.

Samantha Lawrence Brings Children’s Behavioral Health Research Expertise to New Role

Samantha E. Lawrence, Ph.D., recently joined the UConn School of Social Work as an assistant research professor and research and evaluation lead. She also serves as co-principal investigator for the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood – UConn School of Social Work Partnership.

Lawrence earned her doctorate, M.A., and B.A. degrees from UConn. She brings extensive expertise related to mental and behavioral health disparities. She is passionate about promoting equitable access to high-quality, culturally, and developmentally responsive care and education.

Lawrence’s research examines social influences on children’s health, behavior, and well-being, particularly in school, childcare, and family contextsShe emphasizes the importance of understanding the environments that shape children's health.

“I believe that children's health and thriving are rooted in their environments, including those created by their families, schools, and communities,” she said.

Her current work includes evaluations of federal and state-funded early childhood initiatives, child services policies, and the early education system to ensure equitable access to high-quality resources for families. She also uses mixed methods research on experiences and health outcomes among LGBTQ+ youth.

Lawrence’s recently published study in LGBT Health received a Third Annual 2023 Rosalind Franklin Society (RFS) Award in Science recognizing outstanding peer-reviewed research by women and underrepresented minorities in STEM.

Reflecting on her work, Lawrence noted, “It's a privilege to be a part of the OEC-UConn Partnership where I can engage in research and evaluation activities related to vital contexts for healthy child development. Our work has direct implications for Connecticut's early childhood programs, policies, and practices, and it is so rewarding to work in partnership with an agency – the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood – that can actualize these evidence-based findings.”

Prior to joining the UConn School of Social Work, Lawrence was a research fellow at the University of Minnesota Medical School in the Department of Pediatrics, where she led quantitative and qualitative research efforts to identify disparities among youth. She focused on the intersections of sexual orientation, gender identity, and race/ethnicity in emotional distress, disordered eating, sexual and HIV-prevention behaviors, experiences of bias-based bullying, interpersonal protective factors.

Rachel Schwartz Begins Role Leading Online MSW

Rachel Schwartz, Ph.D., has spent the past 15 years of her career working with MSW students focusing on online education and student success.

She joins the UConn School of Social Work as the new director of the MSW program and associate professor in residence. Some of her most recently published work can be viewed here. Schwartz also serves as co-chair of the Technology and Social Work Practice track with the Council on Social Work Education.

“Most recently, I have completed research that focused on the experiences of online social work students who identify as women and hold multiple roles and responsibilities.  This research found that online education provided the opportunity for these students to complete their degree because of the flexibility and access that programs provided,” she said. “However, it also raised important considerations related to gender roles and expectations around gender, finding that as women took on the role of student, their other roles as caretaker (and all associated roles within the home), and employee did not diminish.  The research found that women had to negotiate and prioritize different roles and that meeting expectations (from themselves, family, society overall) particularly around their caregiving roles often created role conflict. The findings provide recommendations for how social work programs can support students, by considering intersectional critical feminist pedagogy and practices, and applying the community of inquiry framework.”

Schwartz has noticed particularly over the last few years a shift in the social work field to virtual, as many agencies pivoted to telehealth during the pandemic.

“Many students are doing a lot of their work online and in the field and practice. We’re recognizing more and more the importance for students to gain valuable skillsets with virtual education,” she noted.

Schwartz received her Ph.D. in higher education from the Rutgers University Graduate School of Education in October 2024.  Her most recent experiences with online education included the development and management of an online and blended MSW program. She has also worked closely with faculty teaching across the MSW curriculum to provide pedagogical support and expertise in teaching as well as developing courses. Schwartz’s scholarship regularly reaches a national audience on issues related to social work education including online education, student supports, practicum education, and technology.

“The online program I previously developed grew to support many students across the country, so it’s exciting to be here at UConn to offer expertise and providing access to students to quality online and in-person social work education.  I am glad to be part of a program that offers so many different options to meet the needs of students across the state of Connecticut,” she said.

Children and Grief – 2 part

Ruth Pearlman, LCSW, LICSW, MEd
Register Now for CE programs nowWednesdays, Nov 13 and 20, 2024
10 am – 12 pm
4 CECs – participants must attend both sessions to earn CECs

Registration Fee: $100
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and Current SSW Field Instructors

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

In response to feedback from participants in her previous trainings, instructor Ruth Pearlman has expanded this webinar to 2 parts. Even before COVID children were grieving losses that were not largely recognized or understood. COVID has magnified the grief experience of children on multiple levels. A child’s response to loss is dependent on many factors including age, emotional development, relationship, and social supports. Ms. Pearlman will explore children’s concepts of death and non-death losses applying Piaget’s Cognitive Theory to understand how
children conceptualize loss at each stage of development.

Day 1 will focus on lecture with ample opportunity to ask questions and interact with the instructor and other participants.  Day 2 will focus on the application of the content provided on the first day.

In this webinar, we will:

  • identify a spectrum of non-death losses in childhood
  • review Piaget’s Cognitive Theory and apply it to children’s understanding of loss
  • examine the role of magical thinking in children’s developmental understanding of loss
  • identify modern grief terminology
  • specifically examine the loss and grief trajectory in the lives of children in foster/alternative care

UConn School of Social Work Faculty and Ph.D. Students to Present at CSWE 2024

CSWE's 70th Annual Program Meeting takes place in Kansas City, MO, October 24-27, 2024; nine UConn School of Social Work faculty members and 12 Ph.D. students will offer 18 presentations of their work.

Friday, October 25, 2024

Time: 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Room: 1501A
Panel Presentation: The Limits of US Asylum Law and Policy: Social Work Education and Practice Implications
Author(s): Berthold, S.M., Mortley, C., Klicheva, E., Libal, K., Harding, S. & Mbewe, Y.

Time: 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Room: 2207
Presentation: A Community-Based Participatory Approach to Developing a Socially Engaged Mindfulness Curriculum for BSW Students
Author(s): Iacono, G., Roman-Hampton, V., Elsaesser, C., Werkmeister Rozas, L., Holle, L., Pan, C., Haggerty, T. & Loveland, E.

Time: 10:30 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Room: 2103A
Panel Presentation: "Decolonizing" Social Work Education: Opportunities and Lessons Learned from a Journal Special Issue
Author(s): Werkmeister Rozas, L., O’Neil P. & Williams, O.

Time: 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Room: 2503B
Workshop: Evaluating Family Treatment Court Best Practices Using the FTC Implementation Tool (FIT)
Author(s): Sieger, M.L., Goldsborough E.J., Becker, J., Thompson-Wise, K. & Hagain, K.

Time: 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Room: 3501G
Panel Presentation: Using Arts and Storytelling to Center Trans People's Experiences in Hostile Sociopolitical Climate
Author(s): Paceley, M., Kattari, L., Jenkins, T. & Kynn, J. K.

Time: 1:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Room: 1501C
Presentation: Understanding Climate Change Crisis: Comparing Perspectives of US-born and International Youth and Young Adults
Author(s): Thomas, R.L., Saghir, F. & Valenzuela, F.

Time: 2:15 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.
Room: 2208
Presentation: A Comparison of Religious and Spiritual Beliefs Among Latinx Parents of Children with Disabilities
Author(s): Mogro-Wilson, C. & Holle, L.

Time: 2:15 p.m. - 2:45 p.m.
Room: 2104B
Presentation: Understanding the Experiences of Women with Multiple Roles in Online MSW Programs
Author: Schwartz, R.

Time: 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Room:
3501B
Presentation:
Commission on Global Social Work Education Connect Session: Calling All Fulbright Alumni: Sharing Experiences to Expand Fulbright Participation by Social Work Educators
Author(s):
Cohen, C. S., Szto, P. P., Thomas, R. L., Ramanathan, C., Villarreal Sosa, L. & Jayasundara, D.

Time: 4:15 p.m. - 4:45 p.m.
Room: 2210
Presentation: Towards a More Comprehensive Understanding of the "Obesity Epidemic": Implications for Social Workers
Author: Holle, L.

Time: 4:15 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.
Room: 22006
Presentation: Use of Buprenorphine Among Non-Hospital Residential Programs
Author(s): Nichols, C., Sieger, M.L. & Baslock, D.

Time: 4:15 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.
Room: 2101
Workshop: Writing and Reviewing for Refereed Journals: Strategies for Successful Publishing and Ethical Peer Review
Author(s): Parrish, D., Mogro-Wilson, C., Asakura, A., Jaggers, J., Negi, N. & Yaffe, J.

Saturday, October 26, 2024

Time: 10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Room: Poster 2A
Poster Presentation: Rise in Islamophobia: Alternative Approaches to Analysis of Hate Crimes Policy in the US
Author: Saghir, F.

Time: 12:30 p.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Room: TBD
Workshop: Federal Rulemaking: An Untapped Arena for Social Work Policy Education and Practice
Author(s): Libal, K., Loveland, E. & Hall-Faul, M.

Time: 1:45 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.
Room: 3501F
Presentation: Exploring Compliance in Family Treatment Courts: A Qualitative Study of Parents' Perspectives
Author(s): Sieger, M.L., Goldsborough, E.J. & Haswell, R.

Time: 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m.
Room: 3501E
Workshop: Implications for Practice and Education: Writing and Reviewing for Peer Reviewed Journals
Author(s): Asakura, K., Mogro-Wilson, C. & Parrish, D.

Time: 4:15 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.
Room: 2105
Panel Presentation: Cultivating Eco-social Work Amidst Unsustainable Academic Practices: Perspectives from Doctoral Students
Author(s): Da Rosa, C., Dolan-Reilly, G., Smith, J., Gounder, B., Neimanas, N. & Rawcliffe, R.

Sunday, October 27, 2024

Time: 9:45 a.m. - 10:15 p.m.
Room: 3501A
Presentation: Enhancing Affirmative Practice Pedagogy Amidst Anti-LGBTQIA+ Political Climate to Support LGBTQIA+ Youth
Author(s): Iacono, G., Evans, S., Haggerty, T., Pan, C., Holle, L. & Loveland, E.

Time: 10:15 a.m. - 10:45 a.m.
Room: 2504B
Presentation: Towards a Critical Mindfulness Pedagogical Approach to Social Work Anti-Racist and Anti-Oppressive Education
Author(s):Iacono, G., Evans, S., Haggerty, T., Pan, C., Holle, L. & Loveland, E.

Time: 11:00 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Room: 2207
Presentation: The Implementation of Medications for Opioid Use Disorder in Recovery Residences: Theoretical Framework
Author: Nichols, C.

Latest Early Childhood Contract with State Expands on Relationship

Combined Reports

A team from UConn’s School of Social Work says a new two-year, $4.3 million contract with the Connecticut Office of Early Childhood expands on a six-year relationship with the state agency to provide significantly more resources for the evaluation and development of critical programs benefitting the state’s youngest residents.

From assessing access to quality child care and current child care market rates to mapping resources in high poverty and low opportunity communities, the work of the OEC-UConn SSW Partnership team impacts programs, policies, and practices that affect children, families, and early childhood professionals around the state.

“Summer of 2023 was a perfect time for us to come on board and begin looking at the initiatives Connecticut put in place using federal American Rescue Plan funds,” says Carrie Gould-Kabler, co-principal investigator and program manager at Innovations Institute in the School of Social Work. “Now we can support the OEC to fine-tune how decisions are being made based on what the data says and, in some cases, refine those data collection processes to better meet their needs.

“We also want to ensure the data and findings are accessible not just to leadership but to programs and providers to say, ‘Here’s your data. What does this mean for you as a program and how could this help support the work that you’re doing,’” she adds.

The OEC-UConn SSW Partnership team expanded this year to include the  Parent, Infant, Early Childhood team at Innovations Institute to provide research and programming support in the areas of early childhood behavioral health and the statewide implementation of the Pyramid Model.

Kate Sweeney, co-principal investigator, Innovations assistant extension professor, and co-director of the Parent, Infant, Early Childhood team, says the Pyramid is a national model designed to support early child care and education providers by giving them the skills and competencies needed to bolster social and emotional development for children in their programs.

“We knew this before the pandemic, but even more so during and after COVID, this is a huge reason why providers throughout the educational array say they’re leaving the workforce,” Sweeney says. “They’re saying there are too many behavioral concerns in their classrooms, and they don’t have the skills, knowledge, or ability to manage. It’s detrimental to their own mental health and well-being and causing them to burn out.”

Part of the team’s work is looking at how to help.

“Birth to 5 is such a sensitive and critical developmental period,” says Samantha Lawrence ’17 (CLAS), ’19 MA, ’22 Ph.D., assistant research professor who serves as the Partnership’s research and evaluation lead and co-principal investigator. “It really sets the stage for a child’s developmental trajectory. It’s important that we lay a strong foundation for these children to support their healthy, successful, happy development within their unique contexts.”

As part of their research and evaluation work, the OEC-UConn SSW Partnership team has supported the state in its mission to advance equitable early childhood policies, funding, and programs; support early learning and development; and strengthen the critical role of all families, providers, educators, and communities throughout a child’s life.

Several of the team’s recent projects identified disparities in resource distribution and access for families and early childhood professionals, and highlighted important next steps for research, policy, and practice to address inequities.

“We want to make sure our youngest citizens are thriving and grow up to have the highest capacity they can have, and that includes working with their caregivers and child care providers,” Margo Candelaria, co-principal investigator, Innovations associate research professor, and co-director of the Parent, Infant, Early Childhood team, says. “We want everybody to have a good start in life and that means infusing the systems with supports, so they can be as successful as they can be.”

The UConn team also conducts additional work not funded directly by the Office of Early Childhood, including annual evaluations of an Infant and Early Childhood training for child care providers and three Even Start sites in Connecticut.

The latest contract, which began July 1, comes on the heels of a previous one-year contract that included a buildup of staffing and resources in preparation for this work. The School of Social Work and Office of Early Childhood began working together in 2018.

A multidisciplinary team of researchers, practitioners, and data analysts with backgrounds in social work, geography, developmental psychology, pediatrics, statistics, among other areas, staffs the OEC-UConn Partnership.

Team members include Samantha E. Lawrence, Ph.D., research and evaluation director, co-principal investigator; Carrie Gould-Kabler, MSW, co-principal investigator; Margo Candelaria, Ph.D., co-principal investigator; Kate Sweeney, MSW, co-principal investigator;  Veronica Hanna, Ph.D., research associate; Juliany Polar, MA, research manager; Bonnya Mukherjee, MSFRM, MSBIST, senior data analyst; Harini Buch, BS, research assistant/data analyst; Veronica Rosario, MS, 2Gen parent researcher; Jessica Goldstein, Ph.D., Elevate & ECE manager; Liz Hoey, MSW, 2 Gen special projects coordinator; Sabina Bhandari, BSc, Ph.D. candidate, geography graduate research assistant; Jane Lee, MSW, SSW graduate research assistant; Heather Hutchison, MA, research associate; Aaron Isiminger, MSc, senior research analyst; Liz Chambers, MEd, program manager; Elizabeth Celona, BA, research assistant; and Rachel Vannatta, Ph.D., research associate.

Making Sense of the DSM 5 TR – In-person

Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-IIRegister Now for CE programs now
Friday, Dec 6, 2024 – In-person
9:30 am – 4 pm
5 CECs

Registration Fee: $125
UConn SSW Alumni and Current Field Instructors receive a 10% discount

Classroom location, driving directions and parking details will be included in your email confirmation

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 workshop will identify the changes introduced in the new DSM, comparing editions IV and V, and identifying the changes most likely to affect your individual practice, using many case examples as practice. This training is appropriate for all diagnosing clinicians, and for those who want to better understand the diagnostic process.​

Participants are requested to bring a copy of the DSM 5 to practice diagnosis using clinical vignettes during the workshop.

Learning Objectives

  • understand the major philosophical changes to the diagnostic process in the DSM 5
  • learn the categorical and disorder changes and additions introduced in the DSM-5
  • compare diagnoses in the DSM-IV and DSM-5 using the same clinical vignettes
  • examine the assessment tools published with the DSM-5
  • practice diagnosis using the DSM-5 through numerous clinical vignettes

The Clinical Interview In-person

Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-IIRegister Now for CE programs now
Friday, Dec 20, 2024 – In-person
9:30 am – 4 pm
5 CECs

Registration Fee: $125
UConn SSW Alumni and Current Field Instructors receive a 10% discount

Classroom location, directions and parking details will be included in your email confirmation

What questions do you ask your clients that get at the information you need? What language do you use? How do you take into account a client’s culture in the questions that you ask? How do you address silence, or an unwillingness to participate in the interview? How do you refocus a client or deescalate his or her aggression? What questions can you ask to get at specific symptoms and how do you adjust your query in session as needed? While many trainings examine symptoms, psychopathology, and existing diagnostic assessment tools, this seminar has the actual clinical interview at its focus. We will explore how to gather the information you need for diagnosis and treatment planning, and hone your clinical interviewing skills.

This seminar will teach participants how to utilize interviewing techniques that meet the needs of the clients they serve, which strengthens both the individual client’s treatment experience and the profession as a whole. The topic connects to diversity in allowing participants to attend to the diverse background of their clients in the specific questions that are utilized, as well as specific ideas in how to ask the questions, (e.g. language, non-verbal communication, vocal tone). It connects to ethics because attendees will learn how to ensure their clinical interviewing adheres to the strictest of ethical principles. It connects to advocacy because the better the clinical interview, the better treatment the clients will receive; treatment the clients deserve and need to build a healthy life.

This seminar will enable you to:

  • 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