Month: January 2025

Children and Grief: A Developmental Perspective

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Ruth Pearlman, LCSW, LICSW, MEd
Register Now for CE programs nowWednesdays, October 8 and 15, 2025
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 SSWR 2025

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UConn School of Social Work Faculty and PhD Students to Present at SSWR 2025

The 2025 Society for Social Work Research (SSWR) 29th Annual Conference takes place on January 15 - 19, 2025, in Seattle, Washington. Congratulations to the 14 faculty members and 11 PhD students who authored a total of 20 presentations slated for the Conference.

Thursday, January 16, 2025

Time: 1:30 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
Room: Willow A, Level 2
Author(s): Nathanael Okpych, PhD; Jennifer Geiger, PhD
Presentation: Crossing the Finish Line: Factors that Influence College Degree Completion for Students with Foster Care Backgrounds

Time: 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Room: Grand Ballroom C, Level 2
Author: Chenglin Hong, PhD, MSW, MPH
Presentation: HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) Among People Involved in the Criminal Justice Systems in the United States: A Systematic Review

Friday, January 17, 2025

Time: 9:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
Room: Grand Ballroom C, Level 2
Author: Breana Bietsch, MSW, LMSW
Presentation: Collaborative Approach to Understanding Aging LGBTQ+ Populations’ Health in New England: Findings from Lived Experiences

Time: 9:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
Room: Leschi, Level 3
Author: Grace Felten, MSW
Presentation: Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) for Women Migrants in Greece: A Qualitative Critical Case Analysis

Time: 9:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
Room: Grand Ballroom C, Level 2
Author(s): Jon Phillips, PhD; Jessica Strolin-Goltzman, PhD; Amy Bielawski-Branch; Carter Bradshaw, MSW; Kylie Harrington, LCSW; Cristina Mogro-Wilson, PhD & Matthew Price, PhD
Presentation: Preventing Child Maltreatment: Results from a Pilot Study of a Trauma-Informed Parenting Intervention

Time: 2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Room: University, Level 4
Author: Jane Lee, MSW, MBA
Presentation: Take the Subsidy or Not? What Family Child Care Provider Characteristics Influence Their Use of the Federal Child Care and Development Fund

Time: 3:45 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.
Room: Jefferson B, Level 4
Author(s): Nathanael Okpych, PhD & Jane Lee, MSW, MBA
Presentation: Dispelling the 3% Storyline: Systematic Review of Secondary and Postsecondary Education Outcomes

Time: 3:45 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.
Room: Grand Ballroom C, Level 2
Author(s): Megan Feely, PhD; Patricia Carlson, PhD & Grace Felten, MSW
Presentation: Earlier Identification of Families at Risk of Chronic Maltreatment: An Integrative Review

Time: 3:45 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.
Room: Boren, Level 4
Author(s): Jessica Becker, MSW & Margaret Lloyd Sieger, PhD
Presentation: Effect of Connecticut CAPTA Implementation on Racial Disparities in Infants Reported to DCF

Time: 3:45 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.
Room: Grand Ballroom C, Level 2
Author(s): Elizabeth Goldsborough, MSW; Emily Loveland, PhD; Jon Phillips, PhD & Gio Iacono, PhD
Presentation: Exploring the Bidirectional Relationship between Food Insecurity and Smoking: A Cross-Lagged Panel Analysis

Time: 3:45 p.m. – 5:15 p.m.
Room: Willow A, Level 2
Author(s): Jane Gilgun, PhD; Mery Diaz, DSW; Margaret Gibson, PhD; Robert Hawkins, PhD; Shavari Karandikar, PhD; Lisette Piedra, PhD, LCSW; Susan Robbins, PhD & Cristina Mogro-Wilson, PhD
Presentation: Invited Journal Editors Workshop II: Forum on Publishing Qualitative Research

Time: 5:30 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Room: Cedar A, Level 2
Author(s): Jennifer Manuel, PhD & Shekh Farid, MSW
Presentation: Impact of Medicaid Expansion on Treatment Admissions Involving Opioid Use in Residential Substance Use Treatment Settings

Saturday, January 18, 2025

Time: 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Room: Kirkland, Level 3
Author(s): Chenglin Hong, PhD, MSW, MPH; Yuqing Wang, MPH; Yilin Wang, BA; Elizabeth Wu, MPH; Robert Bolan, MD & Ian Holloway, PhD
Presentation: The Association between Internalized Homophobia and Alcohol Use Among Sexual and Gender Minority Emerging Adults of Color: The Mediating Role of Conflict in Allegiances

Time: 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Room: Jefferson B, Level 4
Author(s): Gio Iacono, PhD; Caitlin Elsaesser, PhD
Presentation: My Resistance Melts Away: The Role of Mindfulness in Supporting YPAR Researchers’ Efforts to Share Power with Youth Co-Researchers

Sunday, January 19, 2025

Time: 8:00 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
Room: Capitol Hill, Level 3
Author(s): Maritza Vasquez Reyes, PhD & Caitlin Elsaesser, PhD
Presentation: Youth Workers’ Perceptions of Their Role in Cultivating Resistance and Wellbeing Among Black and Brown Youth Impacted by Community Violence

Time: 9:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
Room: Ballard, Level 3
Author(s): Caitlin Elsaesser, PhD; Gio Iacono, PhD; Vivien Roman-Hampton, MSW; Lisa Werkmeister Rozas, PhD
Presentation: A Community-Based Participatory Approach to Developing a Socially Engaged Mindfulness Intervention for Social Work Students

Time: 9:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
Room: Grand Ballroom C, Level 2
Author: Grace Felten, MSW
Presentation: Striving to Fill the Gaps: Relying on NGOs and Volunteers to Provide Services and Fulfill the Rights of Refugees in Greece “The Needs are so Much Greater Than What we can Provide”

Time: 9:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
Room: Grand Ballroom C, Level 2
Author(s): Gio Iacono, PhD; Spencer Evans, LMSW; Emily Loveland, PhD; Leah Holle, MAR, LCSW; Cindy Pan, BS, BA & Tyler Haggerty
Presentation: Exploring the Use of a Critical Mindfulness Pedagogy to Sustain Difficult Dialogue in Social Work Education

Time: 9:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
Room: Cedar B, Level 2
Author(s): Kathryn Libal, PhD; Yvonne Mbewe, LCSW; S. Megan Berthold, PhD; Craig Mortley, MSc; Madri Hall-Faul, PhD & Scott Harding, PhD
Presentation: Community Sponsorship and Accessing Health and Mental Health Services for Newly Arrived refugees in the United States

Time: 9:45 a.m. – 11:15 a.m.
Room: Grand Ballroom C, Level 2
Author(s): Samantha Lawrence, PhD; Bonnya Mukherjee, MSFRM; Juliany Polar, MA; Carrie Gould-Kabler, MSW & Laura Dunleavy, MBA
Presentation: The Technology Landscape for Connecticut Child Care Providers

Control-mastery Theory: All Therapists Want to be Exceptional

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Jo Nol, PhD, MS, LCSWRegister Now for CE programs
Friday, February 28, 2025
9:30 am – 4 pm
5.5 CECs

Registration Fee: $125
10% discount for UConn SSW Alumni and current SSW Field Instructors

Across all helping professions, research shows that techniques don’t lead to better outcomes. Have you ever wondered why the DSM doesn’t guide treatment more effectively? And, what explains why some therapists are better than others if it isn’t the theory they’re using?

Control-mastery Theory, emerging from decades of elegant research, can help answer these questions and provides ways to understand how therapy works across techniques, practitioners and clients. This perspective may be the best way to learn to be a better therapist.

In this introductory workshop you will learn the basics of this approach which you can begin to apply to your work right away. There is actually no evidence supporting the idea that one technique is superior over another. But there is strong research evidence for the therapist’s increased effectiveness when responding to an individual client’s particular problems and goals. This means to be effective and truly helpful therapists need to understand what the individual client wants and how they will use therapy to achieve those goals.

Control-mastery is more a stance than a list of techniques based on an empirically derived method of case formulation, called the Plan Formulation. The Plan Formulation approach provides a learnable framework for understanding a client’s conscious and unconscious goals, the beliefs and obstacles that prevent the client from pursuing their reasonable goals toward a more satisfying and functional life, traumatic experiences that contributed to the development of those obstacles, and what the most helpful stance is that the therapist can take. This theory helps you understand not only what to do, but how to be a particular client’s therapist.

This workshop will provide participants with the Control-mastery case formulation method and how to use it, an understanding of how trauma shapes beliefs, both conscious and unconscious, how the therapist attitude can help to change those beliefs, and be more flexible, creative, and case specific with clients.

  • Using lecture, discussion, and in-depth case examples demonstrating the application of this stance, participants will:
  • Learn the fundamentals of Control-mastery Theory
  • Understand how this theory advocates for an individual “client-driven” approach
  • Develop an appreciation for how necessary countertransference is and how to utilize it to deepen their understanding of what the client is trying to resolve
  • Understand the Control-mastery perspective on trauma
  • Practice application of the principles of the theory on clinical cases