UConn Cookie Information

👏 UConn School of Social Work Associate Professor Caitlin Elsaesser is the co-author of a new publication: “Leveraging the power of a community-engaged framework to examine youth perspectives on stress among Hartford Black and Latine youth.”

Published in an August 2025 issue of Children and Youth Services Review, this study uplifts the voices of Hartford youth through a community-based participatory research approach in partnership with Compass Youth Collaborative (CYC).

The research highlights how young people experience stress in the wake of COVID-19. By centering youth perspectives, the study calls for intergenerational and early interventions to better address stress and trauma in marginalized communities.

📖 Read the full article at: https://ow.ly/xUvj50WWKaP ...

School of Social Work doctoral student Fizza Saghir and SSW alumnus Fernando Valenzuela ’24 (MSW) presented their study, “Climate Change Crisis and Eco-Anxiety: Comparing Perspectives of the Global North and the Global South Young Adults Based in Connecticut,” during the 2025 Connecticut Symposium on Climate Change and Health Sept. 10 at Yale University.

Their findings highlight “the need for social workers to identify and incorporate an intersectional approach, a decolonial lens, and an international perspective to address the climate crisis, considering the nuances of power and privilege, climate coloniality, and unequal historical responsibility of the Global North,” Valenzuela explains.

#uconnssw #socialwork #uconn ...

Have you visited the UConn School of Social Work`s Student Lounge? 🙋‍♀️🙋‍♂️

Equipped with multiple tables, desks, computers, a kitchenette, and even an espresso machine—the Student Lounge is the perfect spot to gather, study, and collaborate! Come check it out! Located at the School`s garden level. 😃

#uconnSSW #studentlounge ...

💥Please help us welcome the MSW Stamford Cohort! 💥

On Sept. 6, students from the Stamford Cohort attended their first in-person classes as part of the School of Social Work’s new program option!

👩‍✈️The program is designed for students residing near Southwestern Connecticut who are interested in a flexible course schedule outside of traditional work hours. This semester, the cohort takes one class online, Human Behavior in the Social Environment, and two in-person courses on Saturday: Macro Foundation Practice and Micro Foundation Practice.

As a cohort program, students’ schedules are fixed and they will take all their classes together, allowing students to develop deeper relationships. 🙌👏

#uconnssw
#socialwork
#MSW ...

📢 UConn School of Social Work Assistant Professor Gio Iacono and colleagues are co-authors of a new study in BMC Psychology that focuses on the mental health of sexual and gender diverse adolescents and young adults (SGDAYA). 🌈🧠

This study followed over 200 SGDAYA (ages 14–29) to examine the long-term effects of AFFIRM—a brief affirmative cognitive-behavioral therapy group intervention.

This research shows that affirmative, evidence-based mental health interventions like AFFIRM can make a real difference for SGDAYA—helping reduce disparities and build resilience for the long term.

👉 Read more: https://ow.ly/LW2T50WUwhQ

#UConssw #MentalHealthResearch #LGBTQYouth #CognitiveBehavioralTherapy #SocialWorkResearch ...

Associate Professor Nate Okpych is the co-author of a new study published in Children and Youth Services Review titled "Co-producing service experiences for transition-age youth in foster care: Exploring the connection between transitional independent living plan development and independent living service usage."

https://ow.ly/stpE50WTTCM... ...