All practitioners of groups are welcome – those currently facilitating in the virtual world and those facilitating in person groups who are interested in developing new knowledge and skills to integrate into their practice.

Joan Letendre, PhD, LCSW

Thursdays, December 2 and 9, 2021
1 pm – 3 pm
4 CECs

$80 – UConn SSW Alumni and Current Field Instructors
$100 – All Others

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged us personally and professionally. At a time when many of us were experiencing personal challenges related to the pandemic, we were asked to develop ways of creating positive virtual group experiences in our agencies, communities, and classrooms. Flexibility and creativity were called for as practitioners and educators adapted new models for working safely with clients so in need of services during this time.  With the use of technology for delivering services, it was necessary to adapt different ways of engaging and working with students, group members and colleagues. This 2-part webinar will focus on the challenges and successes of this work.

We will have an opportunity to learn about and experience a virtual group as we examine this model.  We will pay special attention to the elements that foster group engagement and development of mutual aid. In Session 1, we will focus on planning and engagement of members in the overall group and each session and activity. Much of the planning will involve the translation of elements of an in-person group to one that is virtual. In Session 2, we will use a problem-solving model to address the common challenges that group workers encounter (high and low participation, conflict, value-laden topics, curriculum vs process etc.).  Instructor and participant examples will be used to illustrate the problem-solving model that encourages members to be active participants in learning from one another and offering mutual aid.

Using didactic instruction, small and large group discussions, activities, and videos, participants in this 2-part webinar will:

• Develop a group climate where we can share the challenges and successes of on-line formats of group service delivery
• Review planning and engagement strategies and apply to on-line formats
• Share different creative strategies for developing a climate of support and mutual aid in on-line groups
• Review the problem-solving model in relation to common group challenges that may be exacerbated by the on-line format
• Learn to manage conflict in a way that gives affirmation to many points of view

Catherine Ewing, LCSW, MDiv

2-parts:
Wed, Feb 23, 1 – 3:30 pm & Wed, March 9, 1 – 2:30 pm
4 CECs

$80 – UConn SSW Alumni and Current Field Instructors
$100 – All Others

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

Life as we’ve known it has been turned upside down and inside out.  Change, loss, fear and uncertainty all add to our already high stress levels and worrisome thoughts. Based on feedback from her previous Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) presentations, Catherine Ewing expanded this program to a 2-part webinar. In the first session, you will learn the basics of EFT (tapping).  We will explore how it can relieve anxiety and help bring our clients and ourselves back to a place of inner peace.

In the second session, we will have an opportunity to share our tapping experiences during the previous two weeks, ask questions, and have time for additional practice.  If time permits, we will do a group tapping experience based on the energy of the group and what feels most helpful and appropriate to help you move forward in your tapping practice.

Please join us for this 2-part webinar to learn the basics of EFT and walk away with a tool that will change your life.  This is the perfect time to learn this simple, but powerful technique for yourself and your clients.

In this engaging webinar, we will:

• learn the Basic Recipe that is the basis for all of EFT
• learn the 8 standard tapping points
• have a direct experience of the benefits of tapping
• learn how to use EFT for self-care and with clients
• have time to practice and gain confidence in using EFT

Qur-an Webb, MSW and colleagues from Welcome2Reality

Wed, Oct 20, 2021
2 pm – 4 pm
2 CECs

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

This webinar was created to provide a base level understanding of mental health challenges and disorders from stigma to trauma to treatment and more. The training will be delivered in an interactive format by including activities, promoting discussion and creating a safe space for to engage in critical conversations around mental health and what we can do to promote better mental health wellbeing and functioning.

We will discuss the factors that puts someone at risk or protects them from developing a mental illness, including the influence of trauma. We will examine the effect of stigma on the perception of mental illness on the individual and societal levels, including how this is often internalized. We will explore some of the most common mental health disorders and then bridge into discussing treatment methods, how to identify signs versus symptoms, barriers to treatment and ways in which we can work to eliminate stigma, promote treatment engagement and emphasize the importance of self-care.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the prevalence of mental health challenges and disorders
• Explore risk and protective factors for developing a mental illness
• Discuss the impact of trauma and the physiological manifestation of signs and symptoms as they influence mental health
• Discuss the impact that stigma has on the perception of mental illnesses on the societal, communal and personal level
• Learn some tips for eliminating stigma, engaging in treatment and the importance of self-care

This webinar provides at least one hour of content on cultural competence

Patricia D. Wilcox, LCSW and Aminah Ali, MSW
Mon, June 28, 2021
1 pm – 3 pm
2 CECs

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

This webinar focuses on trauma-informed supervision through a social justice lens, an approach to supervision that begins with the personal and extends to the professional. Personal histories, identities, characteristics and psychological experiences of supervisors, as well as structural and environmental conditions of the organization, are considered in supervision. This perspective promotes the role of the supervisor as a leader in establishing a culture within their team that is responsive to and inclusive of the positionalities and unique experiences of clients and colleagues. Supervisors are encouraged to remain vigilant in their commitment to social justice by leading their teams and organizations in achieving truly inclusive diversity.

Participants will be able to:

• Define their social work values and create a plan to promote social justice in their roles as leaders within the organization
• Find how to improve their interactions with supervisees by identifying the positionalities and unique experiences of supervisor and supervisee
• Critique the culture of the organization by partnering with their supervisees
  Appraise and discuss implicit bias and how it impacts the supervisory relationship and work with clients
• Discuss with supervisees the applications of racism and inter-generational trauma-informed perspectives in supervision and practice and prepare a plan to utilize this knowledge within their practice
  

 Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete

Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-II
Tues, June 15, 2021
10 am – 12 pm
2 CECs

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

What do you do when you are experiencing the same thing that is causing the anxiety, depression, trauma, and general turmoil that your clients are needing you to help address? How do you maintain boundaries when we are collectively going through this challenge together? Where do clinical boundaries intersect with human boundaries? Come having a healing conversation about how COVID is straining your boundary skills and what to do about it.

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete

This webinar provides at least 1 hour of content on cultural competence.

Qur-an Webb, MSW and colleagues from Welcome 2 Reality

Mon, April 25, 2022
5:30 pm – 7:30 pm
2 CEC

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

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

Children who enter the child welfare system face many obstacles and challenges. When they are separated from their families and place in foster care, their willingness to trust and make positive connections can be extremely difficult. This training will discuss how to improve engagement with youth in foster care of all ages, races, and sexual orientations and gender identities. We will explore risk and resilience factors emphasizing the importance of strength based-solution focused strategies to support and engage these individuals.

Solandy Forte, PhD, LCSW, BCBA-D

Wednesday, May 26, 2021
10 am – 12 pm
2 CECs

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

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete.

Providing behavioral consultation to teams within public and private settings requires a special set of skills that encompasses coaching and mentoring in order to motivate and promote change. Applying an effective and efficient consultation model will encourage buy in and follow through from consumers and will lead to achieving the ultimate goals established through the needs assessment.

This webinar will focus on effective consultation models and strategies as well as lead discussions regarding the use of a broad lens to examine expertise, resources issues, and organization cultural issues that impact consultation. The presentations will also review different approaches to collecting data in order to assess the consultant’s own effectiveness and to evaluate social validity in a consultative context.