This workshop offers the supervisor a multi-dimensional framework for teaching the practice skills required in work with individuals and families of all ages through the assessment and planning phases. Included are a review of the core content areas that need to be addressed in assessing the client/family situation including both strengths and challenges; the critical thinking required in collecting client data; and the ability to organize, interpret, and summarize these data. Supervisors will be encouraged to use interactive training techniques to teach the interviewing and communication skills that engage the client and family in assessment and planning. The special skills involved in working with the family as a social system will be discussed, as will the influence of the worker’s own cultural background on assessment and planning.

Learning Objectives (Supervisory Best Practices):

1. Use a social work assessment/planning framework as a teaching tool to guide supervisees in direct practice with individuals and families
2. Encourage critical thinking on the part of supervisees in the collection, organization, and summarization of client data
3. Emphasize with supervisees the importance of documenting and supporting client strengths and setting measurable and attainable goals
4. Help supervisees recognize the influence of their own background on the assessment process and be cognizant of the ethical dilemmas they may face
5. Facilitate interactive training among supervisees on interviewing and communication skills that promote effective collaboration with clients and other stakeholders
6. Emphasize with supervisees the importance of a family systems approach both in assessment and in planning

This workshop teaches supervisors how to support staff in planning to meet the needs of clients with mental illnesses and substance use across the life course. Included are supervisory considerations for supporting social service workers in the ongoing assessment of mental disorder symptoms and their potential impacts on clients and their families, building understanding of effective practice models as supported by research evidence, appreciating the complex nature of self-determination, and the intersections of these issues with cultural diversity.

Learning Objectives (Supervisory Best Practices):

1. Encourage and partner with supervisees in reviewing symptoms of relevant mental
   disorders and their potential impacts on clients and their families
2. Support supervisees in the ongoing assessment of signs and symptoms of mental illness, substance use, and trauma among clients and their families
3. Guide and partner with supervisees to evaluate how our beliefs on mental illness and substance use influence our ethical practice
4. Assist supervisees in planning for how they can help to meet the needs of clients with mental illnesses or substance use (who often require more effort, time, advanced planning, and skill from their social service providers)
5. Work with colleagues and social service teams to identify effective models of service delivery for clients with mental illness or substance use that are supported by contemporary research literature and which fit with agency goals and structures
6. Support supervisees in addressing the complex nature of self-determination, accounting for legal status, age, and neurodiversity

This workshop helps supervisors to support social service staff in using evidence-informed approaches to common illness-related challenges that confront individuals and families across the life course. Included are supervisory considerations for supporting social service workers in helping clients with care transitions, acute health crises, management of chronic conditions, navigating health and long-term care systems, and the intersections of these issues with cultural diversity. Supervisors explore techniques for supporting teams in service planning, health education, and health advocacy.

Learning Objectives (Supervisory Best Practices):

1. Review with supervisees the common illness-related challenges that confront individuals and families across the life course (including care transitions, acute health crises, and navigating health and long-term care service systems)
2. Support supervisees in the ongoing assessment of client health and illness, especially for clients with heightened vulnerability due to late-life frailty, neurological disorders, and co-occurring chronic conditions
3. Assist supervisees in planning to meet the health needs of their clients through services, culturally-informed health education, and health advocacy

This workshop highlights challenges supervisors may face including supervisees’ performance problems, organizational challenges, and ethical dilemmas in practice. Supervisors will collaborate in exploring strategies for addressing these challenges and promoting worker self-care to strengthen worker wellness and retention. Participants will seek to integrate lessons learned throughout the program.

Learning Objectives (Supervisory Best Practices):

1. Communicate clearly and directly with supervisees about performance problems
2. Teach and partner with supervisees to recognize and respond to ethical dilemmas
3. Guide and partner with supervisees to identify practices which promote wellness
   among staff
4. Engage in my own supervision and ongoing professional development
5. Provide leadership within the organization to create a culture where supervision is
   sanctioned and necessary resources are allocated to assure staff learning
6. Assist supervisees in understanding their roles and the roles of other team
   members, administrators, and clients in achieving collective and individual goals

This workshop teaches new supervisors and updates those who are experienced about the range of skills involved in individual and group supervision in an array of service contexts. Supervisors are guided in structuring regularly scheduled supervisory sessions in accordance with the learning styles of supervisees and the appropriate use of individual versus group meetings. Emphasis is placed on supporting staff in self-assessment with careful attention to diversity, inclusion, and equity issues within the service context.

Learning Objectives (Supervisory Best Practices):

1. Structure regularly scheduled supervisory sessions in accordance with the learning styles of supervisees
2. Support supervisees in self-assessment and planning to advance their practice strengths, address challenges, and develop as professionals
3. Teach supervisees to use an “evidence-informed” approach to empirically evaluating practice
4. Model the behavior of striving for professional competence through ongoing education, supervision, and self-care
5. Structure group supervision sessions focused on common practice themes and situations (e.g., ethical dilemmas)
6. Utilize social work group facilitation skills to promote group process during group supervision

Laurel L. Shortell, MSW, LICSW
Wed, Jul 20, 2022
6:00 – 8:00 pm
2 CECs

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

Webinar link will be emailed when your registration is complete

Individuals with Asperger / autism profiles live in a world that is designed for those who intuitively recognize non-verbal signals and who understand the nuances of social interaction. This can lead to unintended misunderstandings and challenges, even in therapeutic contexts dedicated to fostering well-being and mental health.

This webinar is intended to increase awareness of how neurodiverse adults and couples may experience and make sense of social interactions and how recognizing these perspectives can improve a clinician’s ability to understand and communicate effectively. Neurodiverse clients already navigate a world that is predominantly neurotypical. The therapeutic relationship should be a safe haven from such pressures and expectations, instead offering understanding and support.

By the end of this webinar, participants will be able to:

• Understand differences that neurodiverse individuals may encounter in a predominantly neurotypical world.
• Recognize behaviors and conversational styles that may have different meanings when working with clients on the autism spectrum.
• Identify approaches that can help neurodiverse clients feel more understood and supported in the therapeutic setting.

Jennifer Berton, PhD, LICSW, CADC-II

Postponed

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

Trainings on clinician burnout typically focus on balance and self-care, which may increase healthy habits, but often won’t alleviate burnout. This in-person workshop goes to the heart of the three most common causes of burnout, a lack of power, passion, and purpose, and how to build each one.

Learning objectives:

• explore and evaluate traditional clinical burnout prevention techniques
• examine the concept of power, what it is and how to build it in oneself and in the workplace
• investigate passion by remembering early passion for work and how to reignite it
• consider one’s purpose and how to increase its value to promote job satisfaction