NYU Social Work - NYU Silver School of Social Work
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NYU Social Work - NYU Silver School of Social Work
New York University | School of Social Work NYU Social Work NEWSLETTER FALL / WINTER 2003 The School and SSWR: Leadership and Involvement FEATURED INSIDE Professor Deborah Padgett will become the sixth president of the Social Work and Parkinson’s Disease 2 Society for Social Work and Research Report from the Dean 3 (SSWR) this spring, succeeding Dean New Faculty 3 Paula Allen-Meares of the University of In Memoriam: Anna Permaul King 4 Michigan. Founded in 1994 by Janet Surviving Chernobyl in America 4 Aibels Establish First Visiting Professorship in Social Work 5 Shared Trauma in the Therapeutic Encounter 6 Child and Adolescent Treatment in Social Work Practice 7 Faculty Work and PhD Dissertations in Progress 7 Caribbean Families Are the Focus of New MSW Learning Initiative 8 School’s Shelter Program Welcomes New Director 8 Spiritual Applications in Clinical Social Work 9 School Participates in Survey on Homelessness 9 Williams, DSW, a noted research professor at Columbia University’s Department of Psychiatry, SSWR has experienced phenomenal growth, attracting leading social work researchers from around the United States and abroad to its expanding Deborah Padgett, PhD Professor membership. SSWR’s emerging prominence has been attributed to a number of factors, all related to its uniqueness as an organization dedicated to showcasing the best in social work research at its annual conference. Professor Allen-Meares, the outgoing president, recently commented, “I believe that SSWR is fast becoming one of the major forces shaping the social work profession. The society should be viewed as the intellectual arm Treating Depression in Vulnerable Urban Women 10 Philip Coltoff Receives University Distinguished Alumni Award 11 knowledge-based development. Its founding members had a clear School Milestones 11 focus of what was needed to enhance social work education and of the profession that advances excellence in research and practice. It is a responsive society that addresses the changes within the profession, as well as those that are relevant within VISIT OUR WEB SITES: For information on the other disciplines.” The conference program attracts over 700 School’s alumni programs and general information about abstract submissions each year of which about one-half are the School, visit our Web site at www.socialwork.nyu.edu. selected for presentation. Presentations cover a full array of social For those interested in alumni benefits and services, visit the NYU Alumni home page at www.nyu.edu/alumni work research topics from child welfare to aging, from practice- and click on Benefits/Services. based research to policy analysis, and from in-depth case studies continued NYU SOCIAL WORK New York University | School of Social Work The School and SSWR continued to large-scale multisite studies. The upcoming conference, to be held in New Orleans in mid-January, will feature a plenary address by Dr. Thomas Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health. Other conference activities are designed to help attendees improve their research skills, learn grant preparation, and meet with funding representatives. The organization has also become an important place to network and to recruit for faculty positions. As our PhD students have learned firsthand, SSWR’s annual conference is a nurturing environment. Each year since 2001, a preconference panel discussion has been scheduled for doctoral students, followed by a special reception. At this and other events, students have an exceptional opportunity to learn about academic recruitment and how to survive and thrive as scholars and faculty members. Our School’s faculty has had a prominent role in SSWR, including incoming president Deborah Padgett and past vice president Jeane Anastas. Faculty presenters at SSWR conferences have included Professors Gary Holden, Trudy Festinger, James Martin, Diane Mirabito, and George Patterson. Professor Padgett’s leadership on the SSWR board and her position as program chair in 2001 and 2002 have provided significant support in ensuring that qualitative methods are represented in the program’s papers, workshops, and symposia. As she embarks upon her presidency, new challenges await. Professor Padgett notes, “As president of SSWR, I have been charged by the board with forging a stronger infrastructure to support the organization’s rapid growth. I also want to strengthen existing relationships with other social work organizations and to reach out to our colleagues internationally. Last, but certainly not least, I want to work with the board to make sure that SSWR’s conference remains as friendly and welcoming as possible—and fun.” For more information, log on to SSWR’s Web site, www.sswr.org. Social Work and Parkinson’s Disease symptoms and treatment of PD, many allied health professionals are trained in virtual isolation from other disciplines, only to enter a fragmented health care system that neither teaches them nor promotes interdisciplinary care planning. Interdisciplinary and family-centered care planning have been shown to be the optimal approach to the complexity of PD care. Family caregivers of PWP are in need of competent intervention, and those from culturally diverse backgrounds are especially in need of outreach and culturally proficient care. Although documented to be suffering from rather significant rates of clinical depression, anxiety, health problems of their own, social isolation, and caregiver strain, family caregivers are typically neglected by the health care system. At present, most centers of care create sporadic and fragmented systems which are usually not responsive to caregiver needs. Part of the problem is the absence of social work services in many health care facilities that see those affected by chronic illnesses such as PD. In response to these and other needs, Professor GonzalezRamos has become involved with the National Parkinson Foundation to help develop national educational and care initiatives. Among the funded programs is Allied Team Training for Parkinson’s, a model interdisciplinary training program designed to prepare current and future allied health professionals to provide integrated and specialized care for those affected by Parkinson’s in medically underserved areas. Another program is Community Partners for Parkinson’s Care, whose mission is to inform whole communities about PD, to provide resources and support, and to improve access to care for all those affected by this disease. The response to these and other programs has been overwhelming, showing the need for such initiatives and the central role social work can play in planning and delivering interdisciplinary education and care. As a chronic, progressive, neurodegenerative illness leading to advanced disability and often dementia over time, Parkinson’s disease (PD) takes a heavy toll on the person diagnosed and his or her family caregivers. PD is estimated to affect one million diagnosed individuals (and many more under- or misdiagnosed), most of them older adults, and their more than one million family caregivers. As the disease progresses, family caregivers, often themselves vulnerable and aging, are called on to assume the most basic activities of daily living which can no longer be carried out by persons with Parkinson’s themselves. Professor Gladys Gonzalez-Ramos has become deeply involved in research and service development for persons with Parkinson’s disease (PWP) and their family caregivers. Her work is based on growing recognition that the current service system is fragmented and fails to meet the needs of those living with Parkinson’s and their family caregivers. Allied health professionals lack preparation to deal with complex and multidimensional PD care. A JEHT Foundationsponsored community needs assessment indicates that the mental health needs of patients and caregivers are typically ignored in the present system of care; and that health care professionals (1) fail to recognize and programmatically address the needs of family caregivers, (2) report that they have little or no knowledge of PD, and (3) are not trained to competently assess, develop, and carry out appropriate intervention strategies for family caregivers. Single-discipline approaches in isolation are often inadequate in response to the myriad problems faced by PWP and their family caregivers. Beyond lack of training in the 2 All You Need to Know: www.socialwork.nyu.edu Professor Padgett is nationally known for championing qualitative research in social work and developing the rigor of this discipline. New York University | School of Social Work Report from the Dean Meaningful change in higher education proceeds from a vision that expresses our highest aspirations, and in social work education, those aspirations reflect our sense of moral purpose. For us, it is not enough to seek excellence, however defined; we must fulfill our obligation to help build “the good society”—a more humane and just world. This order of change is not simply instituted; rather, it is “grown” on the basis of very hard work by faculty and administrators. During a period of intense effort, the School has accomplished an extraordinary range of improvements over two years. The faculty has totally reshaped the PhD program, with the prospect of being able to compete nationally for the best students and to develop the next generation of teachers/scholars for the profession. The new curriculum has attracted a remarkable and diverse cohort of students who are well prepared to undertake the rigorous program of study. The faculty also made significant changes in the MSW program— increasing standards for admission, improving the selection process, involving the faculty in candidate selection, and improving advisement. The results are already clear: our 20032004 entering class of 475 new MSW students is very strong. Our faculty has attracted new colleagues who bring added strength to our MSW and PhD programs and will be developing new ties to disciplines in the arts and sciences and the health sciences. JEROME WAKEFIELD, who is both professor of social work and University Professor at NYU, comes to us from Rutgers University where he was Distinguished Professor of Social Work. A practicing clinician, theorist, and researcher, he has gained prominence for work in several areas, including the definition of mental illness and how practicing social workers reason about the cause of clients’ behavior. Professor Wakefield, who has two doctorates, one in social work and one in philosophy from Berkeley, serves on the editorial boards of leading publications and as a highly respected reviewer for journals in social work, psychiatry, and psychology. He holds the position of lecturer in the department of psychiatry at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons. ROBERT MOORE has long been associated with the School as a research adviser to our PhD students, and has joined the faculty on a full-time basis as clinical assistant professor of social work. Professor Moore (MSW, MA, DrPH) has more than 20 years of experience as a methodologist and research director on NIH-funded projects, principally in the areas of access to services by the homeless and children and adolescents. He will continue to work with our PhD students and will teach in the MSW program and participate in School research projects. He began work this fall with Professor Barbara Dane on the spirituality in social work project described on page 9. NYU SOCIAL WORK Our fundraising efforts have resulted in a major scholarship gift from Connie Silver, PhD (BS ’78, MSW ’79), a substantial endowment for visiting professorships from Katherine W. (MSW ’72) and Howard J. Aibel, and a significant gift from Jane Eisner Bram (BA ’58, MSW ’79, PhD ’00) and William B. Bram, to support faculty development. To meet student demand for access to highly popular courses taught by full-time faculty, we successfully Suzanne England, PhD implemented a model of instruction Professor and Dean permitting larger enrollments in selected classes, complemented by small labs and discussion groups for enrichment of the lectures. These courses are typically “sold out” very early and the labs, though voluntary, have proven popular with students as well. The School has also taken significant steps in the direction of the appropriate educational use of technology — leading the University in shifting to e-Reserves, whereby course materials that were formerly available only through the paper-based library reserve system are now available to students over the Web. We have also created a BlackBoard™ Web page for every course, making it possible for faculty and students to communicate outside of class, for students to access and download syllabi and assignments as well as to submit assignments electronically. On the grants side, we have increased our application activity significantly, resulting in new foundation and government grants to Professors Barbara Dane, RoseMarie Perez Foster, Marjorie Rock, Gerald Landsberg, Gladys GonzalezRamos, Carol Tosone and Caroline Rosenthal Gelman, and Deborah Padgett. Our faculty received two of the six Curricular Challenge Fund grants awarded by the University this year. PhD candidate Ruth Forero has received a highly competitive CSWE dissertation award to support her research on family violence victims. Finally, the faculty continues to provide leadership in the profession and in several areas of substantive inquiry and policy. To name a few: Professor Deborah Padgett is president elect of the Society for Social Work and Research, Professor Jeane Anastas, our PhD program director, is chair of the national Group for the Advancement of Doctoral Education (GADE), Professor Gladys Gonzalez-Ramos has developed a national leadership role in developing services for patients and families affected by Parkinson’s disease, and Professor Lala Straussner continues to take a prominent national role in substance abuse education and treatment. School faculty members continue to attract national attention through a wide range of new publications, innovative training videos, and ongoing expansion of World Wide Web Resources for Social Workers (now serving more than 500 visitors each day). All You Need to Know: www.socialwork.nyu.edu 3 NYU SOCIAL WORK New York University | School of Social Work In Memoriam: Anna Permaul King First-year doctoral student Anna Permaul King died suddenly of illness in August 2003. Her family and classmates remember her, noting that she considered coming to NYU’s PhD program in social work to be among the proudest of her achievements. Anna Permaul King (RN, MSW), a Canadian national, spent her professional life in practice with underserved populations in Waterloo, Canada, and New York. She worked with homeless men in an emergency shelter, women in a residential treatment center for addictions, victims of domestic violence, and adults with developmental disabilities. In each of these jobs, she did more than just provide service—she always found a way to develop and enhance the program itself. Having lived in a developing country as a child, Anna was deeply committed to helping the poor and the underserved, and it was this motivation that seemed to inspire all of those around her. Anna came to NYU to bring these commitments to a new level in her professional career. Her family notes that she considered her time at NYU to be one of the best experiences of her life. Her major areas of interest were feminist theory, social justice, domestic and international women’s issues, and civil and human rights. Anna was mindful of her biracial identity, which contributed to her developing a strong appreciation of multicultural and multiethnic environments and a desire to reach out to people on a global level. A career at the United Nations was one option she had in mind. Anna Permaul King As expressed at her memorial service in Canada: “Anna was a rare combination of power and kindness, extremely competitive yet able to channel that energy to helping those less fortunate than she was. [She was] a woman with an astonishing lucidity of mind who possessed the courage to rise and meet the demands of each moment with total delight, knowing she was equal to them. In all of her endeavors— educational, professional, spiritual, and personal—she fully committed to the choices she had made.” Anna’s untimely death has of course been a great sorrow to her family and friends, but it is also a loss to the future of the social work profession. All who knew Anna at NYU are resolved to remember her and to continue to draw inspiration from her professional commitments. With thanks to Kenneth Wagner, Anna’s fiancé, for the materials on which much of this tribute is based. Surviving Chernobyl in America Professor RoseMarie Perez Foster has gone to extraordinary lengths to communicate the results of her research to the 500 survivors who were interviewed in her study of the long-term effects of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster. At a large Brooklyn community meeting in July 2003, copies of Surviving Chernobyl in America were distributed to research participants and other community members. This volume, which Professor Perez Foster wrote specifically for survivors and their families (in Russian and English), summarizes the medical and mental health effects of the nuclear accident, provides guidance on coping with real problems and understandable worry, and lists service resources for Russians in various U.S. cities. Academic researchers rarely manage to share the results of their research directly with the people who participate as research subjects. Professor Perez Foster, who also publishes widely in academic and professional journals, views such feedback to the community as an integral and ethical aspect of scientific investigation. “When you conduct research that results in knowledge that could be of direct use to research participants, feedback — with careful attention to effective, culturally sensitive communication — is simply part of your obligation as a scholar.” continued 4 All You Need to Know: www.socialwork.nyu.edu NYU New York University | School of Social Work SOCIAL WORK Surviving Chernobyl continued Fifteen years after the Chernobyl disaster, respondents show anxiety and traumatic stress reactions—with stronger associations for the subgroup that lived closer to the disaster and had greater exposure to it. Begun in 1998, Professor Perez Foster’s Chernobyl research involved hundreds of interviews with survivors and their family members, community professionals, and other researchers and clinicians here and abroad. Eight Russian-speaking graduate students from the School played a key role in the research as Glass Research Fellows involved in interviewing and data analysis. The research was supported in part through fellowship contributions from the Leslie Glass Foundation and continues with a follow-up on the finding that survivors report certain types of cancer at higher rates than the general population. A presentation of some of the results from this large study can be found in “The Long-Term Mental Health Effects of Nuclear Trauma in Recent Russian Immigrants to the United States,” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 2002, Vol. 72, No. 4, 492-504. Katherine W. Aibel, ‘72, and Howard J. Aibel Establish First Visiting Professorship in Social Work A major gift from Howard J. and Katherine W. Aibel has established the Howard and Katherine Webster Aibel Visiting Professorship in the School of Social Work at New York University. The gift, according to Social Work Dean Suzanne England, marks a milestone for the School. “This visiting professorship ensures visiting appointments for nationally and internationally recognized experts who will share their expertise with our students and collaborate productively with our faculty,” Dean England said. “It gives us the opportunity to reach out to leaders whose existing affiliations and commitments would not otherwise allow them to accept positions at the School.” Katherine Webster Aibel received an MSW degree from the School in 1972 under a Carnegie Foundation-NYU program that provided opportunities for women with young families to return to school and earn degrees in social work. She earned her undergraduate degree from Wells College. Mrs. Aibel spent the bulk of her professional career as a social worker in the Stamford, Connecticut school system. Thereafter she was a caseworker at Person-to-Person, a community social service agency based in Darien, Connecticut, serving the neighboring community of Stamford. Currently, as a volunteer, she serves as a court-appointed guardian ad litem in Connecticut’s juvenile courts for children from families of abuse. Howard J. Aibel, a graduate of Harvard College and the Harvard Law School, recently retired as a partner of LeBoeuf, Lamb, Green, & MacRae. Previously, he had retired from ITT Corporation after 30 years of service as general counsel and chief legal officer. Prior to joining ITT, Mr. Aibel was with General Electric’s legal department as antitrust litigation counsel. He started his career as an associate of White & Case in New York City. A past chair of the Executive Committee and the Board of the American Arbitration Association, he presently serves as a mediator and arbitrator of complex commercial disputes. Howard and Katherine Aibel “My husband and I decided we would assist the School in attracting outstanding professionals in the field who could enrich the educational experience of social work students as they prepare to face the difficult tasks required of them in this new century,” said Mrs. Aibel. “Dean England was instrumental in emphasizing the importance of such a gift and how it would provide greater flexibility in building new programs and enhancing existing ones.” According to Mrs. Aibel, she was partly inspired to endow the visiting professorship at NYU Social Work by a recent New York Times Magazine article in which NYU President John Sexton discussed the importance of attracting stellar faculty to the University. “I understand, from personal experience, how important outstanding teachers are. The special program I was in, when working for my MSW, provided top professors from the New York City area’s schools of social work—not just NYU, but Columbia, Fordham, Hunter, and Yeshiva as well.” Howard and Katherine Aibel are the parents of three sons: David, Daniel, and Jonathan. Daniel is a 1984 graduate of the NYU School of Law. The Aibels live in Weston, Connecticut. All You Need to Know: www.socialwork.nyu.edu 5 NYU SOCIAL WORK Shared Trauma in the Therapeutic Encounter An excerpt from Professor Carol Tosone’s Online Clinical Briefing The effects on mental health professionals of dealing with traumatized clients have been characterized in many different ways and have been given numerous meanings and names. Among the terms that have been used to capture secondary reactions to trauma are “burnout,” “traumatic countertransference,” “compassion fatigue,” “secondary victimization,” “secondary traumatic stress disorder,” and “vicarious traumatization.” While each of these concepts was originally developed in a specific context and with individual nuances, they have also been used interchangeably in connection with the phenomenon of secondary trauma—the reactions of clinicians to the traumatic events experienced by their clients. Symptoms can manifest themselves in emotional, cognitive, behavioral, or physical reactions. These symptoms arise in response to the client’s experience and in interaction with the clinician’s subjectivity, but do not take into account the experience of the therapeutic dyad being exposed to the same trauma simultaneously as occurs in shared trauma. Shared trauma, a relatively new concept in the United States, has been receiving increased attention in the literature following the attacks of September 11, 2001. Shared trauma refers to the clinician and the client experiencing the same trauma at the same time. Disasters such as explosions, war, and terrorist attacks, as well as other kinds of mass violence, are examples of events and situations that can lead to traumas that are shared simultaneously by the survivors and their helpers. This concept was discussed briefly in the context of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Office building in Oklahoma City in 1995: “The pressure of work is so constant and immediate that you forget you are part of this community and its bereavement as much as you are its clinician. A terrorist act simultaneously assaults physical lives and their cultural underpinning. More than simple displacement occurs, and despite discipline and training, you begin to experience the mania and exhaustion that accompany such an intense shared experience” (Krug, Nixon, and Vincent, 1996). One way to consider the concept of shared trauma is through its similarity to clinician self-disclosure. From an intersubjective perspective, the coconstructed reality of the 6 All You Need to Know: www.socialwork.nyu.edu New York University | School of Social Work therapeutic endeavor is one in which clinicians’ and clients’ unconscious, preconscious, and conscious experiences form the psychological field. In other words, the shared experience of the clinician and client is unique to that particular dyad, and the nature of the experience would differ if the client were working with another clinician. In the case of shared trauma, each participant is exposed, not only to the trauma but to the unique response of the other, and each is affecting the other’s cognitive schemas, or fundamental views, about the world. Issues of countertransference and secondary trauma are exacerbated, as the clinician is more likely to self-disclose. Consequently, it becomes more difficult for clinicians to remain neutral as they help clients deal with their responses to trauma. The tragic events surrounding the September 11 attacks and the ongoing fear of the spread of anthrax are examples of this kind of a collective shared trauma. Professionals in such situations function in a dual capacity as both fellow victims and professional helpers, sometimes leading to a blurring of their perspectives. In the unique situations arising from collective traumatic events of mass violence that result in shared trauma, both the clinician and the client respond to the event at the same time and simultaneously experience the same processes of mourning and disruption of their existing schema. Clinicians, however, have the added responsibility of dealing with their own traumatic alterations while fulfilling their professional responsibilities to clients and helping clients work through their responses to trauma. In cases of shared trauma, clinicians need to open themselves up to their own fears and terrors that may be lying just below the surface, helping to make their personal anxieties conscious. In reality, both the client and clinician are dealing with the painful process of looking into a “heart of darkness,” with its losses, mourning, and need for reconstruction. In spite of the darkness, however, the clinician needs to maintain her or his professional role and be available to help the client through the complex healing process. Both the client and the clinician need to develop a worldview that accommodates the new reality, a process that, while painful and frightening, contains within it the seeds for greater awareness, personal growth, and wisdom. For the full briefing and bibliography, visit www.socialwork.nyu.edu and click on Continuing Education. NYU SOCIAL WORK 1953 - 2003 Fifty Years of Leadership in Social Work Education at NYU This year we celebrate our 50th year of social work education at NYU, and I invite you to make a special gift in honor of the occasion. You may contribute $35 or more to the Dean’s Annual Fund, and your gift will help to meet pressing operating needs including scholarship assistance. With an eye to the future, I have established the Fund for the Future of Social Work Education at NYU, which will help us to advance our ambitious 10-year plan. You may participate with a special contribution of $500 or more and help to shape programs of excellence and innovation that will carry us well into the 21st century. We are planning a special event to honor Fund for the Future donors, and I hope to see you there. At whatever level you contribute, I assure you that your contribution will be much valued and used wisely. Kindly use the enclosed envelope for your gift and make checks payable to “NYU-Social Work.” THE SOCIAL WORK A L U M N I A S S O C I AT I O N Washington Square Officers President: Steve Schwabish ’81 First Vice President: Toni Halbreich ’81 Second Vice President: Maureen Mingle ’97 Treasurer: Gloria Samuels ’89 Committee Chairs Membership: Maureen Mingle ’97 Fundraising: Bill Cook ’71 Suzanne England, Professor and Dean Rockland County Chapter Officers All alumni are invited to return for NYU Alumni Reunion Weekend April 16 –18, 2004 R e m i n i s ce · R e j o i ce · R e u n i o n We hope you will return to campus for a weekend planned exclusively for NYU alumni. This is a great opportunity to reunite with old friends, tour the NYU campus and New York City, and meet current students and faculty members. The highlight of the weekend is the Alumni Gala Dinner Dance, held on Saturday evening at the Grand Hyatt at Grand Central Station. More than 1,700 alumni came back to Washington Square for Alumni Weekend 2003! Start planning now to be among those who will help make NYU Alumni Reunion Weekend 2004 even more successful. If you graduated in a class year ending in a 4 or 9 (1954, 1959, 1964, 1969, etc.), this year marks your milestone reunion year! We are forming reunion committees to ensure a wonderful celebration. Please e-mail us at alumni.reunion@nyu.edu for more information on reunion activities or to join a reunion committee. You can also get more details online at www.nyu.edu/alumni. Save the date for NYU Alumni Reunion Weekend April 16–18, 2004! President: Roberta Schiffer ’90 Vice President: Lynn Ellis ’99 Secretary: Rosemary Kirk ’92 Treasurer: Mary Lynn Schiller ’01 Committee Chairs Program: Merry Mans ’92 Mentoring: Lisa Brateman ’02 We welcome your comments and suggestions. Contact us: Wendy Maragh Taylor Alumni Relations Helpline 212-998-5906 Steve Schwabish Washington Square Alumni 212-721-3119 Roberta Schiffer Rockland County Alumni 201-883-0909 To inform us of position announcements, e-mail ssw.joblistings@nyu.edu. NYU SOCIAL WORK ALUMNI NOTES 1990s 1970s is an assistant professor in the social work department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She is a member of the Affilia–Journal of Women and Social Work editorial board and the professional advisory board of Hospice at Charlotte. JOSEPHINE GOTTESMAN, ’79, CAROLE A. WINSTON, PhD ’99, is a practicing attorney specializing in disability law. is a licensed social worker and attorney who earned a PhD in social work from Clark Atlanta University. His doctoral dissertation was entitled “A Study of the Relationship Between Health Care Access and Access Barriers to Behavioral Health Care for African Americans Utilizing the Managed Care Model.” DARRELL NEARON, BS ’77, MARY PENDER GREENE, ’74, is chief of social work services at the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services. She is a frequent contributor to the agency newsletter. Her article, entitled “Supervisor as Coach: How to Improve Your Supervisory Skills,” appeared in the March 2003 issue. has joined the Learning Disabilities Association of New York City as executive director. He formerly served as Senior Consultant, Borough Coordinator, and Assistant Commissioner with the New York City Department of Mental Health, Mental Retardation, and Alcoholism Services. ARNOLD KOROTKIN, ’72, has been teaching and providing clinical services in the English speaking community of Prague over the past year. She will be presenting a paper entitled “Self-Psychology: A Case Study” to the Czech Psychoanalytic Society this year. DIANA B. SEASONWEIN, ’72, 1980s was appointed assistant director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater New Haven, Connecticut, in February of this year. LAURI J. LOWELL, ’86, HEIDI J. SORVINO, ’85, has joined the law firm, Arent Fox Kintner Plotkin & Kahn, PLLC, as a partner in the bankruptcy group, based in the New York City office. Ms. Sorvino is a member of the American Bankruptcy Institute and the American Bar Association, and is active in a number of community programs in the Summit, New Jersey area. serves as fundraising chair on the board of directors for the Samaritans, a New Hampshire nonprofit organization and is also involved in volunteer work at several other local social service agencies. She is currently attending the Giving Monadnock Training Institute for Fundraising and Development. KRISTIN TARGETT, ’96, has been named director of the Hope Adult Program at the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. The program serves adults with long-standing mood, anxiety, and psychotic disorders coexisting with personality disorders, addictions, or other conditions. She formerly held several roles at New York Presbyterian Hospital, including program coordinator of the schizophrenia disorder program and clinical evaluator in the admissions office. SUSAN ROMANELLI, ’95, is director of social work at Nassau Extended Care Center in Hempstead, New York. She is pursuing a DSW degree at Adelphi University. CHARLENE G. LANE, ’94, JENNIFER REDDIN, BS ’94, is an MSW and attorney. Her law practice focuses solely on representing children in the foster care system and children in contested custody cases. SUSAN KURNER, ’94, is the return to work coordinator for Shands Health Care in Florida, providing services for injured and ill employees. She also works as a consultant providing comprehensive assessments of children and their families to local social services agencies. WILLIAM MECCA, JR., ’93, is a social worker and alcohol and drug counselor for the New Canaan Public Schools in Connecticut. He is pursuing a doctoral degree in education at Southern Connecticut State University. JANET COHEN, ’91, is a social worker in the Ambulatory Care Department at Harlem Hospital in Manhattan. She is a New York State Society for Clinical Social Work Fellow. SUSAN MAROTTA-WARNER, ’91, is director of Health Industry Resources Enterprises Supported Housing Program in the Bronx and Queens, New York. We gratefully acknowledge those alumni and friends who have supported the School during the fiscal year of September 1, 2002- August 31, 2003. Your generosity clearly demonstrates your support of our commitment to prepare the future generations of social work leaders. DEAN’S CIRCLE BENEFACTORS $5,000 Plus Howard J. Aibel Katherine W. Aibel Jane Eisner Bram William B. Bram Judy Tobias Davis Leslie G. Glass Kathleen T. Kennedy Kachina Myers Constance Silver DEAN’S CIRCLE MEMBERS $1,000-$4,999 Phyllis Bley Chernack Sally Dayton Clement Melinda M. Eaton Margot T. Egan Suzanne England Doris C. Kempner Lois Jaffin Levine Margaret T. Ngunang Gail H. Niederhoffer Henry C. Phillips Jennifer E. Reddin-Eliou Heidi G. C. Rieger Irving and Dena Schechter Jonathan Sills Alexander and Patricia Walker SPONSORS $500-$999 Carol W. Blann Wendy Bond Anne Delaney Sharon H. Fong Domenica M. Mondo Maxine L. Myers John and Charlotte Boyer Parkinson Rebecca Ann Roepe Benjamin A. Rosenfeld Robert V. Schwalbe ASSOCIATES $100-$499 Marci B. Abbot Diane Anglum Jacqueline B. Anthony-Sickinger Rudolph M. Antonio Michele W. Archer Eugene Aronowitz Samuel R. Aymer Madelyne Strauss Bailey Carol M. Bandini Christina C. Banks Deborah Reider Bazes Caryn R. Bienstock Alison Stanley Birnbaum Anthony L. Blackburn Judith S. Brauner Valerie L. 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Grossmann Judith Armour Grosz Jane E. Gural-Senders S. Toni Halbreich Julie Ann Hall Mary F. Hall Petrucci E. Harris James L. Hatcher Kenneth A. Hechter Zinnia E. Hernandez Meryl C. Herskovits Dalma V. Heyn Ann L. Hicks Michael S. Immerman Anne M. Infosino Ann N. Jackson Renee Strauhs Jacoby Joyce James Rose C. James Mei-Guey Jan Jaine Janoff-O'Neill Penelope E. Johnson Karen M. Kaczmar Michael M. Kahle Bonnie B. Kamen Alan Kaufman Diane J. Keller Judith Kellner Stephen M. Kiesling Shirley C. Kirincich Imogene Krall Lynn W. Kramer Joan S. Kuehl Catherine LaChapelle Thomas S. Larson Lisa M. Laudante Estelle G. Lebowitz Judith Lemberger Christopher J. Leonard George G. Lewert Arthur J. Lewis Gary L. Lomax Carol C. Look Reeva S. Mager Johanna E. Maiorano Peter Malinow Noreen I. Mandell Leon F. Mangin Jean M. Marcucci Fumi Matsuki Raith Cynthia S. May Patricia McElhone Rachel B. McLain Leslie S. McLean-London Hazel Medina-Matz Wiledene N. Meikle Jeanette S. Meyer Barbara A. 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COMMITTEES: I’d like to get involved in the following NYU Social Work Alumni Association Committees: Executive Nominating Mentoring Membership Fundraising Off-campus recruitment – Location: NYU New York University | School of Social Work Child and Adolescent Treatment in Social Work Practice An excerpt from Professor Theresa Aiello’s recent Online Clinical Briefing In a profession so dominated by women, it is probably no accident that the child became an important early focus in social work. Children are the least vocal members of society, relying on adults to speak to their needs and to care for them. Social workers historically were among the first to advocate and represent children and families within social welfare programs, in the child guidance movement, and in settlement houses. This is still true today. Social work and psychoanalysis are both disciplines of great integrity. Psychoanalysis has greatly influenced and enriched clinical social work. In turn, clinical social work has begun to influence psychoanalysis, both in theory and in practice. This is already evidenced by the recent interest of psychoanalysts in multiculturalism, intersubjectivity, gender and sexual orientation, social class, linguistics, and, in particular, the reexamination of the importance of the narrative with an emphasis on the right to personal autonomy. All of these are old social work principles that take on new and ever-evolving life in the welding together of social work practice with theory. Child treatment has traditionally taken second place to adult treatment. However, in the last 20 years, infant research has had the most profound and startling impact upon constructions SOCIAL WORK of the self in both the intrapsychic and the interpersonal arenas. Child treatment will naturally unfold as the next domain for further investigation of the evolution of human identity. Relational principles intersect very well with social work principles of practice. The social construction of self, as illuminated by a subjective and intersubjective examination of ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, trauma, and social class is present in the narrative that the client presents. The clinician in turn presents a narrative participation of his or her own. The concept of self- and mutual-regulation from infant research speaks to the importance of the therapist and client as coconstructing a sense of meaning of the client’s life. In child treatment the difficulty of this kind of coconstruction is considerable. Children often speak in fragments, shifting in and out of symbolic play that the therapist must translate simultaneously into meaning. The greatest difficulty that beginning clinicians describe is how to integrate theoretical concepts into practice while balancing an empathic connection with their clients. The difficulties (and rewards) of child treatment are manifold. Child therapists have the task of receiving a kind of bicultural split screen in translating symbolic play into meaning. Since children aren’t always verbal and rarely consistently so, we often use rare bits of narrative to construct meaning out of a child’s life—something like sewing together a patchwork quilt of fragments of dialogue. For the full briefing and bibliography, visit www.socialwork.nyu.edu and click on Continuing Education. S O M E FA C U LT Y WORK IN PROGRESS A N D PhD D I S S E RTAT I O N S U N D E R WAY Muslim Americans’ Beliefs and Attitudes About Mental Illness Professor Marjorie Rock The Stories of Lesbian Partners of Women with Breast Cancer Sabina Primack Substance Abuse Among Soviet Immigrants to Three Countries Professor Lala Straussner Book project: When the Bubble Breaks: Narcissistic Vulnerability and Mid-Life Issues Professor Eda Goldstein Spirituality and Transcendence in Sexuality: Implications for HIV Prevention Among Gay Men Professor James Martin Book project: Attachment-Based Clinical Practice Professor Jeff Seinfeld Practice-Based Research on Adolescent Termination from Mental Health Treatment Professor Diane Mirabito (Greenstein Award Winner, 2003) Evaluating Cultural Competency in Social Work Field Education: An Agency and University Collaboration Benjamin Kohl Exposure: An Exploratory Study of Adolescent Males’ Coping Responses to Domestic Violence Samuel Aymer An Exploration of HIV/AIDS Perceptions, Knowledge, and Beliefs Among Individuals Who Are Deaf Elizabeth Eckhardt Forensic Mental Health: Planning and Advocacy for Adults Professor Gerald Landsberg All You Need to Know: www.socialwork.nyu.edu 7 NYU SOCIAL WORK Caribbean Families Are the Focus of New MSW Learning Initiative Professors Alma Carten and Judith Lemberger have developed an MSW learning initiative in child welfare, focusing on services to English-speaking Caribbean families in New York City and in the West Indies. Supported by an NYU Curricular Challenge Fund Grant, the project is a partnership of NYU Social Work, the University of the West Indies (UWI), and the NYC Administration for Children’s Services (ACS). The project, called the Caribbean Child Welfare Fellowship, has been launched with six advanced concentration New York University | School of Social Work MSW students from the School who are in field placements at three cooperating agencies in Brooklyn: the ACS Family Service Unit, the Caribbean Mental Health Program at Kingsbrook Medical Center, and the Caribbean Women’s Health Association. Michael Hernandez, an NYU doctoral candidate, is the project coordinator. Distance learning by teleconference will link students in New York with UWI students in Jamaica for a series of seminars and exchange of experiences. Future summer exchange visits by students are being planned. The project builds on the findings of a study completed under the auspices of the New York City Social Work Education Consortium that recommended the use of field learning specialization as one approach to strengthening child welfare content in schools of social work. School’s Shelter Program Welcomes New Director Yvette Fort, ‘99 Approaching its 20th anniversary, the School’s support program for mentally ill women has appointed Yvette Fort, MSW ’99, as its new director. Ms. Fort, a clinician with strong skills in program development and management, will have responsibility for the School’s 30-bed support unit and other activities of our professional and student staff within the 200-bed Brooklyn Women’s Shelter. Ms. Fort, who has experience in housing placement and work with mentally ill and substance abusing clients, has already begun the tasks of improving management, funding, and services in the program. The Community Support Services Unit, opened in 1983, provides case management, mental health, peer support, and outreach services to mental health unit clients and to the larger shelter community. Sixty percent of the women in the School’s shelter program report significant (and often multiple) instances of violence in their lives—as children, spouses, and homeless women living on the streets or in shelters. Approximately 95 percent of clients are poor and have no more than a high school education. Ten to fifteen percent have developmental disabilities, making them our most vulnerable clients. Residents typically suffer from more than one serious condition or circumstance simultaneously and present an enormous challenge as clients. Moreover, they are poorly served through a fragmented system that fails to mount a coordinated response to their life circumstances. The New York City communities from which the shelter residents are drawn rank among the 8 All You Need to Know: www.socialwork.nyu.edu Yvette Fort highest with respect to the incidence of severe poverty, mental illness, domestic violence, substance abuse, homelessness, HIV, and other life-threatening medical conditions. Program staff members use a variety of interventions to provide individualized services to clients, including oneon-one counseling, psychoeducational groups, self-help referrals, and recreational and community activities. Ms. Fort summarizes the program’s central philosophy: “We believe that these women are not beyond help, but are underserved. And our program demonstrates this: Ninety-eight percent of our clients move to independent or supportive housing in the community, largely through the provision of intensive services.” New York University | School of Social Work Spiritual Applications in Clinical Social Work Professors Barbara Dane and Robert Moore have received a $75,000 grant from the Achelis-Bodman Trust for research on spiritual approaches in clinical social work. The spiritual beliefs and practices of both professionals and their clients are important—but little-studied—aspects of social work. Despite the obvious ways that spiritual values and concerns are embedded in social work practice, there has been little systematic research on this dimension of social work—either with respect to the beliefs and practices of social workers and their clients, or with respect to the ways social workers help clients to use their spiritual foundation in addressing problems. The proposed project is the first stage in development of a program of serious research in this area. The project combines the expertise of Professor Barbara Dane, a clinician with extensive experience in building on client spiritual strengths and a recognized leader in end-of-life care, with that of Professor Robert Moore, an experienced quantitative researcher and methodologist. School Participates in Department of Homeless Services Outreach Survey on Homelessness Earlier this year, faculty and students from the School participated in the first borough-wide Homeless Outreach Population Survey sponsored by the City of New York. Students and faculty were among the approximately 1,000 volunteers who canvassed Manhattan in an effort to assist the Department of Homeless Services (DHS) to assess and reduce homelessness and improve services to this population. The goal of the survey was to cover 330 miles of Manhattan streets and parks in addition to visiting 60 subway stations. Volunteers received one hour of training before embarking on this historic count. DHS personnel and volunteers with social service experience led teams of four or five volunteers. Teams canvassed their designated areas between the hours of midnight and 4 a.m. to identify homeless people who were not in shelters for the evening. The teams approached the homeless, offered food, water, and transportation to shelters, and gathered demographic information. Professor Catherine Medina, director of field learning and community partnerships, coordinated the efforts of NYU NYU SOCIAL WORK The proposed research is designed to begin the process of replacing our impressions of clinical social work practice in this area with carefully analyzed empirical data. The ultimate goal of this research and other activities is to promote the effective use of spiritual approaches in clinical work by social workers and other clinicians. The project will explore what factors most powerfully influence the personal spirituality of social work clinicians and shape their use of spiritual approaches in their work with individuals and families. Personal spirituality is defined as the personal spiritual and/or religious beliefs that shape the clinician’s life and sometimes his or her work. Spiritual approaches in clinical social work range from simple acknowledgement of a client’s spiritual and/or religious beliefs, across varying levels of engagement around spiritual themes to help the client draw on this area of strength, to active participation and encouragement through meditation and prayer. The initial research will involve surveys of clinical social workers from the NYS Association of Clinical Social Workers and the Social Work Network in End of Life and Palliative Care. faculty and student volunteers. She also provided leadership as liaison between DHS and the other New York City schools of social work to promote the importance of the survey and recruit volunteers. On the evening of the survey, Professor Medina was assigned to canvas a section of the West Village and Chelsea. Her group identified 12 homeless people who had decided to spend the evening on the streets in the cold rather than stay in one of the city’s shelters. Professor Medina described the experience as “a cohesive effort by interested volunteers from every walk of life— counseling, marketing, law, medicine, business, retirement, and others—to do something to help street homelessness.” She explained that although no one on the team knew each other prior to that evening, they quickly bonded on their mission to help with this social issue. They even developed an unspoken communication, somehow knowing, as a group, when and how to approach and interview individuals about their housing situations. As the evening wore on, the group empathized more and more with the plight of the street homeless. The goal of the survey was not only to get a count but also to gather data that will make a difference in service delivery to shelter-resistant homeless people. That evening the survey identified approximately 1,780 homeless people in Manhattan; 88 percent were on the streets and in parks, while the remaining 12 percent were underground in subway continued All You Need to Know: www.socialwork.nyu.edu 9 NYU SOCIAL WORK New York University | School of Social Work School Participates in Department of Homeless Services Outreach Survey on Homelessness continued stations. Of the 1,780 homeless, 13 percent were women and 15 percent were 55 years of age or older. No families with children were identified. The DHS is using this data to improve services to the homeless population and is planning to conduct the survey in the other boroughs. The survey did not focus on the many homeless people who stay in city shelters. That evening there were three people housed in shelters for every one person counted on the streets of Manhattan. Treating Depression in Vulnerable Urban Women THE NEED. Female depression is destructive to daily func- tioning, maternal nurturing, work life, and general family well-being. In 2002, one out of every 10 women in the United States—an estimated 12.4 million women—suffered a major depressive episode. The effect of depression transcends generations: longitudinal research on child development shows that a mother’s clinical depression is one of the most consistent predictors of childhood maladjustment. While these phenomena are true for the general population of women in the United States, their impact carries exponential power for poor and disenfranchised women from underserved groups. Multicompromised by the lack of economic resources, education, social mobility, and quality medical care, these women can experience depressive symptoms that take on particularly refractory and high-risk dimensions. While the problem of depression in poor women is well documented, and there has been some professional and policy acknowledgement of its scope, little has been done to develop combined treatment approaches for use in real-world community settings where these women typically seek and receive care. These settings include outpatient clinics in municipal hospitals, homeless shelters, and community-based mental health agencies. Clinical outcome research has repeatedly shown that a combined treatment regimen of cognitive behavioral psychotherapy and medication is the optimal intervention for depressive disorders. While this combination has been shown to be effective for more socioeconomically stable women, there is little research on the real effectiveness of such approaches for multicompromised female populations who are at the highest risk. 10 All You Need to Know: www.socialwork.nyu.edu THE PROJECT. In 2000, Professor RoseMarie Perez Foster adapted a short-term cognitive behavioral group therapy treatment protocol, originally developed by Dr. Ricardo Munoz at San Francisco General Hospital, for use with poor, multiproblem, and underserved women suffering from depression in New York City. This protocol is being evaluated by offering it to groups of women in several community settings and comparing its effectiveness with treatment that is usually offered. Through the application of a scientifically rigorous research protocol that is specifically designed for the mental health needs of vulnerable women, the project aim is to create an intervention that is best suited to the complex needs of this population. If proven effective, the protocol can be used widely to provide responsive treatment for this population. Group therapy can contribute directly to the wellbeing of depressed patients and serve to increase compliance with the medication regimen. THE SETTINGS. The research is being conducted in three community-based agencies providing mental health services to African American, Afro-Caribbean, and Latina women. The Bedford-Stuyvesant Community Mental Health Center has primarily African American and Afro-Caribbean clients, and the groups for depressed women will be based in its HIV clinic. The Brooklyn Women’s Shelter houses homeless mentally ill women, predominantly African American and Latina, who receive group counseling services. The Bellevue Hospital Outpatient Psychiatry Clinic is a bilingual treatment program. This research is being supported in part by generous gifts from Forrest Laboratories, Inc., and the Leslie Glass Foundation. NYU New York University | School of Social Work SOCIAL WORK Philip Coltoff, ‘64, Receives University Distinguished Alumni Award Philip Coltoff, chief executive officer of the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) and leading spokesperson and advocate for children, was honored at the 2003 NYU Alumni Awards Dinner on April 4 for his outstanding achievement and service to the social work profession. Under Coltoff ’s leadership, CAS delivers direct services to the city’s neediest children and families through almost 200 different programs. He is also known for his written contributions to child welfare literature. He serves on numerous local and national advisory committees and task forces, including the White House Panel on Children and the Mayor’s Task Force on Child Abuse and Neglect. Coltoff, who earned his MSW from the School in 1964, says, “More than 30 years ago, NYU helped teach me to leave the world a better place than I found it.” The distinguished alumni award is presented to respected and distinguished graduates who have demonstrated extraordinary achievement and/or service to profession, vocation, or cultural endeavors and who deserve acknowledgment as embodying the spirit of distinction that brings pride to School Milestones 10 th Philip Coltoff the University. Other 2003 recipients were Eric R. Kanel, 2002 Nobel Prize winner in Physiology or Medicine; Stanley Kasten, president of the Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Braves, and Atlanta Thrashers; and New York City Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly (NYU Eugene J. Keogh Distinguished Public Service Award recipient). Anniversary MSW Extension Site Program at Sarah Lawrence College 20 th Anniversary School’s Shelter Program for Homeless Women 50 th Anniversary School of Social Work All You Need to Know: www.socialwork.nyu.edu 11 Breakfast at Washington Square Served with your choice of topics: — Health and Wellness for Women with Disabilities — Psychodynamics and Institutional Life — Pros and Cons of 12-Step Groups — Shared Trauma The breakfast discussion series is brought to you by the School’s Division of Lifelong Learning and Professional Development. For more information or to register, visit us at www.socialwork.nyu.edu and click on Continuing Education. COMING IN THE NEXT ISSUE The School as an Idea Center The William B. and Jane Eisner Bram Fund for Faculty Excellence Produced by Advertising and Publications, New York University. New York University is an affirmative action/equal opportunity institution. 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