Land Prayer/ Welcome and Discussion with Chief Lynette Allston

Earth prayers or “Land Prayers” recognize that we all walk on originally tribal lands and that environmental sustainability is critical to long-term survival of the human species. Lynette will lead us in such a prayer and then discuss the history and modern condition of her Nottoway Tribe, calling on social workers to become more aware of indigenous peoples in the state.

Credit Hours: 0.5
Level:  All levels of experience

Debra Riggs, Welcome by Debra and Morning Coffee Break

Chief Lynette Allston, Land Prayer - Welcome and Discussion with Chief Lynnette Allston

Life-long friends with over a decade of collaboration in the fields of youth engagement, creative arts and community building, poets CJ Suitt and Kane Smego explore what it means to nurture cross-cultural relationships. In this captivating performance and workshop, the duo reimagine healthy masculinity and celebrate the unique perspectives that we all carry, sharing their stories in verse and guiding participants in telling their own. Beyond the poetry, this program is an invitation to dialogue, fostering social-emotional learning and leading students in building a more connected campus community.

• Celebrate multiculturalism
• Foster social-emotional learning and development
• Help build a more inclusive culture
• Model healthy masculinity, cross-cultural dialogue, and community building
• Raise social justice awareness
• Lead participants in telling and sharing their stories through creative writing and team-building activities

Credit Hours: 2.5
Public Health Priorities Hours: 2.5
Level: All levels of experience

Kane Smego, The Bridge Project - Finding Connection in a Time of Division

CJ Suitt, The Bridge Project - Finding Connection in a Time of Division

Zentangle is an American style of drawing that promotes concentration and creativity while also boosting well-being. Invented by a monk and artist, Zentangle combines art with meditation and is a fun, easy way to relax through the creation of drawn shapes and structured designs. Try your hand at this unusual but therapeutic art form! Have your Zentangle kit from your Conference Engagement Package on hand so you can join in on this interactive workshop.

Credit Hours:1.5

Level: All levels of experience

Jennifer Cottrell, Zentangle®, One Stroke at a Time

Family treatment is such an important part of social work practice. It is always valuable to develop new skills for this significant intervention. This workshop reviews different approaches to working with families and provides hands on opportunities to learn creative, artful interventions for systemically helping clients.

• Participants will review systems theory
• Participants will explore different approaches to family intervention and assessment
• Participants will actively develop strategies and techniques for working with families

Credit Hours: 3
Ethics Hours: 1
Level:  All levels of experience

Theresa Beeton, Artfully Working with Families

Ronald Clark, Artfully Working with Families

This introductory training to trauma and PTSD provides the learners with a comprehensive exploration of the psychological trauma field, the nature of trauma (sexual abuse, combat, and natural disasters), how trauma affects individuals, grief reactions, racial distress and traumatic stress.

Also included in this training, is the exploration of the professional’s response to trauma, vicarious traumatization, the use of trauma-informed care as a crisis intervention, comorbid disorders and general treatment issues.

• Learners will become familiar with the basic literature on trauma, post traumatic stress disorder and resilience
• Learners will explore the impact of trauma from a cognitive, neurobiological/physiological, clinical and ecological perspective
• Learners will have a basic working knowledge of trauma and its impact in society, as well as the knowledge of basic strategies for treating trauma victims
• Learners will become familiar with trauma and its comorbid disorders
• Learners will explore cultural factors that affect trauma work, research an conceptualizations, including major controversies in the field
• Learners will examine the most current evidence-based practices in trauma for treating adults, adolescents and children
• Learners will be able to recognize the signs of compassion fatigue, burn out and secondary stress disorder

Credit Hours:  3

Ethics Hours:  1

Level: All levels of experience

Dr. Kenyuatia Gash, LCSW, BCD, MAC, Effects of Trauma vs PTSD

Cultural humility is centered on life-long learning and critical self-reflection, recognition and challenging of power imbalance that are inherent, and upholding institutional accountability. This session will provide information to social workers on cultural humility, while also focusing on the impact of oppression in the lives of the families served and the ways in which social workers can work to transform their practice individually, interpersonally, and institutionally.

• Define anti-racism and isms and describe how each are demonstrated
• Articulate the implications and conditions of bias
• Recognize the principles and attributes of cultural humility
• Utilize cultural humility to address bias

Credit Hours: 1.5

Ethics Hours:  0.25

Public Health Priorities Hours:  1.5

Level: All levels of experience

Brandynicole Brooks, PhD, LICSW, The Complete Compassion Workshop: A Workshop on Addressing Secondary Traumatic Stress and Cultural Humility as an Anti-Racist Approach

75% of Social Workers operate in emotionally stressful environments and are prone to experience vicarious trauma. Resiliency is the solution for social workers to reduce the impact of emotional stress and vicarious trauma, and this requires self-awareness, self-reflection, and individualized self-care plans. Social workers have an ethical responsibility to service clients within their areas of competence and maintain professional boundaries. Leading resilient social workers requires promoting self-awareness, professional competence and boundaries, and self-care plans in a psychologically safe work environment, where vulnerability is awarded and not punished. Social work leaders, clinical supervisors, and agency leaders need effective tools and strategies to lead social workers through vulnerable situations that require resiliency. This workshop is designed to equip social work leaders with providing supportive supervision that will decrease work-related stress, improve performance, and provide a nurturing, psychologically safe environment for resilience and professional success. 

• Attendees will define resiliency through identifying self-awareness, self-reflection, and individualized self-care plans
• Attendees will closely examine the ethical responsibility for professional competence and boundaries, including cultural competence for diverse populations
• Attendees will define and understand the four (4) stages of psychological safety-inclusion safety, learner safety, contributor safety, and challenger safety
• Attendees will review four (4) vulnerable situations that require resiliency and the benefits of a psychologically safe environment to decrease the impact of stress and vicarious trauma
• Attendees will learn several leadership strategies to promote resilience in a psychologically safe environment, including effective use of individual and group supervisions

Credit Hours: 3
Ethics Hours:  1.5
Level: Beginner

Sheena Lyle, LCSW, CCTP, Leading Resilient, Social Workers in a Psychologically Safe Environment

Students will learn how their grandparents impacted their own upbringing. How they are not healing from what they directly experienced, but unhealed wounds of those who raised them. Learn how interrupting these cycles takes time, emotional energy, and recognition. Learn ways to decolonize our views of human behavior. Unlearning the beliefs that generations behind us considered guideline to survive such as deserving any form of verbal, emotional, physical, or sexual abuse. Lastly, how breaking generational trauma is part of a radical revolution to our loved ones, and we may not get along with them as we dismantle the oppressive system. 

• Ancestral and Transgenerational trauma in the LatinX community
• Identifying uncomfortable feeling as normal and enforcing personal boundaries
• Attachment styles in relationships

Credit Hours: 1.5
Public Health Priorities Hours: 1.5
Level: Beginner

Magaly Vicente, LCSW, Breaking Generational Curses Means Discussing Uncomfortable Topics

Conducting a Youth or Student Threat Assessment requires specific knowledge of the risk and protective factors of school and youth violence. This presentation will provide the current basic knowledge, understanding and available violence assessment tools in order to assess a youth's level of risk to others, themselves and/or the school environment when the youth has made a substantive threat that requires a Threat Assessment to consider the youth to return to school which also includes recommendations of a school safety plan of the youth's psychosocial needs such as mental health intervention, school services and family services.

• Participants with become familiar with the basic knowledge of how to conduct a Threat Assessment
• Participants will be exposed to the types of threats that need to be identified and the possible motives of youth violence
• Participants will learn about the various threat and risk assessment tools that assist in identification of the level of threat of the youth

Credit Hours: 3

Ethics Hours: 1

Level: Moderate

David R Boehm, LCSW, ACSW, Youth Threat Assessment: The Basics

Research on the effects of adverse childhood experiences (ACES) will be summarized. Case studies will be presented which detail the innovative trauma-informed approaches being implemented in schools throughout the nation. Strategies for creating successful community partnerships and specific content that can be utilized to design trauma-focused programs will be discussed. The findings of a recent research project that examined student support personnel's perspectives on the ACES exposure of students in the Richmond, Virginia area will be revealed. Student support staff's views on the impact of collective trauma on students' functioning, including repercussions of the COVID-19 Pandemic and recent incidences of racial injustice, will be described. Prevalent traumatic experiences of students and typical academic, behavioral, and educational needs of students with ACES exposure will be explained. Current trauma-focused programming in school systems in the Richmond, Virginia area will also be discussed. 

• Learn about the impact of ACES on mental health and academic progress
• Learn about mobilizing community support for trauma focused services
• Learn steps for implementing trauma informed approaches

Credit Hours:  1.5
Level: All levels of experience

Chanda Bass, DSW-C, LCSW, C-SSWS, CCTP, CATP, Traumatic Experiences and Subsequent Needs of Students in the Richmond Region

This presentation aims to present the experiences of a social worker traveling to over 35 countries to learn about community services and programs. The participant will learn about human trafficking and HIV camps in Thailand, an orphanage in France, and child labor in India amongst other stories. The presenter will share how to organize or join international programs and how to collaborate with international universities and organizations.

• Learn about international social work
• Discuss international work programs and experiences
• Learn to organize or join international programs or how to collaborate with international organizations

Credit Hours: 1.5
Public Health Priorities Hours: 1.5
Level: All levels of experience

Cynthia Catchings, Social Working Around the World

“If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete.” (Jack Kornfield) Being an effective social worker means having compassion for those we support and serve. Often, though, we forget to turn that compassion inward, and this leaves us feeling incomplete. When we dedicate ourselves in this way, we find ourselves facing secondary traumatic stress, compassion fatigue, and, eventually, burn out head on. The Complete Compassion Workshop was curated by a clinical social worker with her own experience of STS and burn out to provide tangible resources and support to other social workers faced with this occupational hazard. Through evidence-based assessment and interventions, this workshop will provide you with the framework to strengthen your resilience, increase your compassion satisfaction, and ultimately address the signs and symptoms of STS.

• EXPLAIN the ways in which STS symptoms can show up in their personal and professional lives
• EXAMINE the impact of STS symptoms on job satisfaction and client outcomes
• ASSESS personal resources to address STS symptoms
• IMPLEMENT strategies to address the symptoms of STS

Credit Hours: 1.5
Ethics Hours: 0.25
Level:  All levels of experience

Brandynicole Brooks, PhD, LICSW, The Complete Compassion Workshop: A Workshop on Addressing Secondary Traumatic Stress and Cultural Humility as an Anti-Racist Approach

Using a reproductive justice framework, this presentation introduces the concept of self-managed abortion (SMA). The audience will gain an understanding of the role of social workers in relation to SMA, legal issues, and how to help stop the criminalization of our clients for self-managing their own abortion care. The presentation will also address how the social work code of ethics informs our practice when a client chooses to self-manage their abortion.

• Participants will gain information about the prevalence of self-managed abortion (SMA), the reasons that people choose this method, and the safety and efficacy of the practice
• Participants will be able to define reproductive justice and understand how it intersects with the theory of harm reduction when applied to the practice of self-managed abortion
• Participants will learn about the legal issues involved with SMA and actions that may contribute to a client's risk of criminalization
• Participants will understand how the social work code of ethics can inform their practice when a client is considering or has participated in a self-managed abortion

Credit Hours: 1.5
Ethics Hours: 0.25
Public Health Priorities Hours: 1.5
Level: All levels of experience

Tamara Marzouk, MPH, LICSW, Harm Reduction and Social Worker Discretion: Fighting client criminalization for self-managed abortion

Lauren Paulk, JD, Harm Reduction and Social Worker Discretion: Fighting client criminalization for self-managed abortion

This course will teach attendees what healthcare professionals on the front lines have experienced working during the pandemic and what effect this has had on their mental health and wellness. Utilizing short screening tools can help you as a clinician gain an understanding into their level of stress, anxiety, depression, or trauma experienced, and encourage them to seek proper help and self-care to stay mentally and emotionally well while we continue to work in this pandemic. Once you know what the screening tool options are and you are aware of how to use them, you will also learn of the options for recommendations to help encourage self-care and treatment based on the needs of the healthcare professionals that were screened. 

• Understand the impact of COVID-19 on healthcare professionals' mental health and wellness
• Understand the mental health screening tools and how to use them
• Understand how to refer healthcare professionals to needed resources, both holistic and non-holistic

Credit Hours: 1.5
Ethics Hours: 0.5
Public Health Priorities Hours: 1.5
Level: All levels of experience

Tanisha Robinson, LCSW, LICSW, Mental Health Screening Tools & How and When to Use Them

As findings from neuroscience and quantum physics converge with ancient wisdom, the understanding of our capacities and connections as humans is expanding. This interactive session explores some of these findings and their applications to social work. Participants will be invited to engage in practices that tap into the wisdom of the body, ways of knowing, and ways of being that go beyond the limits of intellect.

Credit Hours: 1

Public Health Priorities Hours: 1 

Level: All levels of experience

Salome Raheim, PhD, ACSW, Cultivate Your Superpowers!

Ready to start Day Two? Wake up with NASW Virginia and Metro DC Executive Director, Debra Riggs and network with other conference attendees! 

Debra Riggs, Welcome by Debra and Morning Coffee Break

Ken Nwadike, Jr. (the Free Hugs Project) and Sheriff Chris Swanson (Flint / Genesee County, MI) bring their authentic, fun and at times intense conversations on unity and social justice from the Black and Blue Podcast to live audiences. Ken and Chris have literally risked their lives to create UNITY and peace. The program will begin with Ken sharing his personal story of overcoming homelessness, and his work on the front lines of social justice.  Sheriff Swanson will follow with his own experiences as a police officer for 29 years, and of bringing protesters and officers in Flint, Michigan together during a time of volatile protest across the Nation in response to the killing of George Floyd.  Following their personal stories, they will dive into the creation of US United the real dialogue that emphasizes importance of unity.  Q&A and audience participation will be encouraged. The session will end with Sheriff Swanson breaking down the truth about Human Trafficking.  He will address the difference between Prostitution and Human Trafficking and explain how victims are hooked through grooming.  Sheriff Swanson delves inside the mind of the predator and help us understand if we are personally safe. Finally, he explains how participants can be helpful in crushing this human trafficking pandemic.

Credit Hours: 3

Public Health Priorities Hours: 3

Level:All levels of experience

Ken Nwadike Jr., US United

Chris Swanson, US United

Coaching is one of the fastest ways to improve client-centered care. Are you interested in coaching but want to do it ethically? Are you ready to expand your skills and keep up with current trends to meet client needs? A foundation for good coaching skills is the ability to embody a coaching mindset. This workshop will teach you how to cultivate a coaching mindset through instruction about what coaching is, how it differs from therapy, and how to bridge coaching and social work.

Credit Hours: 2

Level: All levels of experience

Liz Lasky, PhD, LCSW, Embodying a Coaching Mindset for Social Workers

While the healing power of pets is frequently extolled in professional literature and feel-good media coverage, animals located in the human social landscape also bring with them a certain degree of risk. This session will explore the need for social workers to assess animal presence and the potential for risk in all levels of practice. Session topics include common zoonotic concerns, risk within all dimensions of wellbeing, and an exploration of how pet ownership can obstruct access to service.

Objectives: 

By the end of the session participants will-
- Recognize the risk animals may pose to individuals, families and communities
- Understand how to engage clients and organizations in risk assessment related to animal presence, behavior, and care needs
- Identify, and understand how to leverage, resources related to risk mitigation

Credit Hours:1.5

Level: All levels of experience

Maureen MacNamara, MSW, PhD, Who Let the Dogs Out: Animal-related risk to individuals, families and communities & Will That Dog Bite Me? Maintaining safety around client animals

Jeannine Moga, MA, MSW, LCSW, Who Let the Dogs Out: Animal-related risk to individuals, families and communities & Will That Dog Bite Me? Maintaining safety around client animals

The COVID-19 Pandemic contributed to drastic increases in drinking leading unprecedented numbers of people seeking treatment with the traditional abstinence model not always being the right kind of help This presentation will give an overview of harm reduction, explore why it is a controversial topic, and review its core concepts. Participants will walk away with tangible tools and experience a paradigm shift in how we treat people with drug and alcohol problems.

• Describe harm reduction's core concepts and why it is a controversial topic
• Identify who is a candidate for alcohol moderation using the Alcohol Moderation Assessment
• Utilize harm reduction and alcohol moderation techniques

Credit Hours: 1.5 

Level: Expert

Craig James, LCSW, LSATP, MAC, Harm Reduction for Skeptics: Practical Applications for Alcohol use Disorders

Cyndi Turner, LCSW, LSATP, MAC, Harm Reduction for Skeptics: Practical Applications for Alcohol use Disorders

Workforce retention is among several casualties of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Social work leaders, practitioners, and patients are amid shared experiences of loss, fear, and trauma from COVID-19’s wrath. Engage in this unique session to shift interprofessional and organizational culture from a “process and roll” mindset, to proactive practice that prioritizes the workforce. But the cycle of collective occupational trauma to engage in trauma-informed leadership.

• Understand the cycle of collective occupational trauma
• Identify the impact of collective occupational trauma on social work performance and retention
• Identify organizational strategies to engage in trauma-informed leadership
• Apply content to the NASW codes of ethics, standards of practice, and regulations

Credit Hours: 3

Ethics Hours: 3

Level: All levels of experience

Ellen Fink-Samnick, LCSW, ACSW, CCM, CCTP, CMHIMP, CRP, DBH-C, Trauma-informed Leadership: Shift that Culture! and The Social Determinants of Mental Health: Advancing Wholistic Health Equity

This workshop will explore the benefits of treating eating disorders and trauma through a transdiagnostic treatment approach. A transdiagnostic approach cuts across DSM-5 disorders and targets core mechanisms. The Unified Treatment Model has been adapted from The Unified Protocol in order to relationally treat complex clients with eating disorders and trauma. Participants will develop an in-depth understanding of emotional disorders, experiential avoidance and treatment. The workshop will utilize the knowledge that the participants gained as they apply key concepts and tools to a complex case-study. Participants will explore Cognitive Processing Themes of safety, trust, power and control, esteem, and intimacy. 

• Participants will be able to identify three benefits of using a transdiagnostic approach to treat co-occurring eating disorders and trauma
• Participants will be able to describe at least two factors that contribute to the maintenance of eating disorders and PTSD symptoms
• Participants will be able to utilize two transdiagnostic emotion awareness skills to treat individuals with trauma and eating disorders

Credit Hours: 1.5

Public Health Priorities Hours: 1.5

Level: All levels of experience

Rebecca Berman, LCSW, MLSP, MSS, CEDS-S, The Whole Picture: A Transdiagnostic Approach to Treating Eating Disorders and Trauma

 When working in private practice, it’s easy to get caught up in the scheduling, billing and clinical aspects of our work. In order for this work to be truly sustainable, however, we need to make sure we are looking at the social worker's needs for clinical consultation, business support, risk management and clinical skills. We will look at the importance of and best practices for getting clinical consultation, resources to manage and grow your private practice, leveraging CEs to level up your clinical skill set, as well as managing and documenting high risk cases. This interactive training will allow attendees time to assess four key areas of private practice, interact with other attendees for brain-storming and collaboration, and create an action plan for each of these areas. 

• Participants will learn how to assess four keys are as of private practice work and actively engage with colleagues to create an action plan
• Participants will strengthen their knowledge about the importance of clinical consultation and best practices forgetting it
• Participants will strengthen their knowledge of how to assess and document high risk cases

Credit Hours: 3

Level: Moderate

Jeanene Wolfe, LCSW, Don't Go It Alone: Four Keys to Finding Balance in Private Practice

So you have decided that the next step in your professional career is to become a leader. Not just a clinical supervisor but being more involved in the business operations of the organization. This could mean becoming a Manager, Director, Executive Director, Chief Operating Officer or a Chief Executive Officer. While your clinical training has prepared you to understand others it has not necessarily prepared you to: manage employees, develop and maintain a workforce, understand insurance or workers compensation, 403B or 401Ks, referral development, working with a Board of Directors, or developing a budget. Being a good listener and communicator are critical but understanding the business and the “KPI” Key Performance Issues will be essential if you are to be successful. This workshop will focus on the non-clinical skills and tools that can help you make the successful transition to a new leadership role. 

• Will be able to identify how clinical training can make you help make a good leader, but that training is not enough
• Identify at least three Operational KPIs Key Performance Issues that are effective measures of operational success
• Will be able to identify how strong operational performance is essential to ensuring quality service delivery

Credit Hours: 1.5

Level: Moderate

Rob McCartney, MSW, So You Want To Be The Boss?

This workshop identifies ways that providers and supervisors can create as a safe environment for transgender and gender non-binary clients, the principals of gender-affirming therapy (Gender Affirming Model of Care), builds deeper understanding of common risks and barriers, and looks at our own implicit bias that might come up in client and supervisor relationships. We will develop familiarity with affirming and non-binary terms, a wide range of human development, see some videos to understand common client experiences, and improve our ability to serve clients who have multiple barriers to accessing support. This is not a basic or “safe space” training, will provide useful resources (children, families, adult clients), and is open to all practice levels. We will dive into more challenging clinical topics, case studies, social work ethics, and current standards of practice.

The presenters request all live attendees create an account on Kahoot at www.kahoot.com to participate in interactive polls!

Credit Hours: 3

Ethics Hours: 1

LGBTQ Hours: 3

Level: All levels of experience

Catherine Casey, MD, Affirmative Social Work and Supervision for Transgender and Non-binary Clients

David Lewis, LCSW, Affirmative Social Work and Supervision for Transgender and Non-binary Clients

This session will cover clinical needs of sexual exploitation survivors as well as interventions to address these needs. Populations will include children, adolescents, and adults who were victims of child sexual abuse materials (often distributed online) and other exploitation crimes. Therapeutic approaches and are as to address with the survivor and family will be covered. This session will be 90 minutes and will include lecture, modeling of techniques, and examples of materials to use. 

• Participants will learn key considerations for how to approach the treatment of child sexual exploitation survivors
• Participants will also learn therapeutic techniques and models to be able to address these identified clinical needs
• Participants will learn how and when to include family or other support people in the treatment process as well as how to educate those support people to best support the survivor outside of therapy

Credit Hours: 1.5

Public Health Priorities Hours: 1.5

Level: Moderate

Lydia Nicole, MA, LMHCA, Addressing Clinical Needs for Survivors of Sexual Exploitation

In 2019 an additional mandate was made for the Virginia Department of Social Services to complete a human trafficking assessment when there is a complaint or report(s) of child human trafficking. This statewide mandate highlighted the need for agencies to identify and assess survivors of human trafficking. The presentation will focus towards establishing agency specific (public or private) human trafficking protocols that align with mandated reporting and review the Havening Techniques, a modality utilized with trafficking survivors. A Human Trafficking Protocol identifies trauma informed approaches for identification, assessment and intervention with a complex population. When protocols are established, not only can it contribute to effective service delivery but assist with addressing vicarious trauma with professionals. The use of Havening for survivors has shown a profound impact to address trauma and negative beliefs

Credit Hours: 3

Public Health Priorities Hours: 3

Level: All levels of experience

Erika Neil, LCSW, JD, A Trauma Informed Approach to Assessing and Treating Human Trafficking Survivors

Deepa Patel, LCSW, A Trauma Informed Approach to Assessing and Treating Human Trafficking Survivors

Social Workers providing in-home services encounter many challenges related to their own physical safety. The presence of client pets can complicate worker efforts to both interact with clients and maintain their own wellbeing. This session provides social workers with practical knowledge and skills for keeping safe in client settings with pets. Participants will have an opportunity to practice these skills with animal volunteers.

Credit Hours: 1.5 

Level: All levels of experience

Maureen MacNamara, MSW, PhD, Who Let the Dogs Out: Animal-related risk to individuals, families and communities & Will That Dog Bite Me? Maintaining safety around client animals

Jeannine Moga, MA, MSW, LCSW, Who Let the Dogs Out: Animal-related risk to individuals, families and communities & Will That Dog Bite Me? Maintaining safety around client animals

This workshop will discuss the clinical and ethical issues in working with parents when treating child (ages 8-12), adolescent (ages 13-19) and even some young adult clients. Using a family consultation model, the presenter will address-with each age group – the sequencing of parent, family and individual sessions, balancing the objectives of parental problem-solving, family dialogue and client privacy.  

• Identify strategies for engaging parents in a therapeutic process.
• Help parents provide appropriate levels of support and structure for their children.
• Balance the conflicting objectives of respecting client privacy and autonomy while promoting familial dialogue and effective parenting.

Credit Hours: 1.5 

Ethics Hours: 0.5 

Level: Moderate

Joel Kanter, MSW, LCSW-C, Working with Parents: Clinical and Ethical Perspectives

 This workshop will focus on working with active duty and retired military members and their families during this challenging period. Many active duty and veterans have served in the Middle East and some have chronic mental and physical health issues stemming from their service. Additionally, the military has placed significant restrictions of movement due to COVID-19, affecting the ability to utilize family support. Following a brief review of the foundational characteristics differentiating the military from the civilian sector, this workshop will inform the participant in trauma focused treatment and resource allocation. Additionally, the social worker will identify his or her reactions to working with this population.  

• The social worker will be able to identify the fundamental differences in working with the civilian population and the military population.
• The social worker will be able to identify key concepts and terminology specific to working with military members and their families.
• The social worker will be able to identify the impact of COVID-19 on the military members, including restrictions of movement, mandates of vaccinations, and ongoing deployment requirements.
• The social worker will be able to identify the impact of the withdrawal from the war in Afghanistan on members who have served in the region and their family members.
• The social worker will be able to identify appropriate resources for the military member and his/her family.
• The social worker will recognize vicarious secondary traumatization that may result from working with a military member who has been in combat.

Credit Hours: 1.5

Ethics Hours: 1

Level: Moderate

Suzanne Baldwin, PhD, LCSW, RN, Social Work and the Military: COVID 19 and War Trauma

This workshop explores nature connection as a social determinant of health well-suited for both daily self-care practices and community-care initiatives supporting the health and well-being of front-line workers. Both supervisors and directors will be invited to explore how nature connection can promote wellness for team members. Individual practitioners will be invited to explore the research and practical applications of nature connection for daily self-care routines.

• Identify three practical strategies for incorporating nature connection into a self-care practice
• Learn the research supporting nature connection as an effective means of releasing stress and recovering from mental fatigue
• Participants will actively engage in self-care activities and explore their benefits

Credit Hours: 1.5 

Level:  Beginner

Carolyn Schuyler, Nature-Centered Self Care

Relationship Abuse: How to Change the Narrative

This is the mission that launched The Last Drop, an upcoming sci-fi film about relationship abuse inspired by the memories of real survivors. Director, Adam Joel, shares sneak-peek clips of his film and personal stories about abuse with a discussion panel of experts in social work, education, and therapy. Together, the panel will break down misconceptions about abuse, mandated reporting, and the lessons young people need to create healthy relationships.

Credit Hours: 0.75

Public Health Priorities Hours: 0.75

Level: All levels of experience

Adam Joel, The Last Drop

Gina Manlove, ACSW, LCSW, LICSW, LCSW-C, Movie Discussion Panel - The Last Drop

Katie Moffit, MSW, Movie Discussion Panel - The Last Drop

Brooks Zitzman, PhD, LCSW, Movie Discussion Panel - The Last Drop

Maggie Arthur, MSW, Movie Discussion Panel - "The Last Drop"

We have been taught to believe that living the life we desire for ourselves and our loved ones involves challenge, struggle, effort and an experience of striving in order to be successful. Our growing, collective wisdom is providing us a new map for success that involves a radical and new relationship with ourselves, a life of embodied presence and self-love. 

In this interactive and experience-based session, we will learn and explore some simple and accessible states of awareness. These states contribute to our capacity for love and presence and create opportunities to unlock our innate potential. Through deep personal insights and discovering creative solutions to old problems, we evolve in our capacity to fully accept and embrace ourselves. In learning to accept and love ourselves fully and completely, as we are in this moment, we begin to experience an extraordinary life, a life beyond the limits of our imagination.

Credit Hours: 1.5

Level: All levels of experience

Harry Pepper, PhD, Love and Presence: A Modern-Day Map for Living an Extraordinary Life

"The year 2020 marked a transformational milestone in how mental health practitioners deliver their services. For the past two years, professionals have navigated telehealth and in-person environments to the best of their abilities. By joining this webinar, you will receive critical information from the ethics and risk management point of view, which will equip you with the necessary tools to make the best decision on delivering services for your practice."

Attendees will:

-Recognize the inherent risk management challenges of their practice.
-Realize technology's impact on everyone's practice and the importance of following their profession's Code of Ethics and Technology Standards.
-Complete a risk assessment of their practice, identifying the most convenient method for delivery of services
-Identify how natural disasters such as the pandemic affect their practice and how it is the professional's responsibility to ethically perform their work by following their code of ethics and risk management mitigation tools.

Credit Hours: 3

Ethics Hours: 3

Public Health Priorities Hours: 3

Level: All levels of experience 

Elizabeth "Betsy" Cauble, PhD, LMSW, How to Mitigate Your Risk When Providing In-Person and/or Telehealth Services after COVID-19

Yvonne M. Chase, PhD, LCSW, ACSW, How to Mitigate Your Risk When Providing In-Person and/or Telehealth Services after COVID-19

Dina C. Larsen, CPHRM, How to Mitigate Your Risk When Providing In-Person and/or Telehealth Services after COVID-19

According to the Institute for Women’s Policy, woman of color experience higher rates of sexual assault, intimate partner violence and homicide than non-woman of color. Sexual assault is about manipulation, methodology, cultural and systemic infrastructures. This workshop will explore and identify risk and protective factors for sexual violence. The culture of silence will be discussed in order to fully understand how breaking the silence of sexual violence can help prevent sexual abuse. Participants will discuss the various forms of sexual trauma and the psychosocial and collateral factors related to sexual violence. The presenter is a bicultural, forensic social worker specializing in criminal defense mitigation, dual-diagnosis, crisis intervention, addictions, trauma and working with diverse ethnic groups. This is an interactive workshop where case vignettes will be presented and discussed to further enhance the learning experience.  

• Learn how to coherently and effectively explain risk and safety on the stand, to better advocate for the client and defend their case recommendation
• Further enhance participants abilities to defend their clinical findings and recommendations using various trauma narratives and techniques

Credit Hours: 3

Public Health Priorities Hours:  3

Level: Moderate

Veronica Cruz, LCSW-C, Understanding and Preventing Sexual Violence Among Communities of Color

 Practical workshop for small non-profit on how to conduct strategic planning within their agencies to help increase their organization's sustainability. This workshop is very interactive and participants leave with the skills needed to conduct their own strategic planning session. 

• The participants will learn why strategic planning is essential to growth and sustainability
• The participants will leave with an individualized template, created by them, for their agency/organization
• The participants will learn how to conduct as trategic planning session at their agency

Credit Hours: 3

Level: All levels of experience

Amanda Becker, PhD, Building Sustainability to Make the Mission - Strategic Planning for Nonprofits

Clients living with substance use and addiction often have histories of emotional, physical and/or sexual trauma. The 12 Step groups AA & NA are the most widespread and available peer support groups for substance use disorder recovery; though some language of the 12 Steps may be contraindicated for survivors of trauma. At the end of this workshop, participants will be able to: describe the relationship between unhealed trauma and the development of SUDs through an overview of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACES); analyze language of the 12 steps through a trauma informed lens, utilizing alternative language options to promote healing empowerment & prevent re-traumatization; and identify resources to refer clients seeking peer support alternatives to 12 steps. Workshop format includes lecture, case study, small group activities, video and large group discussion. **This workshop is not affiliated with AA, NA or any 12-step program or entity.  

• Provides an introduction to broadened definitions of trauma with examples throughout the lifespan and the key principles of Trauma Informed Care by SAMHSA
• Explores the relationship between unhealed trauma and the development of substance use disorders through an overview of the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACES)
• Analyzes language of the 12 steps through a trauma informed lens, offering alternative language options to promote healing empowerment & prevent re-traumatization
• Provides resources to refer clients seeking peer support alternatives to 12 step

Credit Hours: 3

Public Health Priorities Hours: 3 

Level:  All levels of experience

Eryca Kasse, LICSW, Trauma Informing the 12 Steps: Empowerment in Substance Use & Addiction Recovery

The Social Determinants of Health remain an industry priority. While robust evidence validates the impact of psychosocial circumstances on the health of clients and communities, there is another vital dimension. Mental health incidence and the social determinants are intertwined. Emphasis on trauma is emerging across practice settings. Expanded reimbursement targets health and behavioral health integration. Substance use, especially opioids is a funding urgency. The industry mantra of “the greater the inequality, the greater the risk” spans physical and mental health domains. The time for attention to the Social Determinants of Mental Health (SDoMH) is now. Engage in a comprehensive session to provide the essential knowledge-base for this important dimension of population-health. Learn definitions and demographics, explore the evidence, and review reimbursement, resources and initiatives. Discover innovative new models to interview and assess clients that address read missions and unnecessary hospitalizations, promote work force safety and retention. Master this imperative for the industry.

• Define the SDoMH
• Identify industry evidence across populations
• Apply strategies to address stigma and other ethical constructs
• Identify dedicated trauma-informed interviewing and assessment tools
• Explore funding and reimbursement for programs and resources targeting SDoMH
• Apply content across professional standards of practice and codes

Credit Hours: 3

Ethics Hours:  3 

Level: All levels of experience

Ellen Fink-Samnick, LCSW, ACSW, CCM, CCTP, CMHIMP, CRP, DBH-C, Trauma-informed Leadership: Shift that Culture! and The Social Determinants of Mental Health: Advancing Wholistic Health Equity

Whether in schools or community organizations, the youth of today have struggled a lot over the past two years. We will review the latest brain science to understand how to provide effective support. We will focus on how to utilize resilience principles to infuse them into our work with youth. Resilience is the set of tools that we can give youth to empower their "bounce back". Using principles of trauma-informed care, you will learn tools to support youth with their resilience.

• Participants will be able to describe the impact of stress and trauma on the brain
• Participants will be able to recognize opportunities to support positive behavior change through brain science
• Participants will be able to list the five resilience principles
• Participants will be able to articulate three applications of resilience principles with youth to support their success
• Participants will be able to name three system-based barriers to resilience-building practices

Credit Hours:  3 

Level: Moderate

John Richardson-Lauve, Operationalizing Resilience of Youth through Brain Science

 Increase your cultural competence, knowledge, and awareness of the LGBTQAAI2S + population and your role as a Social Worker. This 3-hour training will be divided into two parts. Both will cover ethics (1 hour and 0.5 hours respectively) while reviewing the most current terms, needs, and risks for this population. Part one is geared towards every social worker and will focus on current terms, what we mean by LGBTQ + as a spectrum, and what your role is and isn't as a professional ally. Part two is geared towards the more advanced provider or for the one who wants more specific techniques and resources for the population. It will heavily focus on non-binary and trans-identifying individuals discussing key aspects in identifying authentically for clients. Regardless if you have no training in this area or if this is a population that you serve regularly, this training is key for ethically competent social workers. 

• Participants will learn key terms, techniques and resources for clients identifying as part of the LGBTQ + population
• Participants will have an increased awareness of how SW Ethics apply to working with the LGBTQ + population and how to best apply them, including the role of allyship
• Participants will be able to appropriately discuss LGBTQ + as a spectrum, rather than a rigid concept or terminology, thus meeting clients with empathy where they are
• Participants will increase knowledge of resources, risks, and best ethical practice when working with LGBTQ + individuals who are interested in transitioning as part of their journey towards authenticity

Credit Hours:  3

Ethics Hours:  1.5 

LGBTQ Hours:  3

Level:  All levels of experience

Rebekah Lowenstein, LCSW, LGBTQ+ and Allyship: As a Spectrum

Julie Wilcox, LCSW, LGBTQ+ and Allyship: As a Spectrum

 This interactive presentation will focus on the potentials for integrating social work values and antiracist theories as a framework for structuring the professional development of social work students and practitioners. Participants will learn about the components of a value-based and antiracist practice models, including the benefits for integrating these approaches, and the impact this can have on promoting equity and inclusion in practice. An examination of the characteristics of, and challenges towards maintaining these types of professional development initiatives will be explored. 

• Participants will learn about the components of value-based and antiracist practice approaches
• Participants will practice applying value-based and antiracist practice approaches during structured roleplay
• Participants will gain insight into the factors that enhance the utility of these practice approaches, as well as those that may inhibit their effectiveness

Credit Hours: 1.5

Ethics Hours: 1.5

Public Health Priorities Hours: 1.5

Level: All levels of experience

Daniel Freedman, PhD, MSW, LISW-CP, Preparing Social Workers to Integrate Professional Values and Antiracist Approaches in Practice

Michelle Hand, PhD, MSW, LSW, Preparing Social Workers to Integrate Professional values and Antiracist Approaches in Practice

Forced and child marriage are serious, yet often overlooked forms of family violence, which also intersect with numerous other forms of gender-based harm and impact individuals of all genders, ages, religions, cultural backgrounds, national origins, and economic status. Unfortunately, individuals facing forced marriage often slip through the cracks of protective systems. The challenges of providing support to forced marriage survivors are exacerbated for children and youth. This workshop will provide an overview of forced and child marriage in Virginia, the dynamics driving this form of abuse, the client-led service model used to address clients’ complex needs, and the services and legal remedies available for survivors and at-risk individuals. It will include best practice guidance and unique tools for responding to these cases, and interactive case scenarios. The workshop will conclude with an overview of recent policy reforms and opportunities for continued advocacy to improve systems to meet survivors’ needs. 

Credit Hours: 1.5

Level: All levels of experience

Alex Goyette, Forced and Child Marriage in Virginia

Hellitz Villegas, Forced and Child Marriage in Virginia

"COUSINS: Connected through slavery, a Black woman and a White woman Discover Their Past--and Each Other". The authors are Betty Kilby Baldwin and Phoebe Kilby.

What happens when a White woman, Phoebe, contacts a Black woman, Betty, saying she suspects they are connected through slavery? A surprise. Betty responds, “Hello cousin.” Open to exploring difficult truths and sharing an admiration for Dr. Martin Luther King, they embark on a path towards reconciliation. Each tells her dramatic story - from Betty’s experience desegregating her county’s only high school to Phoebe’s eventual question to Betty: “How do I begin to repair the harms?” 

Piercingly honest.  Offers examples of reparations on a personal level.

All authors' proceeds from sales of the book are donated to the Kilby Family Scholarship Fund, which offers college scholarships to descendants of the people Phoebe's family enslaved, including Betty's grandchildren.

 Some reviews:  

• U.S. Senator Tim Kaine writes, "I'm very excited about this remarkable book. I hope the experiences of Betty and Phoebe will inspire others to sit down at the table of sisterhood and brotherhood to promote racial healing."
• Edward L. Ayers, Professor of Humanities, President Emeritus, University of Richmond says: “This powerful book weaves together the eloquent stories of two impressive women—stories of survival, determination, and awakening, of honesty, spirituality, and success.  They give us a detective story and a mystery, a reconciliation and a celebration.  A reader will be grateful for all of them.”
•  Danita Rountree Green, trauma healing facilitator and playwright, Richmond, VA: “How marvelous that, in this time of endless separation, two people came together across so many barriers to build new bridges for healing old wounds.  This memoir is a testimony to the power of forgiveness and a tribute to how truth can set us free.”
• Leymah Gbowee, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Winner: "I highly recommend this amazing story of racial reconciliation."

For more information about the book, "COUSINS: Connected through slavery, a Black woman and a White woman Discover Their Past--and Each Other", please visit  https://walnutstreetbooks.com/titles/cousins

Credit Hours: 1.5 

Public Health Priorities Hours: 1.5 

Level: All levels of experience

Dr. Betty Fisher Baldwin, Cousins: Connected through slavery, a Black woman and a White woman discover their past--and each other

Phoebe Kilby, Cousins: Connected Through Slavery, a Black woman and a White Woman discover their past--and each other