Understanding the dynamics of racial identity and white privilege is essential to a social workerÕs ability to successfully work inter-culturally with a diversity of clients. In this experiential workshop, we will create a safe container in which to explore the dynamics of racial identity/white privilege within the therapeutic relationship. We will examine the invisible wounds of oppression that are part of the inner landscape of both client and social worker, and we will explore opportunities to transform the therapeutic relationship through increased awareness and knowledge as racial beings.

June Thornton-Marsh, LCSW and Anita Arnold, M.Ed

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If you have ever felt overwhelmed or unskilled when working with couples, or if you have ever found yourself being drawn into the coupleÕs power-struggle, this workshop is for you. Participants will be introduced to the theory and practice of Imago Relationship Therapy with couples. Imago theory teaches that we make sense-our feelings, our struggles and our world viewÉand so does our partner. Imago practice teaches us the tools to enhance communication, empathy, validation and find the deepest growth and healing in the most painful places of our most intimate relationships.

Amy Blake, MSW, ACSW, LCSW

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The goal of this workshop is to increase the effectiveness of social work interventions with LGBT couples and families utilizing relational, cognitive and narrative therapies. This workshop is designed for social workers with basic to advanced knowledge of issues facing LGBT couples and families.

Franklin Brooks, PhD, LCSW, Amy Blake, MSW, LCSW

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The use of spiritual interventions in social work has gained increased acceptance both in the practice and academic communities. Spirituality is a basic human strength that can support children and families through difficult times. This workshop will explore the use of spiritual interventions in work with children and families, the research that supports their use, and the ethical considerations that social workers need to pay attentions to when using these interventions. A variety of methods of spiritual assessment and interventions will be presented.

Robin Russel, JD, PhD, Cary Jenson, MSW, PhD

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We have a professional obligation of staying abreast of social issues impacting our society. Drug abuse and addiction are occurring at staggering rates throughout our country. The problem extends far beyond the individual; it impacts families, groups and communities. We need to increase prevention activities through increasing public and professionalsÕ awareness about drugs of abuse, how to identify use and steps to take toward recovery.

Joy Brakel, LCSW, LADC, CCS, Jean Cashman, LCSW, ACSW, DSW

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This workshop will review the two currently recommended best practice disaster mental health methods: the PsyStart Triage System and Psychological First Aid (PFA). The recently proposed later stage intervention, skills for Psychological Recovery (SPR), which is due to be released by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network and the National Center for PTSD, will be briefly introduced. Experienced disaster mental health volunteers will discuss their experiences applying these methods while on disaster assignment. They will also review the major Òlessons learnedÓ (both documented and personal) from their various deployments. Personal accounts of 9/11, Katrina/Rita, Virginia Tech, and the California Wildfires will be presented. Questions and a lively discussion will be encouraged.

Jan L. Frost, LCSW, DCSW, Susy Sanders, PhD, CTS, Bruce Lackie, PhD

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This workshop will help social workers identify the importance that the legal system plays in their child clientsÕ lives, both on a micro and macro level, and why it is best practice for social workers to be involved in that system. If you work with children/youth and are intimidated by lawyers and/or the judicial system or just do not understand it, this is the workshop for you. Learn how your work within the legal setting is valuable and can result in a positive change for your clients. This workshop will focus on how to effectively partner with legal professionals who work with your clients. Take this opportunity to also ask the questions about the legal system and/or lawyer/GAL/other role that you have always wanted to ask.

Sara Meerse, Directing Attorney, and Nathanial Oliver, BSW Intern

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Intuition, the capacity to intuit or sense subtle impressions, is the natural state of all living beings. When there are no blocks, it is an instinct. All information needed for survival, for solutions to problems and for creativity is available by way of intuition as a skill. In several disciplines, intuition is considered a valid, efficient and reliable form of knowledge. Within complementary and alternative medicine, intuition is understood as an important skill to develop in relation to health and spiritual well-being. Intuitive awareness appears to be increasingly compromised by a complex reality unique to our culture: the pace of daily living; absorption of too much information; over identification with cultural ideals of productivity; the impact of the mediaÕs subliminal messages and exposure to trauma all effect intuitive awareness. Unexpressed or overwhelming emotions, fear and stress impede intuitive receptivity. In depression, intuitive awareness is often shut down, depriving individuals of a natural means toward health and wholeness.

Deb Butterfield, LCSW, ThD

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Tools for Advancing a Social Justice Legislative Agenda: If Maine law is to reflect the values of social justice and equal opportunity; then we each have a stake in promoting positive public policies. In this participatory workshop you will identify pertinent public policies and identify opportunities for influence. You will develop skills in issue identification, message development, coalition building and lobbying, and understand how to influence the legislative process through a combination of lecture, discussion, and hands-on activities. Instruction is by staff of the Maine WomenÕs Lobby, a nonprofit organization with thirty years of successful legislative action for women and girls.

Sarah Standiford, ED, Maine WomenÕs Lobby, Charlotte Warren, Outreach and Communications Manager, Maine WomenÕs Lobby

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The Family Intervention Response and Support Team is a highly successful program working with families referred by DHS due to substantiated abuse or neglect. These families struggle with many problems, including domestic violence, substance abuse, severe financial stress, school and work problems, as well as inadequate child care and transportation. Many of the clients come from families in which multiple generations have experienced abuse and most have never had a parent role model safe, loving and consistent interactions. Clinicians on the FIRST team approach therapy with the belief that the client is a partner and that together, through respectful and transparent interactions, the clinician and client will decide together how to approach treatment objectives and will develop interventions sensitive to the unique needs of each family. Therapy takes place in the home or the office for children and adults in individual, family, couples, and group formats. In addition to their hard work in therapy seeking to understand behavior patterns and problems regulating their emotions, these clients have much work to do in repairing their relationships with their children. The centerpiece of the FIRST team is the DBT Parenting program. Clients report lasting changes to their parenting by learning how to regulate their own emotions as they interact with their children. Over 90% of the clients experience no further abuse or neglect in their families once treatment begins.

Melania Turgelsky, LCSWl

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Social work students at the University of New Hampshire have a new classroom: a public-private partnership known as the ÒMcConnell CenterÓ in Dover, NH. The multi-service McConnell Center hosts a new community outreach program that brings social work students to the Dover community for practical experience. The Center has its philosophical roots in the settlement house movement that helped millions of immigrants in the late-19th century get settled in America. The McConnell Center houses a wide range of programs and services for DoverÕs increasingly diverse population. The UNH Social Work Outreach Center provides agencies and services housed in the McConnell Center with undergraduate (BSW) and graduate (MSW) student interns, volunteers, and graduate assistants. In addition, the Center offers a range of direct services to the communityÑsuch as support groups, workshops, and presentationsÑthat tap the unique resources of social work faculty and students.

Jerry Marx, PhD

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In this experiential workshop participants will leave with a choice of techniques/tools ready to implement in their self-care for overall wellness. As social workers we are privileged to be present with our clients but we may also be exposed to very sad and difficult situations through working with our clients. The need to have a self care plan is very important to us in our personal lives as well as in our professional lives. However, time, money and the knowledge of whatÕs available may get in the way of implementing self care. This workshop may be a starting point to utilizing the needed tools for self care with knowledge on how to expand the tool kit.

Marie Laverriere-Boucher, MSW, DMin, MA

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This session describes the most significant malpractice risks in social work today and numerous methods of mitigating and reducing oneÕs risk of being sued for malpractice. The presentation is intended for social workers in all settings and positions, not just the clinical, therapeutic mental health setting. The session will cover key concepts in risk management, such as confidentiality and its exceptions, duty to warn, and informed consent. The seminar will reveal the major reasons why social workers are sued and what you can do about those risks. We will define what constitutes a malpractice case and emphasize important recordkeeping issues, guidelines for supervision, special tips for clinical and private practitioners, and brief you about your malpractice insurance, its special features and implications for your practice.

C.W. King, ACSW

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Recruiting and hiring the most qualified staff is of vital importance to social work administrators and managers. The high cost of turnover can be measured form both a fiscal and emotional standpoint. Yet, recruitment and hiring the rights staff is only a portion of the equation. Creating an environment that rewards staff intrinsically as well as extrinsically is of equal importance. Finally, retention of qualified staff is key to both client/worker relationship development and positive outcomes. This seminar will equip participants with tools and techniques to create an environment that values respect and builds trust between management and staff through effective recruitment, reward and retention.

Andrea McGill-OÕRourke, LCSW, CEAP Bobbi Johnson, LMSW

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Every day at work there are opportunities to speak out for doing what is right on behalf of clients and staff. For many people, the first time they encounter diversity up close is at work. Conflict happens because we encounter differences in how we view the world and how we implement an agencyÕs common mission. We may believe in the mission but we can not assume anything about each other. Understanding and acceptance are an outcome of having a process for addressing the uncomfortable issues that divide us at work. We can no longer act like we donÕt hear or see each other. It is a known fact that we live in a time when there is much conflict in our communities and where we work. If we are to make a difference we must start where we work, one conflict at a time.

Guadalupe G. Lara, LMSW

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Current research in attachment and neurobiology demonstrates that the ability to regulate emotions is dependent upon bottom-up (physical body) process guiding top-down cognitive processes. For some clients, particularly those with a history of psychological trauma, they are so focused on survival that they become emotionally dysregulated and unable to regulate their affect. Instead they turn to substances, overeating, or other self-harm behaviors in a desperate attempt to regulate what they feel. For these clients, cognitive techniques donÕt work when the body is hijacking them. Teaching clients to manage their affect through mindfulness and other body-oriented techniques increases their ability to identify triggers earlier in the process which gives them greater opportunity to stabilize their emotions rather than turning to destructive behaviors. Mindfulness is a relational process, one in which intrapersonal attunement occurs as an individual becomes open and ÒattunedÓ to what is going on inside themselves. Interpersonal attunement of the therapist to the client facilitates emotion regulation which results in improvement in neural integration within the client. This process of psychobiologic regulation enables the client to feel safe enough within themselves to develop an inner relationship and become their own psychobiological regulator.

Linda J. Cooke, MSW, LCSW, BCD

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This presentation will be geared to managers and administrators. Using a recent research study (9/07), this presentation will focus on the necessity of retaining baby boomer employees beyond retirement. Maine is the oldest state. The average age of Mainers is 47 years. Beginning in 2011, the first groups of baby boomer employees are eligible for social security benefits. We need to develop a strategy to retain baby boomer employees for five years into retirement to ward off long standing vacancies that will affect the delivery of services. Participants will develop an understanding of human resource practices that foster retention.

Kim M. Lane, MSW, PhD

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This workshop will demonstrate that anger is a universal, normal, healthy emotion and that when present, includes some sort of physiological effect, for example an increased heart rate. The random target of anger can be a thing, a situation, another person, or even our selves. However, domestic abuse is very different. It is a calculated, deliberate web of tactics and techniques utilized to gain and maintain power and control in a past or present intimate relationship. To assure the safety of victims, clinicians must know the difference between, and best practice when working with, perpetrators of domestic abuse and individuals who have an anger management issue.

Kathryn Maietta, LCSW

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Many divorced and non-married parents in Maine have civil court orders granting shared parental rights and responsibilities. Social work clinicians and practitioners must determine the person or persons with authority to consent to treatment, the right to release of records, and to whom, and the childÕs right to confidentiality. Each of these issues has created substantial ethical and legal traps for the unwary. In this seminar, the law concerning parental rights and responsibilities, ethical and legal notions, the elements of consent and confidentiality for minors will be discussed in the context of MaineÕs strategies and case law.

Dana E. Prescott, MSW, JD

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This two hour interactive workshop will explore various ways in which social workers can best support children through difficult situations related to illness, the dying process, grief and bereavement. This workshop will give professionals an inside view of how children deal with related stressors and the types of skills required to prepare, support and educate children and families. Materials presented will include practical and useful tools for professionals across the disciplines.

Cindy Clark, MSW, CCLS

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Maine Chapter-National Association of Social Workers
90 Western Avenue · P.O. Box 5065 · Augusta, ME 04332
Office: 207 622-7592 Fax 207 623-4860
naswmaine@naswmaine.org
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