News from the Group Work Track at the
US Council on Social Work Education Annual Program Meeting (CSWE-APM)
Alex Gitterman ([email protected]) & Carol S. Cohen ([email protected]), Track Co-Chairs
JOIN US AT THE IASWG BOOTH AT THE CSWE EXHIBIT HALL
AT THE ANNUAL PROGRAM MEETING IN TAMPA!!
It is great to have IASWG members drop by the table. And, if you are available to take a short shift at the
IASWG Booth, please contact Jen Clements at [email protected]
HERE IS A LIST OF GROUP WORK TRACK AND IASWG-RELATED ACTIVITIES TAKING
PLACE AT THE CSWE-APM FROM OCTOBER 23-26 IN TAMPA, FLORIDA
Dear Colleagues,
The upcoming CSWE in Tampa, Florida promises to be an exciting and productive experience for sharing group work
research, practice and educational strategies. This year includes an expanded Group Work Track (Friday-Sunday), a
Significant Lifetime Achievement Award for Lawrence Shulman (Thursday Evening), our annual Partnership Presentation
(Sunday Morning) IASWG materials, including information about the June 2015 Symposium will be available in the University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill's booth at the Exhibit Hall (Thursday-Sunday). We hope you'll attend as many of these sessions as
possible - particularly on Sunday, when overall conference attendance drops. The following pages provide an overview of the
content and scope of our presence at the Conference.
Some things to keep in mind as you review the schedule:
This year, our CSWE-IASWG Partnership Presentation, IASWG: Strategies for Integrating Group Work Content
in Social Work Education will be on Sunday 8:00 - 9:30 AM, in the Convention Center, Room 36. We look forward to seeing
many IASWG members there!
The Conference begins Thursday evening, 6:30-8:00 with the CSWE Awards. Among the awardees, Lawrence
Shulman leader and member of AASWG (now IASWG) is being recognized for his significant lifetime achievement and
dedication to scholarship, research, pedagogy and curriculum development and organizational leadership.
Directly following the awards, the Exhibit Hall will open for a Reception. The IASWG Booth in the Exhibit Hall will
open, and IASWG 2015 Symposium materials will also be available at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's booth. In
addition, feel free to visit booths of publishers and ask about books and journals highlighting Social Work with Groups. The
Exhibit Hall is open through Sunday.
This year, CSWE is launching a Track Chair Exchange Session. The Group Work Track's session will be on Friday,
12:30-1:30, in the Tampa Convention Center Ballroom B. We hope you will stop by to share your thoughts and suggestions
The final section of this schedule includes a list of presentations by IASWG members that are in other CSWE
Conference Tracks – Please feel free to contact Carol Cohen ([email protected]) if you work like us to add your
presentation to this list.
Schedule of IASWG Activities and the Group Work Track at the
US CSWE Annual Program Meeting
Thursday, October 23, 2014 – Sunday, October 26, 2014 in Tampa, Florida, US
Schedule
Thursday
10/23/14
06:3008:00 PM
Thursday
08:0010:00 PM
OPENING CSWE EVENTS
Tampa Convention Center: Ballroom A – B
CSWE 60th Annual Program Meeting Opening Ceremony and Awards Presentation
Highlight: Lawrence Shulman honored with Significant Lifetime Achievement Award
Tampa Convention Center: West Hall
CSWE Opening Night Reception and Exhibit Hall Open
Highlight: IASWG Booth Opens, and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Booth will have
IASWG 2015 Symposium Materials
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Friday
10/24/14
11:0012:30 PM
CSWE GROUP WORK TRACK AND IASWG PARTNERSHIP PRESENTATION BY DAY
Group Work Track Poster: Tampa Convention Center, West Hall
Client Feedback With Involuntary Groups: A Changing Paradigm in Practice?
This presentation will examine the literature on involuntary groups and the way in which group-member
feedback is used by facilitators to engage group members and improve outcomes. Research findings will be
presented on the utility of client feedback measures with involuntary groups. Implications for group-work
education, practice, and research will be offered.
Presenter: Michael G. Chovanec, St. Catherine University & University of Saint Thomas Collaborative
Friday
12:301:30 PM
Group Work Track Lunch Break X-change: Tampa Convention Center: Ballroom B
APM Track Lunch-Break X-change (Tracks 1 to 20)
Friday
1:452:45 PM
Group Work Track Think Tank: Marriott Tampa Bay Waterside Hotel, Meeting Room 6
How Group Work Knowledge and Skills Inform Academic and Organizational Leadership
Chat with Group Work Track Chairs and Participants (Looks like it is bring your own lunch!)
Accepted
This session will gather reflections of social work educators as they explore the following focal question:
How do group work knowledge and skills inform your academic and organizational leadership?
Presenters: Carol S. Cohen, Adelphi University & Greg Tully, West Chester University
Saturday
10/25/14
8:009:00 AM
Group Work Track Curriculum Workshop: Marriott Tampa Bay Waterside Hotel, Meeting Room 1
Promoting Resilience Through Group Work: Teaching Strategies, Techniques, and Case
Material
Accepted
The group modality, with its emphasis on mutual aid, is a natural medium through which client strengths can
be enhanced. Resilience theory explains the unique benefits of group work for promoting empowerment.
This model, along with the related concept of adversarial growth, will be presented. Appropriate teaching
strategies will be discussed.
Presenter: Alex Gitterman, University of Connecticut
Saturday
11:0012:30 PM
Group Work Track Poster: Tampa Convention Center: West Hall
Results From the Grandfamilies Outcome Workgroup (GrOW) Support Group Survey Pilot
Saturday
1:452:45 PM
Group Work Track Roundtable: Tampa Convention Center: Ballroom B
Infusing Diversity and Social Justice Into Graduate Group Course Curriculum
Saturday
3:305:00 PM
Group Work Track Poster: Tampa Convention Center: West Hall
Risk Assessment: Perspectives of Members and Leaders From Batterers' Intervention Groups
Support groups are the most widely used intervention with grandparents and other relatives raising children.
Although such groups are popular and inexpensive, very few measures exist to examine support-group
effectiveness. This presentation will showcase the development, implementation, and results of the
Grandfamilies Outcome Workgroup (GrOW) Support Group Survey.
Presenters: Larry Cooper, Children's Home, Inc., Kerry Anne Littlewood, East Carolina University
and Anne Strozier, University of South Florida
Social justice and cultural awareness is at the heart of group social work. The presenters will offer an
example of infusing culturally inclusive pedagogy and social justice perspectives into a graduate group-work
course. Going beyond diverse case scenarios, they will probe diversity influences on group members’
engagement and interactions, and address application.
Presenters: Judith S. Williston & Barbara E. Bond, Bridgewater State University
This study explored the consistency between leaders’ assessment and members’ self-assessment of
members’ risk for re-assault and level of accountability in batterers’ intervention groups. Group leaders and
members showed little agreement in their assessment of the level of risk for members to abuse their
partners again or the level of accountability exhibited.
Presenter: Cecilia W. Mengo, University of Texas at Arlington
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Sunday
10/26/14
8:009:30 AM
IASWG Partnership Session: Tampa Convention Center: Room 36
International Association for Social Work with Groups: Strategies for Integrating Group Work
Content in Social Work Education
Sunday
11:0012:00 PM
Group Work Track Roundtable: Tampa Convention Center: Ballroom B
Incorporating Quality Group Work Experiences Into the Field Practicum
Sunday
1:452:45 PM
Group Work Track Paper Session (Two Papers): Tampa Convention Center: Room 33
Paper Session
1:45 PM
Experiential Group Training: A Flipped Classroom Approach for Teaching Group Practice
The International Association for Social Work With Groups is the international organization of group-work
educators, practitioners, and scholars that is dedicated to advocacy for professional group-work practice and
education. The session will focus on strategies and challenges to further expand group work in the social
work curriculum.
Presenters: Greg Tully, West Chester University, Jennifer Clements, Shippensburg University, Carol
S. Cohen, Adelphi University & Olga Molina, University of Central Florida
The focus of this roundtable discussion is on helping participants integrate group-work experiences into the
field practicum on a consistent basis. Using the standards for social work practice with groups as a
foundation, participants will develop strategies to engage students in group work in the field practicum.
Presenters: Jennifer Clements & Elizabeth Fisher, Shippensburg University
This presentation will describe an innovative strategy for teaching group practice classes in social work.
Utilizing a flipped classroom approach allows class time to be used for experiential group training and also
gives students an opportunity to learn directly from the creators of different group leadership methods.
Presenters: Tee R. Tyler, Vicki Packheiser & Lori Holleran-Steiker, University of Texas at Austin
Paper Session
2:15 PM
Using the Classroom to Model Social Group Work Stages and Dynamics
The ascendancy of generalist practice has led to a decline in group-work courses. Never has there been a
greater need to engage and excite students about group work. The presenter will explore a teaching
approach used to model social group-work stages and dynamics within the classroom.
Presenter: Jami-Leigh Sawyer, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada
Sunday
3:304:30 PM
Group Work Track Paper Session (Two Papers): Tampa Convention Center: Room 35
Paper Session
3:30 PM
Groups for Latino Adolescent Survivors of Parental Intimate Partner Violence
This presentation will feature an agency model that aims to reduce the cycle of violence in the Latino
community through creative and structured group interventions with teen youth who witness intimate partner
violence and experience child abuse.
Presenter: Olga Molina, University of Central Florida
Paper Session
4:00 PM
A Triangular Model for Social Work Groups: Teaching the Forgotten Practice Modality
This presentation will describe a teaching format used in a BSW program in an effort to ensure student
competency as required in a Groups Practice course. The triangular model includes classroom teaching of
theory, practice of group dynamics, and supervision by instructors and MSW students
Presenters: Billy P. Blodgett & Henry Poduthase, West Texas A&M University, Canyon, TX
Friday
10/24/14
11:0011:30 AM
PRESENTATIONS BY IASWG MEMBERS IN OTHER CSWE TRACKS BY DATE
Send your information to [email protected] if you would like to be included in this section
Addictions Track Paper (One of Three): Tampa Convention Center: Room 7
CADC Student, Alumni, and Provider Perceptions: Preparedness to Work With LGBTQ
Populations
Online surveys examined the preparedness of MSW-certified alcohol and drug counselor (CADC) students
to work in the field of addictions with members of the LGBT community. Results will be presented from three
perspectives: (a) current social work students studying to become CADC counselors, (b) MSW/CADC
alumni, and (c) service providers.
Presenters: Michael P. Dentato & Brian Kelly, Loyola University Chicago, Chicago, IL
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Friday
10/24/14
2:453:15 PM
Field Education Track Paper (One of Three): Tampa Convention Center: Room 14
Increasing Community Research Capacity Through MSW Field Placements
Saturday
10/25/14
1:453:15 PM
Violence Against Women and Their Children Track Poster: Tampa Convention Center: West Hall
Help, Lord! Illuminating Barriers to Black Women's Help-Seeking Within Informal Networks
Saturday
10/25/14
3:304:30 PM
Values and Ethics Track Think Tank: Tampa Convention Center: Room 30B
One MSW Program's Approach to Gatekeeping: Challenges and Opportunities in Status Review
Sunday
10/16/14
11:0012:00PM
Clinical Practice Track Workshop: Marriott Tampa Bay Waterside Hotel: Meeting Room 10
Relationship Is the Key: Common Factors and Clinical Supervision
This presentation will focus on a process implemented to increase community research capacity through the
capstone projects of MSW students. Social work research professors collaborated with students, field
instructors, field liaisons, and agencies to design and implement year-long evaluation research projects that
are completed and presented during the advanced year of field placement.
Presenters: Jodi K. Hall, Marcie Fisher-Borne & Willa Casstevens, North Carolina State University,
Raleigh, NC
Black women have the poorest outcomes related to intimate partner violence, yet there is a dearth of
resources available to meet their help-seeking needs. This presentation will identify the needs unique to this
population, illuminate barriers, and recommend ways to build more culturally competent services and
supports.
Presenter: Bernadine Y. Waller, Adelphi University
Accepted
This think tank will explore how gatekeeping processes challenge MSW programs in domains such as
ethics, due process, confidentiality, diversity, and self-reflection when students with academic or behavioral
troubles come before a status review committee. Procedures, processes, and outcomes for the school, the
student, and the profession will be examined.
Presenters: Donna M. McLaughlin & Mark Gianino, Boston University
Accepted
Research has consistently highlighted the importance of the therapeutic relationship in psychotherapy. Often
clinical supervision becomes focused on technique while ignoring relationship dynamics. This workshop will
present ways to teach about the importance of therapeutic relationship through exploring relationship
dynamics in the supervisory dyad.
Presenter: Marilyn Ghezzi, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
START PLANNING FOR NEXT YEAR’S CSWE ANNUAL PROGRAM MEETING
OCTOBER 15-18, 2015 IN DENVER, COLORADO!
Please feel free to circulate this information through your networks, and to contact Alex Gitterman
([email protected]) and Carol S. Cohen ([email protected]), CSWE Group Work Track
Co-Chairs, with any questions about submitting abstracts for the 2015 US CSWE Annual Program Meeting.
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