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The following lectures were offered as part of the School's 2009 Summer Lecture Series. Check this page again next spring for the 2010 Summer Lecture Series offerings.
Emerging Approaches to Clinical Social Work - June 1
The Promise of Mindfulness - June 8
Race, Realities and Relationships: Anti-Racism Symopisum - June 15
Psychotherapy from Dyadic Expansion Model & Neuroscience - June 22
Fixing Broken Hearts: Challenges for U.S. Healthcare - June 29
African Americans Aging in the Rural South - July 13
Mind to Mind: Mentalization and Clinical Applications for Clients with Narcissistic and Borderline Personality Disorders - July 17
Film: "Coming Home: Military Families Cope with Change" - Screening and Discussion - July 27
Everyday Conflicts and Stressors in the Lives of Black Women - August 3
Phebe Sessions, Ph.D.
Clinical practice with older adults is a dynamic field of practice undergoing much invigoration and expansion. This talk will address areas of substantive development in the knowledge base which supports changes in practice, including: positive psychology; findings from neuroscience about aging, mental health and cognition; intergenerational family and community enhancement; integrative mind-body health care; and the revolution in communication and assistive technologies. The lecture will address findings from research conducted with support from the National Science Foundation and the Hartford Foundation, based on these theoretical developments, and consider avenues for careers in this growing field.
Phebe Sessions is a professor at the Smith College School for Social Work, where she chaired the Practice Sequence for many years. Dr. Sessions is interested in the implications for clinical practice of the integration of social, cultural, and psychological theories. With funding from the National Science Foundation, for the past three years she has been exploring the use of technology by elders to enable them to remain in their homes. She is also interested in the integration of narrative with developmental models. Her practice and research background includes both psychodynamic and family therapy theories and practice models. Dr. Sessions received her A.B. and her M.S.W. from Smith College and her Ph.D. from Brandeis University, Florence Heller School for Advanced Studies in Social Welfare.
Leo Weinstein Auditorium – Wright Hall
Monday - June 1, 2009, 7:30 P.M.
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Sylvia Boorstein, L.C.S.W., Ph.D. - Lydia Rapoport Lecturer.
Mindfulness will be presented as the cultivated capacity to pay attention to changing circumstances with that degree of equanimity that includes the full range of emotional response while also precluding impulsive response. The confidence that accrues from knowing oneself capable of wise action even in stressful, perhaps even frightening, circumstances maintains courage and energy in the mind and body and enables us to care for ourselves and each other with compassion. Since warm, caring connection—friendliness, consolation, and appreciation—is our fundamental source of contentment, mindfulness practice can be understood as the practice of sustaining happiness.
Sylvia Boorstein, L.C.S.W., teaches regularly at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Woodacre, California where she is a co-founding teacher. She is also a senior teacher at the Insight Meditation Society in Barre, Massachusetts. She has a B.A. degree from Barnard College, an M.S.W. from University of California, Berkeley, a Ph.D. in psychology from Saybrook Institute, and has worked as a psychotherapist since 1967. Dr. Boorstein has written five books on meditation and Buddhism, the most recent being Happiness Is An Inside Job: Practicing for a Joyful Life. Since 2002 she has been a regular columnist for The Shambhala Sun magazine. In 1996, she was part of the 26-member delegation of American Buddhist teachers that met with the Dalai Lama to discuss issues of teaching Buddhism in the west. She helped design the Institute for Jewish Spirituality, was a member of its first faculty, and co-leads an annual training retreat for rabbis who are teaching mindfulness.
Leo Weinstein Auditorium – Wright Hall
Monday - June 8, 2009, 7:30 P.M.
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Kenneth V. Hardy , Ph.D.
At no other time in our history has the notion of reality received such careful scrutiny as it has today. Fluid definitions of truth have accentuated many of the difficulties inherent in relationship formation and maintenance. The emergence of reality as a subjective experience has left many of us, in our personal and professional lives, in a quandary – questioning truths that were once considered unquestionable, thus contributing to a sense of tentativeness in our interactions. In the increasingly diverse world in which we live, it has become imperative for us to examine the myriad of contextual variables that give meaning to our lives as well to the lives of those with whom we interact. Race, class, gender, and religion, just to cite a few, are salient dimensions of our experiences that shape reality. This address will examine the complex interplay between race, reality and our relationships. A conceptual framework for understanding the multitudinous ways in which race shapes our lives will be discussed. Strategies for conducting effective cross racial dialogues and promoting an authentic climate of inclusion will be provided.
Kenneth V. Hardy is Professor of Family Therapy at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is also Director of the Eikenberg Institute for Relationships in New York, New York. He is the co-author of a new book, Revisioning Family Therapy: Race, Class, and Culture in Clinical Practice, with Monica McGoldrick, and has published prolifically in the area of race and therapy. He has served as a consultant to a number of public and private organizations addressing race and diversity related issues.
Leo Weinstein Auditorium – Wright Hall
Monday - June 15, 2009, 7:30 P.M.
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Nancy A. Bridges, L.I.C.S.W.
Meaning making and change is basic to the psychotherapeutic process and the work we hope to do with those we care for. As psychotherapists our theory of meaning making directly influences how we engage with patients on every level and understand processes of change. This lecture will offer dyadic intersubjective systems sensibility and data from neuroscience as fresh and hopeful new looks at the biopsychological processes of making and changing meaning in the therapeutic relationship. The lecturer will present detailed clinical material in an effort to illustrate the application of this model to the conscious and nonconscious processes of making new meaning with our patients and ourselves.
Nancy A. Bridges, L.I.C.S.W., is a lecturer in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and the Cambridge Health Alliance, a faculty member at the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis and an adjunct associate professor at Smith College School for Social Work. She has taught in the M.S.W. program in human behavior for the past decade and for several decades supervised the School’s interns at the Cambridge Hospital. She is the author of many articles that focus on relational and intersubjective aspects of the therapeutic relationship and of the book, Moving Beyond the Comfort Zone in Psychotherapy, Jason Aronson, 2005. Ms. Bridges’ current interests focus on the integration of neuroscience and developmental research in the treatment of adults. She received her A.B. from Smith College, her M.S.W. from Smith College School for Social Work, and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis. She practices psychoanalysis, psychotherapy and consultation in Belmont, Massachusetts.
Leo Weinstein Auditorium – Wright Hall
Monday - June 22, 2009, 7:30 P.M.
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Sarita Bhalotra, M.D., Ph.D.
The U.S. healthcare system is known for being expensive, complex, and unwieldy. Based on principals of “market justice,” costs continue to spiral while access and quality problems escalate. The implications are somber. A brief introduction to the sociopolitical evolution of U.S. healthcare is followed by data on health outcomes and disparities. Major challenges faced in view of the aging population and the epidemic of chronic and “lifestyle” illnesses are discussed. The talk closes with an interactive discussion of the choices we face if we are to embrace a healthcare system based on an ethic of social justice.
Sarita Bhalotra is an assistant professor at the Heller School, Brandeis University, where she teaches graduate and undergraduate students and conducts health services research. Her interests lie in chronic illness, disparities in health, and health and social justice issues. She is currently directing an initiative to develop and implement a concentration in aging services for the Heller School’s graduate programs in partnership with Hebrew Senior Life, and is director for the undergraduate program at the Heller School as well as Associate Chair for the undergraduate major: Health: Science, Society, and Policy.
Leo Weinstein Auditorium – Wright Hall
Monday - June 29, 2009, 7:30 P.M.
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Iris Carlton-LaNey, Ph.D. - Brown Clinical Research Institute Lecturer
This lecture will include content based on interviews with elderly African American farm women along with information gleaned from a lifetime of observing these women and men in their everyday surroundings. It will also include readings from a series of vignettes that describe the events and activities that took place in this community over a 40 year time period and, finally, reflections from a participant observer/social work researcher who grew up in this small southeastern North Carolina community. Understanding the life experiences of these elders provides valuable information upon which to design and deliver services and programs.
Iris B. Carlton-LaNey is a professor in the School of Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Carlton-LaNey has co-edited two books, African American Community Practice Models: Historical and Contemporary Responses (with Dr. N. Y. Burwell) and Preserving and Strengthening Small Towns and Rural Communities (with Drs. R. L. Edwards and P. N. Reid). In 2001 the National Association of Social Workers Press published African American Leadership: An Empowerment Tradition in Social Welfare History. Dr. Carlton-LaNey has lectured on African American social welfare history and African Americans aging in the rural south at several schools of social work across the country. She has also published a book titled, African Americans Aging in the Rural South: Stories of Faith, Family and Community (2005).
Leo Weinstein Auditorium – Wright Hall
Monday - July 13, 2009, 7:30 P.M.
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Judith Kay Nelson, M.S.W., Ph.D. - Annual Conference and E. Diane Davis Memorial Lecturer
CANCELLED
Dr. Shoshana Ringel, Ph.D. - Annual Conference and E. Diane Davis Memorial Lecturer
Dr. Ringel's lecture will explore the concept of mentalization for both children and adults, with relevant underlying neurbiological constructs. She will discuss the implications of early neglect and trauma as well as the notion of "earned security." The use of mentalization principles in the clinical process with clients with Borderline Personality Disorder and with narcissistic disorders will also be emphasized.
Dr. Shoshana Ringel is an associate professor and co-chair of the clinical concentration at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, and has a private practice in Baltimore. She has co-authored Attachment and Dynamic Practice with Dr. Jerrold Brandell and has an upcoming co-authored book with Dr. Eda Goldstein and Dr. Dennis Miehls titled Advanced Clinical Practice: Relational Principles and Techniques which is coming out in August. She is now working on her third book, Contemporary Directions in Trauma: Theory, Research and Practice. She has published many articles and several book chapters, and is certified by Mary Main on the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI). Her research on mysticism and the Adult Attachment Interview with Orthodox Jewish women was published in the special issue on attachment in the Journal of Clinical Social Work. Dr. Ringel received her Ph.D. from Smith College School for Social Work in 2001.
Leo Weinstein Auditorium – Wright Hall
Friday, July 17, 2009, 7:30 pm
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Jeanette Betancourt, Ed.D.
The film Coming Home: Military Families Cope with Change, featuring Queen Latifah and John Mayer, tells the stories of service members returning home with injuries—both visible and invisible—and explores the heroic struggles their families face on the path to finding a "new normal."With help from Elmo, Rosita and their Sesame Street friends, Coming Home gives voice to the children as they play a central role in the family's adjustment process, and encourages them to be what they are: kids. Additionally, the program features coping strategies and powerful real stories aimed to help these families and others find ways to be there for each other. This lecture will include a screening of this film which will be followed by a discussion of the dissemination efforts involved in the project and the research that is being conducted on these efforts by SSW faculty and students. Dr. Betancourt will be joined by Maconda Brown O'Connor Professor Marsha Kline Pruett, who is leading the School’s research on this project.
Jeanette Betancourt is the Vice President for Outreach and Educational Practices at Sesame Workshop. Her responsibilities include the strategic branding and delivery of domestic and international outreach initiatives to assure the greatest impact and visibility. She is conceptualizing, developing, and delivering compelling new models for the delivery of outreach initiatives to a variety of diverse audiences and communities worldwide. Dr. Betancourt is a licensed bilingual speech and language pathologist and educational therapist. She received her B.A. from Herbert H. Lehman College, City University of New York, an M.A. in Speech and Language Pathology from Hofstra University, an M.S. in Bilingual Reading/Special Education from St. John’s University, and an Ed.D. in Special Education from Teachers College, Columbia University.
Leo Weinstein Auditorium – Wright Hall
Monday - July 27, 2009, 7:30 P.M.
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Joyce E. Everett, Ph.D.
The triangulation of race, gender, and socioeconomic status affect the psychological well-being of Black women. Yet there is only limited research on the stressors they experience or their ways of coping. This presentation reports the findings of a qualitative study of 40 Black women, 18-55 years of age, from three different sites. The results show that within a societal context of racism and sexism Black women experience emotionally demanding stressors that are moderated by support networks and experiences of intra-group racism and use both approach and avoidant coping responses with detrimental health and mental health consequences.
Joyce E. Everett is a professor at the School for Social Work at Smith College. She formally chaired the Social Welfare Policy and Services Sequence and served as a co-director of the Doctoral Program. Her professional interest is social welfare policy, particularly policies that affect children and families. Other areas of interest include issues of diversity, cultural competence and research. She has received federal and private funding to conduct research on kinship care, family support programs, and work-family issues. Her most recent research focuses on Black women’s stress and coping. Dr. Everett received her B.A. from Morgan State University, her M.S.W. from the University of Michigan, and her Ph.D. at Brandeis University.
Leo Weinstein Auditorium – Wright Hall
Monday - August 3, 2009, 7:30 P.M.
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Lectures provide one and one-half (1.5) CECs. The cost to register for CECs will be $15 per lecture; those who are not interested in securing CECs may attend the lecture free of charge. Those who wish to earn CECs should arrive 15 minutes ahead of the lecture to register; the registration fee will be collected at that time. Payment must be made by check or money order ONLY.
Leo Weinstein Auditorium is handicapped accessible. For individual disability accommodations please contact Lindsay Wilson in the Office of the Dean at 413-585-2769 or at deanasst@smith.edu at least three weeks in advance of the lecture.
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Last updated 10/22/09. |
