Weekend C:

Thursday, July 18, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Friday, July 19, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Saturday, July 20, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Thursday, July 18, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

13-311c: Assessing the Risk: Interviewing, Understanding and Managing Suicidal and Self Injurious Clients

Kirk Woodring, M.S.W., L.I.C.S.W., C.G.P.

Although suicide rates over the past decade have gradually declined, suicide attempts, and parasuicidal behavior, continue to increase in frequency across the country. Assessing for risk requires not only understanding the intensity of ideation, the plan, and the means, but also knowledge of cultural, racial and socio-economic pressures that may potentiate risk. This workshop will provide an analysis of the clinical and social factors influencing risk, as well as tools to use for interviewing and intervening with high risk individuals.

Faculty: Kirk Woodring, M.S.W., L.I.C.S.W., C.G.P. is the Senior Director of Access, Evaluation, Ambulatory and Security Services at the Brattleboro Retreat in Brattleboro, Vermont and is the author of “Assessing the Risk: Suicidal Behavior in the Hospital Environment of Care” (HCPro, 2011). Mr. Woodring is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Social Work at Smith College, where he teaches courses in group theory, and crisis intervention. His experience in risk assessment includes supervision of psychiatric crisis services in Massachusetts, and consultation for numerous state and national organizations providing following natural and human caused disasters.

13-312c: Orientation to the Field (for Smith Field Affiliates)

Carolyn S. du Bois, M.S.W., L.I.C.S.W. &
Katelin Lewis-Kulin, M.S.W., L.C.S.W.

(Limited to Smith Field Affiliates only)
This course will provide an orientation to the Smith College School for Social Work and address the general principals of supervision with a particular focus on the development of the supervisory relationship. The course will concentrate on assessment of supervisory/student teaching/learning styles, principles of adult learning, stages of clinical learning, boundaries within the supervisory relationship, the use of educational learning tools including process recordings/role play and the role of evaluation. The central issues of diversity in the supervisory process and meeting the needs of the agency, supervisor and students will also become major areas of attention. The format will include mini lecture, video material, case vignette(s) and group discussion. Participants are encouraged to bring examples and dilemmas from their own experience. (This course is ONLY open to those supervising for Smith College School for Social Work students).

Faculty: Carolyn S. du Bois, M.S.W., L.I.C.S.W. - Director of Field Work and Clinical Associate Professor, Smith College School for Social Work. Carolyn received her MSW degree from Smith College in 1976 and has over 35 years of experience as a clinician in child guidance, college mental health and private practice settings. She has taught clinical practice at Smith for 28 years and has served as the Director of Field Work for the past 16 years.

Faculty: Katelin Lewis-Kulin, M.S.W., L.C.S.W. (CA)- Associate Director of Field Work, Smith College School for Social Work. Katelin received her MSW degree from Smith College in 2000 and recently joined the Field Dept after 15 years experience as a clinician in hospital, community mental health, and private practice settings. She has supervised numerous clinical staff and Smith students and served as the Director of Training at a Smith affiliated hospital.

13-313c: Social Work and End of Life Care: Theory and Practice

Yvette Colón, Ph.D., A.C.S.W., B.C.D. &
Kathryn M. Smolinski, M.S.W.

More and more, social workers are challenged to provide services to the increasing number of individuals who need palliative and end of life care, those who are chronically ill or have life-limiting medical conditions as well as those who care for them. Often, social workers are not prepared for the myriad of complex issues involved in end of life practice. Through lecture, discussion and case presentation, participants will have the opportunity to examine the individual, family, social and organizational contexts of end of life care. Biopychosocial assessment and interventions, sociocultural factors, pain and symptom management, multidisciplinary collaboration, ethics and compassion fatigue will be discussed. The reasons we are drawn to and stay in this work will be explored. The literature will be reviewed and professional resources will be provided.

Faculty: Yvette Colón, Ph.D., A.C.S.W., B.C.D. is a Psychosocial Specialist for the MetaCancer Foundation and Lecturer, Eastern Michigan University School of Social Work. For the last 12 years she's been a faculty member and supervisor in the Smith College SSW post-Master's Certificate Program on End-of- Life Social Work Practice. She has published and lectured on end-of-life social work practice, oncology, pain management, health disparities and technology-based social work services. She received an M.S.W. from Smith College SSW and a Ph.D. from New York University.

Faculty: Kathryn M. Smolinski, M.S.W. is a long-time hospice and oncology social worker with special expertise in clinical supervision, bioethics and leadership. She currently runs Legal Advocacy for People with Cancer, a medical-legal partnership in Detroit, MI. She is a supervisor in the Smith College SSW post-Master's Certificate Program in End-of- Life Social Work Practice. She has lectured and published widely on end-of-life social work practice, oncology, pain management and ethics. She received an M.S.W. from the University of Michigan School Of Social Work and a J.D. from Wayne State University School of Law.

13-314c: The Trauma Whisperers™: What Works in Contemporary Trauma Treatment

Daniel Buccino, L.C.S.W.-C., B.C.D.

With the heavy psychological toll on overextended Iraq and Afghanistan veterans, clinical social workers and psychotherapists are being faced with a great demand to care for traumatized patients. While the clinical community certainly needs to ramp up its capacity to respond to the surge of veterans and their family members, there is also a need to step back and reflect soberly on the evidence about what works across different models of trauma treatment in order to provide the most effective services in the most efficient manner. This highly acclaimed and clinically relevant workshop is meant to demystify some of the competing discourses about trauma treatment and support therapists in all practice settings to be better equipped to respond to this clinical imperative.

In attending to the needs of our returning warriors, however, we must not forget the need to continue to provide trauma-informed therapy to a wide range of other clinical populations. This workshop will examine differential issues of trauma in those exposed to war, urban violence and incarceration, domestic violence, physical and sexual child abuse and neglect, terrorism, and natural disasters. In reviewing issues of PTSD, DID, medication management, psychic numbing and hypervigilance, vicarious traumatization, competing models of therapy, and resilience, we will identify the latest gentle, but steadfast and effective, strategies for working with those suffering from psychological wounds.

Faculty: Daniel L. Buccino, L.C.S.W.-C., B.C.D. is the Founder and Director of the Baltimore Psychotherapy Institute and Clinical Supervisor and Student Coordinator in the Community Psychiatry Program at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore. David serves on the clinical faculties at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, the Smith College School for Social Work, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

Friday, July 19, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

13-321c: Making Mosaics: Strengths-based Interventions in School Social Work

Stephanie Washington, Ed.D, L.C.S.W.

While current research has advanced our comprehension of resiliency as a complex and dynamic process, in practical terms, we still speak of individuals as being either at-risk or resilient. Recognizing risk and resiliency as dynamic processes that act as dualities and recognizing that contexts often overlap is important for understanding the manifestations of resilience of individuals in higher risks groups. The mosaic metaphor is useful in revealing how individuals (even those in high risk groups) are able to contextualize their negative life experiences and develop resiliency characteristics and perceptions of hope.

Use of the strengths perspective and solution-focused strategies in school social work can be effective means of intervening in the lives of these individuals. The strengths perspective rests on the assumption that all people possess strengths which can be garnered to improve their lives. This perspective also asserts that client motivation is fostered by consistent emphasis on these strengths as defined by the individual, and that the individual’s meaning takes precedence over labels and theories. This seminar will focus on the importance of returning the strengths perspective to the practice of social work in schools. Specifically, we will examine solution-focused interviewing and solution-focused intervention strategies in a culturally competent manner. In this interactive seminar, participants will:

Faculty: Stephanie D. Washington, Ed.D, L.C.S.W. is a school social worker in a large urban school district in Houston. As a former classroom teacher and a school social worker for 20 years, she has seen the evolution of school social work and the challenges faced by social workers who practice in school settings. She has worked with a number of populations including pregnant teens, adjudicated juveniles, and children receiving special education services. Her doctoral work on risk and resiliency in high risk groups provides the backdrop for this seminar. Dr. Washington provides social work supervision and consultation, and maintains a small private practice. She enjoys writing ASWB exam items that emphasize the critical need and roles of the school social worker.

13-322c: The Traumatic Effects of Domestic Violence: Integrating a socio-political perspective of domestic violence and trauma-informed therapy.

Gail Kielson, M.S.W., L.I.C.S.W.

One in four women and one in seven men are victims of domestic violence. Thus, a significant number of our clients have lived with an abuser. It is confusing, confounding and often terrifying to experience domestic violence. Simply put, it is hard to understand the effects of domestic violence, why a woman stays, why she returns to the abuser, how children who witness domestic violence are impacted, and how to identify an abuser. Psychotherapy, in and of itself, often retraumatizes the survivor or does little to assist her/him in unshackling the binds of abuse. However, trauma-informed psychotherapy, integrated with the use of the socio-political paradigm of domestic violence, is highly effective and transformative. This workshop will provide participants with an understanding of the two models and tools to therapeutically integrate them.

Faculty: Gail Kielson, M.S.W., L.I.C.S.W. has extensive experience working with survivors of domestic violence. She was the Co-Director of the local organization that assists women who are in abusive relationships, has been an Expert Witness in domestic violence cases, was the Project Director of a Police Grant that trained rural police officers; was the Coordinator of the Western Massachusetts Rural Domestic Violence Project, and is in Private Practice, committed to providing free and low cost therapy to survivors of domestic violence. She is grounded in an empowerment and strength-based model, having been trained in Gestalt Therapy and Trauma-Informed Therapy. Gail asserts that it is vital, when working with survivors of domestic violence, to use a multi-faceted approach rather than a psychodynamic one. She integrates the domestic violence paradigm, trauma-informed therapy, psychodynamic theory, an anti-oppression perspective, and collaboration, outreach, and advocacy.

13-323c: Masculinity Studies: Histories, Theories, and Clinical Applications

David Byers, M.S.W., L.I.C.S.W., & Stephen Vider

This daylong course investigates the historical and theoretical underpinnings of contemporary constructions of masculinity-how biological sex has been elaborated and regulated in connection to specific performances of masculine gender in daily life. In the last decade, the field of masculinity studies has rapidly expanded, building on feminist insights around gender while considering unique developmental patterns for boys and male adolescents and adults, masculine gendered girls and women, as well as transgender boys and men. These developments have been slow to reach clinicians, however.

This course will be co-taught by an historian and a clinician. We will review historical documents and contemporary portrayals of gender ideals and variants, situated within psychodynamic theories of adolescent “gender consolidation.” In doing so, we will attempt to reconsider a number of questions with critical relevance for clinical practice with adolescents and adults: How historically have definitions of masculinity evolved with reference to race, class, and sexuality? What is at stake in appearing or feeling masculine, or not? How do young people learn these codes, repeat them, and enforce them? How can we foster critical thinking about masculinity with our clients, and what is to be gained for the client? Specific topics to be discussed include youth groups and athletics, bullying and violence, anger and anxiety as gendered affects, and friendships.

Faculty: David Byers, M.S.W., L.I.C.S.W. is a doctoral candidate at Smith College School for Social Work, and a lecturer and research adviser in the MSW program. He has a private practice in Boston with a focus on adolescents and adults, serves as a supervisor and clinician at Wentworth Institute of Technology, and has previously worked for Northeastern University and Harvard University. He has written on the role of homophobia in bullying, and is currently studying political, sociocultural, and psychodynamic aspects of bullying processes for older adolescents.

Faculty: Stephen Vider is completing his doctorate in History of American Civilization at Harvard University, with a secondary field in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality. This fall he will be starting at Yale University as the Clay Postdoctoral Fellow in the History of Sexuality. He has taught classes and tutorials on topics ranging from the history of sexuality to feminist movements. His writing has appeared in Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour, Transition, and Journal of the History of Sexuality.

13-324c: Working Skillfully Within the Relational Field: the Therapist’s Subjective Experience as a Clinical Resource.

Jennifer Addas, M.S.W., L.I.C.S.W.

Embodied attention to the therapist’s subjective experience (at somatic, energetic, intuitive, & cognitive/intellectual levels) offers access to a rich aspect of our humanity with the potential for deepening our clinical experience. Whether we treasure it, are baffled by it, or we consciously or unconsciously choose to avoid it, transference and countertransferance are happening all the time; this workshop is an opportunity to explore these relational dynamics from multiple theoretical perspectives and expand our clinical skills.

The workshop will balance didactic presentation with interactive collaborative exploration, including: review of salient literature, findings from the instructor’s research interviews on this topic, clinical examples from the instructor’s practice, small group exercises to cultivate and expand awareness, and group consultation and discussion of participant’s clinical vignettes. It is hoped that the collective body of clinical experience we all bring to this workshop will enliven our discussions and enrich our learning experience.

Faculty: Jennifer Addas, M.S.W., L.I.C.S.W., works in private practice in Northampton, MA. The relational foundation for Ms Addas’s clinical work is grounded in psychodynamic theory and her special areas of interest include, Somatic Experiencing, EMDR, and Jungian Sandplay therapy.

Saturday, July 20, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

13-331c: Close Encounters of the Third (and other) Gender Kind: Gender Variance Issues for the General Psychotherapy Practitioner

Julie Mencher, M.S.W., L.I.C.S.W.

Increasingly, generalist psychotherapists are encountering clients with non-traditional gender issues, presentations, and identities. Building on the trust established over time in an ongoing psychotherapy relationship, clients who never spoke of these issues on intake may seemingly suddenly raise them midstream. With little to no training on transgender or transsexual issues, we may find ourselves woefully unprepared in key situations where our clients look to us for a compassionate, thoughtful, accepting, and helpful response: the heterosexual male client who reveals for the first time ever that he has been cross-dressing since childhood, the adult daughter whose father comes out to her as transsexual, the butch lesbian client who begins to frame her sexual issues as possible discomfort with her gender, the middle-aged grandfather who is struggling with his son’s male-to-female transition, the couple who seeks guidance around preparing their young children for one partner’s gender transition, the teenager who realizes that coming out as gay doesn’t quite describe his identity conflict and begins to talk about always having felt ‘like a girl’-these scenarios often leave even very seasoned clinicians perplexed as to how to play catch-up to their clients’ experience enough to be of some assistance. Many clinicians wrestle with the option of referring these clients to “gender specialists,” but such terminations in the face of the disclosure of gender variance within an ongoing psychotherapy clearly carry complexities for clients around rejection and abandonment. Further, therapists who work with even gender-conforming teens may be confused by this generation’s flexible boundaries around gender, sexual identity, and sexual behavior.

Although only a small minority of clinicians will pursue enough experience and expertise on working with gender minorities to become gender specialists, it is increasingly incumbent on general practitioners to familiarize ourselves with the changing gender landscape. This course will describe contemporary frameworks of gender which challenge the male/female binary and instead portray gender as a spectrum. Various gender identities, including transgender, transsexual, cross-dresser, gender-queer, and non-gendered, will be discussed. Linguistic conundrums around how we talk about gender will be used as a metaphor for how challenging it is-cognitively, emotionally, and countertransferentially-to understand and assist gender-variant identity development. Particular clinical scenarios will be examined with a focus on intervention options, working with a not-knowing clinical stance, and therapist use of self.

Faculty: Julie Mencher, M.S.W., L.I.C.S.W. is a therapist and consultant in private practice in Northampton, MA. Over the past 20 years, she has taught courses in GLBT Identities in the Master's and Continuing Education programs at Smith SSW. Currently, she is on the faculty of the Smith SSW Advanced Certificate Program in Clinical Supervision. Formerly, she was the Transgender Specialist at Smith College and a Visiting Scholar at the Stone Center at Wellesley College and the Jean Baker Miller Training Institute in Wellesley, MA. She has written extensively and presented many professional trainings on GLBTQ issues in her 25 years of clinical practice.

13-332c: Narrative Therapy and Children/Adolescents and their Families

Beth Prullage, L.I.C.S.W.

This course will focus on a range of ways to apply Narrative Therapy concepts and tools with children and adolescents in a range of modalities and settings. It will begin with a brief didactic overview of Narrative therapy, but a range of small group activities, clinical examples, demonstration interviews, etc. will be utilized throughout the day. It is hoped that participants will leave the workshop with a range of new tools and activities to incorporate into their work with young people and their families.

Faculty: Beth Prullage, L.I.C.S.W. is a therapist, educator and consultant on Narrative Therapy. She is on the adjunct faculty at Smith College School for Social Work and Simmons College School for Social Work, where she teaches courses in individual and family practice, family therapy, group therapy and Narrative Therapy. She additionally consults with non-profit organizations on ways to engage in collaborative and strengths-based clinical practice.

13-333c: Collaborative Approaches to Change: Enhancing Therapy Outcomes With Ultra-Brief, Patient-Anchored Measures

Daniel Buccino, L.C.S.W.-C., B.C.D.

What has saved thousands of lives and millions of dollars around the world? A simple, surgical checklist. What has allowed badly damaged airliners to land safely? A checklist. What has kept many of the biggest rock-and-roll tours on the road safely and profitably? Simple checklists. What may be the quickest and most inexpensive way to improve psychotherapy practice? A checklist.

This workshop will bring the simple, effective logic of checklists to the practice of psychotherapy. Most psychotherapists are unwilling to believe that their professional autonomy and expertise can be enhanced by instruments like checklists or outcome measures. Yet the use of quick, feasible, psychometrically-sound, patient-anchored process and outcome measures, much like checklists, can substantially improve psychotherapy outcomes. They can also help identify patients most at risk for treatment failure or early drop-out. Significant outcomes and powerful effect sizes can be generated with the use of these checklists without applying any other special techniques or interventions. These measures not only reinforce the practice of excellent therapy, but can help practitioners and organizations generate patient-anchored, practice-based evidence of the effectiveness of mental health care without requiring further, potentially expensive investment and training in the latest evidence-based practices.

Faculty: Daniel L. Buccino, L.C.S.W.-C., B.C.D. is the Founder and Director of the Baltimore Psychotherapy Institute and Clinical Supervisor and Student Coordinator in the Community Psychiatry Program at the Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore. Serves on the clinical faculties at the University of Maryland School of Social Work, the Smith College School for Social Work, and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

13-334c: Infant-parent psychotherapy: Providing mental health services for parents and their children, ages birth to three.

Caroline Phillips, M.Phil., D.Clin.Psy

The first three years of life are a period of unparalleled growth in all areas of a baby’s development. A child’s earliest experiences, in particular their interactions with caregivers, influence not only their physical health, but also their social and emotional development. The quality of care they receive profoundly shapes who they will become and has the capacity to create a foundation for trust, lifelong learning, and competence.

This course considers the developing relationships of infants within the family context. It discusses the factors that promote healthy emotional development and the ways in which that development can be challenged. We will discuss how providers can develop a therapeutic approach to working with parents and their infants and the role of infant-parent psychotherapy in early intervention and treatment. Theories of psychoanalysis and attachment will provide a lens through which to view and understand the ways in which the earliest experiences, including trauma, impact later development. We will discuss a range of specific clinical issues, such as regulatory disorders of infancy (sleeping, feeding, and crying); parent mental health; effects of trauma and maltreatment; and children with special needs. Case material and group discussions will address conceptual and practical aspects of doing relationship-based, dyadic psychotherapy with infants and parents.

Faculty: Dr. Caroline Phillips, M.Phil., D.Clin.Psy. is a clinical psychologist from the UK. Her clinical work has focused on children with neurodevelopmental disabilities and psychotherapy for parents and young children. She has completed a three-year course of study in Parent-Infant Psychotherapy at the Center for Psychoanalytic Training and Research at Columbia University and recently finished a two-year post-doctoral research fellowship at the Seaver Autism Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. She has provided training for medical residents and other health professionals both in the US and the UK. Her professional and practice interests include parent and infant mental health, autism, and early interventions.

13-335c: Attachment-Based Couple Therapy
with Redeployed Military and Veteran Couples

Kathryn Basham, L.I.C.S.W., Ph.D.

Dr. Kathryn Basham will introduce a couple therapy practice approach grounded in a synthesis of attachment, trauma, neurobiological, and cognitive-behavioral theories where one or both partners have experienced post-traumatic stress or post-traumatic stress disorder related to deployment. Co-occurring issues related to depression, moral injury, traumatic brain injury and intimate partner violence are addressed. The model is “relationship-based, culturally-responsive, theoretically grounded and research informed.” This trauma-informed phase oriented approach attends to issues of safety, self-care, affect regulation and re-engaging in Phase I; reflection on a trauma narrative, meaning-making and grieving in Phase II; and reconsolidating, re-connecting and negotiating complex social identities in Phase III. Effects of both caregiver satisfaction as well as secondary trauma are explored along with methods to address clinician responses. Participants will be introduced to methods of evaluating their practices.

Faculty: Kathryn Basham, L.I.C.S.W., Ph.D. as Professor, Co-Director of the Doctoral Program, and Editor of the Smith College Studies in Social Work, engages in research, writing, clinical social work practice and education related to the effects of deployment and combat stress on service members, Veterans and their families. She has been appointed to three congressionally mandated committees with the Institute of Medicine, National Academies of Science, charged with the mandate to explore research endeavors relevant to the health and mental health treatment of military families, yielding four co-authored books on these topics. She served on the Steering committee to design military social work competencies for the Council in Social Work Education and participate on the expert panel for credentialing in military social work with the National Association of Social Workers. Dr. Basham has received the honor as distinguished clinical practitioner with the National Academies of Practice and has co-authored a text titled Couple Therapy with Survivors of Childhood Trauma that describes this model grounded in neurobiology as well as attachment and trauma theories. She has written and presented extensively on these topics and presented in both national and international forums, including consulting with the Canadian Forces.