Wellness Wednesday from the School of Social Work

Heather Chapman, LCSW-C, MSW '04

Vice President, United Way Neighborhood Zones
United Way of Central Maryland

Heather Chapman, LCSW-C is VP, Neighborhood Zones, United Way of Central Maryland (UWCM). Heather graduated from the University of Virginia with BAs in Psychology and Sociology and obtained her MSW from University of Maryland School of Social Work in 2004.

She has developed and managed various community-based programs for over 19 years. Heather co-founded the Ben Center and United Way Family Center model that has expanded across the region through her work with UWCM. She received multiple awards to include but not limited to: Julie Kryder Cole award for social justice and the Sunita Saxena Award for unsung heroes who improve the lives and well-being of adolescents. Heather was most recently included in the Daily Record’s 2023 Top 100 Women in Maryland list.

She also serves as member of the Juvenile Justice Reform Council and State Commission on Trauma Informed Care; Board member of National Association for Children of Addiction and Black Yield Institute and Chair of the Missions Ministry at her church.

Juneteenth Jubilee '23: Academia: Working While Black

Juneteenth is the oldest nationally celebrated commemoration of the ending of slavery in the United States. Dating back to 1865, it was on June 19th that the Union soldiers, led by Major General Gordon Granger, landed at Galveston, Texas with news that the war had ended and that the enslaved were now free- two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation.

This year, we will commemorate the 158th year by having three days of Juneteenth Jubilee!

Wednesday, June 14th, 1:30 PM - 3:00 PM: Academia: Working While Black

Panelists includes:

Jason Noel, PharmD, BCPP , School of Pharmacy
Courtney Jones Carney, DPA, MBA, Graduate School
Christa Geloster, MS, School of Dentistry
Julia Scott, School of Social Work
Bill Joyner, UMB Central

Please do not miss the other events!

Thursday June 15th 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM: Juneteenth Jubilee: Community Celebration
UMB Community Engagement Center, 16 S. Poppleton Street, Baltimore, MD 21201

Friday, June 16th: #Rest&Recharge Social Media Campaign

#GirlDad: Understanding and Cultivating Relationships Between Black Fathers and Daughters

Location: Virtual
Date: June 15, 2023
Time: 9:00 AM - 4:30 PM
Instructor: David Miller, M.Ed

Although seldom acknowledged in the literature, the relationship between Black fathers and daughters is essential for building and maintaining healthy relationships. This workshop will review current trends, research and highlight critical protective factors among Black daughters. Historically, most scholarly literature about Black fathers has focused on deficits and inadequacies. Too often, draconian narratives about being uninvolved, absent, and deadbeat have been used to describe Black fathers. Although emerging research suggests that Black fathers are more involved than fathers of other races, negative stereotypes continue to lead the public discourse about Black fathers. Finally, it is vital for graduate students, researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and human service workers to better understand Black fathers as proactive factors in the lives of Black girls. This workshop will focus on three key areas: 1) the role Black fathers play in promoting healthy social and emotional development within their Black daughters, 2) the importance of elevating strength-based research on Black fathers raising daughters, and 3) best practices for organizations providing services to Black fathers and families.

CEs Available

A Trauma-Informed Approach to Delivering Care to Individuals with an Opioid Use Disorder

Location: Virtual
Dates: June 29, 2023
Time: 9:00 AM - 12:15 PM
Instructors: Lee Westgate, LCSW-C

The advent of COVID-19 has further exacerbated population-wide challenges with substance and opioid use disorders. The impact of the pandemic is evidenced in tragic social outcomes that include record-high overdose rates coupled with disparate access to life-saving care and treatment. Access to care is further complicated by the enduring stigma and bias associated with substance use disorders, as well as stigmas and misconceptions associated with evidence-based treatment options, such as Medication Assisted Treatment. Trauma-informed care has proved to be an impactful and relevant approach that improves patient engagement as well as patient outcomes. This training will orient attendees on trauma-informed principles of practice and how they relate to the delivery of care, to the reformation of care settings, and how this approach further enhances essential rapport and trust-building between patients and providers.

CEs Available

Best Practices to Address Sexual Health with Clients

Location: Virtual
Dates: June 30, 2023
Time: 10:00 AM - 1:15 PM
Instructors: Emma Kupfeman, LISW, LCSW-C

Sexuality is central to human development across the life span, and yet as social workers we are often not trained to talk about sex with our clients. Sexual wellness, or the lack of, can be an enormous source of empowerment or oppression for our clients, and we can be a valuable resource! This training will provide knowledge necessary for social workers in a variety of practice settings to integrate care for behavioral, biological, emotional, intellectual, and social aspects of sexuality.

This workshop meets the DC Public Health Priorities Requirement.

CEs Available

The School of Social Work is undergoing the construction of a new website which will enhance our ability to share social work jobs within our student and alumni communities.

In the meantime, we are gathering available jobs via the following form: Post Your Social Work Job.

Jobs will be gathered into one email and sent to current students, recent graduates, and members of the alumni association on a bi-weekly basis until the new site is live.

Thank you for your ongoing interest in hiring our MSW graduates!

Center for Violence Protection Operations Director

The University of Maryland, Baltimore’s (UMB) newly formed Center for Violence Prevention is hiring a Center for Violence Protection Operations Director (Director, Center Operations) to oversee all department operations.

The Center’s operational needs include fiscal management, human resources, administration, events, logistics and space. The selected candidate will also manage interactions with other University-wide departments including Human Resources, Community Engagement Center, University of Maryland Baltimore Foundation (UMBF), and Communications, as well as multiple units across the Schools of Law, Medicine, and Social Work. This position is second in the leadership hierarchy and leads the organization in the Executive Director's absence. They have responsibility for preparing contracts and grant reports, ensuring grant and contract compliance, developing, maintaining and tracking budgets, and managing financial and administrative staff.