"Wellness Wednesday" has
provided a great way for us to stay connected to our social work community. Our goal is to highlight alumni, share the latest school news, provide resources and feature upcoming trainings and events.
We want to hear from you! Let us know about the work you do and/or how you are using your social work degree. Please submit your story and photo to alumni@ssw.umaryland.edu.
LAST CALL!
Honor a Deserving UMSSW Alum
or Student by Nominating Them to Receive
One of Six Alumni Association Awards to be Presented in March 2023!
The University of Maryland School of Social Work (UMSSW) has a rich history of graduating social workers and professionals in the field who embody the ethics and character that the National Association of Social Work requires. The UMSSW Alumni Association, together with Dean Judy Postmus, are proud to acknowledge its graduates who have demonstrated exemplary service to the field of social work. Click here to view the awards criteria.
A group of MSW students are working on a project for their Social Work Practice with Communities and Organizations (SOWK 631) class that will focus on addressing the prevalence of unpaid field placements for social work students at the UMSSW.
Project Description: We've seen that social work students often need to take out loans and work outside of school to pay for an education that never compensates us for the work we do. We are trying to collect data from current students as well as alumni that supports our proposition to pay students for their field education at the UMB School of Social Work. We believe that compensating students for field placements will lower exclusionary financial barriers and enable future social worker cohorts to become more representative of the communities they serve. Click here to complete the survey
Alumni Career Services
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.
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!
Research Assistant Professor
Applications are being accepted for a Research Assistant Professor faculty position in the area of behavioral health. Candidates should have a PhD in social work, public health, health services research or a related program to be considered the position.
The Lower Shore Clinic (LSC) has partnered with the University of Maryland School of Social Work (UMSSW) to fund a full time Research Assistant Professor (RAP) for an initial period of three years. This UMSSW RAP faculty member will be embedded at the LSC and work with LSC administration, clinical staff, and consumers to research and develop an evidenced-based theory and translation into practice for behavioral health programs using the Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) as the main driver of the model of care. Using the LSC model of care as the framework and LSC clinical and billing data, the UMSSW RAP will research the effectiveness of this model with a goal of identifying what
works and what does not work, while fully collaborating with LSC stakeholders to build out innovative strategies that improve practices in combination with nudge concepts designed to improve outcomes for patients and the broader community.
Daniel Thursz Social Justice Lecture: Ableism and Health Advocacy
Date: December 2, 2022 Time: 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM Location: Online
Facilitators: Ableism 101: Dana Kobrin (alum), Mary McKelvie (alum), Libby Nuss (SSW Student) Inclusive Health and Medical Advocacy: Adam Hays, Jason Schriml and Kayla Shields Emcees: Samantha Fuld
Historically, Social Workers have received little training and guidance on best practices to support people with disabilities and provide services that are affirming, strengths-based, and accessible. This University of Maryland School of Social Work Daniel Thursz Social Justice Event will be offered as two interactive workshops:
Ableism 101: This reflective workshop created by students and alumni of the School of Social Work will focus on the ways in which bias and stigma impact us as social workers, offering strategies and exercises to increase awareness of internalized ableism and better engage in anti-oppressive practice in the disability space.
Inclusive Health and Medical Advocacy: A training on Inclusive Health, led by self-advocates from Special Olympics Maryland (SOMD), will work to better prepare social workers to provide supportive, affirmative health services for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. This training was developed based on interactions of SOMD participants in navigating the healthcare system and engaging with healthcare providers. You will hear different health stories through first person experiences that highlight the importance of inclusive health practices.
*To foster a respectful and inclusive environment, we welcome and encourage participants and facilitators to use language that reflects and honors their own experience. Recognizing that there are different preferences and ways of identifying in the disability community, we’ve included both person-first and identity first language. If you would like to learn more, we recommend this brief article: https://www.massadvocates.org/news/ask-a-self-advocate-the-pros-and-cons-of-person-first-and-identity-first-language
Co-sponsors: Special Olympics Maryland, DREAM Disability Justice, the School of Social Work’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee
Panelists: Sue Rogan, AFC, CASH Campaign of MD Tisa Silver Canady, Silver Canady & Associates
FSWI partners and experienced coaches Sue Rogan, AFC and Tisa Silver Canady, EdD, MBA will discuss their work coaching clients and training financial coaches in this high-demand area of financial social work. They will share best practices, tips and pitfalls to setting up a financial coaching practice, including a discussion of various certifications and credentials
available.
