Live Webinar Schedule

Live webinars take place every Thursday in April 2024 via Zoom Webinars.

Schedule Overview

Cancelled: Help! How to Deal with the Impact of a Sick Child in the Family: A Family Systems Approach

Webinar Details

Thursday, April 4

9:00 AM - 10:00 AM - Strategies by Social Service Providers and Law Enforcement to Tackle Mental Health Issues

 Presenters: Sylvester Amara Lamin, PhD, LISW, EdD; and Consoler Teboh, PhD, LISW

Social service providers are essential in serving individuals with mental health problems. Many providers collaborate with law enforcement departments as no one agency can do it alone. Thus, people with mental illness are highly over-represented throughout the criminal justice system, therefore, promoting collaboration between behavioral health providers and criminal justice will address some of the challenges. Collaborative strategies are great.

Topic: Behavioral and Mental Health
Content: Cultural Responsiveness, Ethics

10:30 AM-12:00 PM - The Cost of Caring

 Presenter: Melissa Kaiser, LBSW

Secondary traumatic stress (STS) is an overlooked, yet significant consequence experienced by professionals working in high stress environments. This session raises awareness about STS, its impact on professionals, and provides strategies to mitigate its effects. Participants will gain valuable insights into the causes and symptoms of STS, explore self-care practices, and learn strategies to promote resilience and well-being.

Topic: Health and Wellness, Leadership and Program Development
Content: Supervision

12:30-1:30 PM - Recent Policy Changes Impacting Services to Older Adults in Minnesota

Presenter: David Beimers, PhD, LISW

This presentation will focus on recent policy changes impacting services to older adults at the federal and state levels. As our 65+ population continues to grow both nationally and here in Minnesota, understanding recent policy changes is important to ensure that service providers can best assist older adults in meeting their social, physical, and economic needs as they continue to age.

Topic: Aging
Content: none

2:00-4:00 PM - Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders from a Trauma Lens

Presenter: Barb Clark

One out of 20 children are suspected of having an FASD making it a serious public health epidemic, yet the diagnosis is almost always missed. This session will cover FASD basics including the brain-based aspect of FASD, common indicators, and behaviors of FASD. Trauma-responsive strategies for supporting families and individuals on the spectrum will be discussed from a lived experience perspective.

Topic: Child Well-being, Disabilities
Content: Cultural Responsiveness

Thursday, April 11

9:00-11:00 AM - Telehealth: Bridging the Gap between Diversity and Inclusion in Latino Communities

Presenter: Vanessa Montez, LICW

Latinos now make up 18% of the US population and it estimated 16% of this population suffers from mental health issues. This webinar will explore the challenges faced by the Latino community when seeking mental health services. Attendees will gain insights into best practices for meeting the needs of this growing population. We will also explore how telehealth can bridge the gap between diversity and inclusion for Latino mental health providers.

Topic: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Behavioral and Mental Health
Content: Cultural Responsiveness, Ethics, Clinical (Social work values and ethics, including cultural context, diversity, and social policy)

11:30 AM-12:30 PM - Transforming Trauma: Understanding Trauma and Building Resiliency

Presenter: Michelle Harris, MHSCP, DCFI

In our work, we see trauma all around. As professionals, we want to provide support and assistance to these children and families. It is our compassion which makes us vulnerable as well. In this presentation, we will gain an understanding of what trauma we can experience. Participants will identify what vicarious trauma is and learn research-based strategies to use to build resiliency. Participants will be encouraged and strengthened.

Topic: Health and Wellness
Content: none

1:00-2:30 PM - What Makes Space Safe? Mitigating and Healing Vicarious and Racial Trauma in the Workplace

Presenters: Kelsey Yale, MSW, LGSW and Anne Johnson, MSW, LICSW

"Safe space" is safe for who,? For many, "safe" can be defined as free from uncomfortable, difficult, and often necessary conversations about discrimination and bias. To combat vicarious trauma, we must challenge our workplaces to build space that's both trauma-informed and culturally responsive. Join us to learn about how we have made the intentional commitment to build spaces that center the lived experiences of BIPOC employees.

Topic: Health and Wellness, Leadership and Program Development
Content: Cultural Responsiveness, Ethics, Supervision, Clinical (Social work values and ethics, including cultural context, diversity, and social policy)

3:00-4:00 PM - Transitioning Leadership to those Most Impacted by Social Issues

Presenters: Alexander Fink, MSW, LGSW, PhD; and Ross VeLure Roholt, MSW, PhD

Social service agencies promoting anti-racist and anti-oppressive change are working toward client participation in decision-making. We developed training to transition agency leadership roles to BIPOC youth. Youth assumed roles traditionally held by adults, including as board members and program decision-makers. We’ll share analysis of successful transitions to client-involved decision-making, useful training tools, and curriculum.

Topic: Community Practice and Advocacy, Leadership and Program Development
Content: Cultural Responsiveness, Ethics

Thursday, April 18

9:00-10:00 AM - Effective Communication Strategies

Presenter: Arlene Selander

As people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias progress in their journey and the ability to use words is lost, families and care providers need new ways to connect. We will explore how communication takes place when someone has Alzheimer’s, learn to decode the verbal and behavioral messages delivered by someone with dementia, and identify strategies to help you connect and communicate at each stage of the disease.

Topic: Aging
Content: Cultural Responsiveness

10:30 AM-12:00 PM - Reimagining Family: Fostering Permanency through Ethical Non-Monogamy in the Child Welfare System

Presenter: Logan June, MSW, LGSW

Join Logan June (they/them) as they share fresh perspectives on Ethical Non-Monogamy (ENM) as an untapped resource in the search for permanency for youth in the child welfare system. Attendees will review the basics of ENM before diving into the “why” and “how” to target recruitment efforts toward the ENM community. The legal implications of pursuing ENM families as adoptive resources will be reviewed.

Topic: Child Well-being; Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Content: Cultural Responsiveness

12:30-1:30 PM - Surviving vs. Thriving: Beating the Burnout

Presenter: Leona Vann, LGSW, MSW, LSS

Join Ms. Vann for an educational and hands-on session on how to spot the difference between surviving versus thriving and be able to apply it to your own life. This presentation will explore the wellness wheel, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, and challenge you to create your own plan to bring you from survival mode to thriving in healthy adult mode while promoting inclusivity and community support.

Topic: Health and Wellness
Content: none

2:00-4:00 PM - Worldview Reflections as a Decolonizing Methodology: Internal Family Systems as Justice Doing

Presenters: Susan Herrmann, PhD, MSW, LICSW; and Suzan McVicker, PhD, MA, LPC

Worldview reflections is a decolonizing methodology that provides a roadmap for sustainable wellbeing. Presenters will introduce participants to the 7Bs of Indigenous Inspired Internal Family Systems. IFS is an Indigenous informed therapeutic approach that when paired with worldview reflections becomes a healing pathway for justice-doing.  An exploration of the Dominant and Indigenous Worldview precepts will illuminate the path.

Topic: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion; Behavioral and Mental Health
Content: Cultural Responsiveness, Ethics, Clinical (Clinical intervention methods informed by research and current standards of practice; Social work values and ethics, including cultural context, diversity, and social policy)

Thursday, April 25

9:00-11:00 AM - The Power of Civility in the Social Service Workplace: Change the Conversation

Presenter: Stephanie Perry, MSS, LSW, DSW

Join Dr. Stephanie N. Perry to explore the power of civility in the workplace. The presentation explores workplace incivility as a phenomenon unaddressed in the social service field. Attendees will gain insight through an overview, open dialogue, and group exercise. Additionally, the attendees will have a greater awareness of the impacts of incivility and how to address and protect themselves in unhealthy work environments.

Topic: Leadership and Program Development, Health and Wellness
Content: Cultural Responsiveness, Supervision, Clinical (Social work values and ethics, including cultural context, diversity, and social policy)

11:30 AM-12:30 PM - Telling My Story in the Advocacy Space: A Lesson in Resilience and Being Vulnerable

Presenter: Sophia Iverson, MSL, BA

Sophia Iverson shares her journey into disability advocacy and how finding her voice is helping others tell their own stories. The presentation shares the importance of storytelling as a tool for advocacy and how every story can lead to change, empower connections, and inform policies. Attendees will learn how to find resilience in the process of centering vulnerabilities and lived experiences as a pillar for self-care and personal advocacy.

Topic: Community Practice and Advocacy, Disabilities
Content: Cultural Responsiveness, Ethics, Clinical (Social work values and ethics, including cultural context, diversity, and social policy)

1:00-2:30 PM - Silencing the Inner Critic: Empowering Social Workers for Resilience and Well-Being

Presenter: Paul Boehnke, PCC, ELI-MP

The little voice in our head so frequently tells us we’re not good enough in one way or another. It causes us to procrastinate, lack confidence, and feel like an imposter. It holds us back from expressing our true power. In this session, life coach, author, speaker Paul Boehnke, will teach a method to reprogram your inner critic so instead of battling your own negative stories, you can be free to focus on what matters most—serving others.

Topic: Health and Wellness, Leadership and Program Development
Content: none

3:00-4:00 PM - Big Changes Come in Small Moments: Motivational Interviewing in Minutes

Presenter: Ray Young III, BA, CPSS

For over 30 years, human services workers have been trying Motivational Interviewing (MI) to help people make positive change in their life as quickly as possible. This proves frustrating to caring professionals as well as their struggling clients because personal growth is hardly ever accomplished quickly. In this webinar, we will explore opportunities in which workers can utilize MI to empower individuals and foster sustained progress in brief moments.

Topic: Behavioral and Mental Health, Adult Services
Content: Cultural Responsiveness, Clinical (Clinical intervention methods informed by research and current standards of practice; Culturally specific clinical assessment and intervention)