Author Archives: CoSW Staff

SEARCH RESULTS FOR:

Search Results

Dr. ZaDonna M. Slay to serve as acting Director of Undergraduate Studies. 

Lexington, KY – University of Kentucky College of Social Work (CoSW) Dean Jay Miller has announced that Dr. ZaDonna M. Slay will serve as the Acting Director of Undergraduate Studies – BASW, effective August 16.  

A native of Savannah, Georgia, Dr. Slay is a 2005 cum laude graduate and President’s Second Mile Award recipient of Savannah State University where she earned her Bachelor’s of Social Work. In 2006, she graduated from the University of South Carolina where she obtained her Master’s in Social Work. Dr. Slay received her Doctorate in Social Work (DSW) at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. She was the inaugural recipient of the Dr. Barbara W. Shank Endowed Scholarship in Social Work by the University of St. Thomas School of Social Work in 2018.  

In addition to her academic accomplishments, Slay brings a wealth of professional practice experience to her new role. Slay has served as the Executive Director of Savannah/Chatham CASA and Executive Director/CEO of the West Broad Street YMCA. In addition, she has served in administrative capacities at Youth Futures Authority and the Southeast Region for Amerigroup Community Care, among others.  

“As a College, we are extremely fortunate to have Dr. Slay stepping into this role,” said Miller. “Her commitment to undergraduate education, in general, and student populations, more specifically, will great benefit our programs and I look forward to working with her in the year to come.”  

Kentucky Counties Among the First to Achieve START Affiliate Status

The START – Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams – programs in Boyd, Jefferson, and Kenton counties have achieved certification as local START affiliates by the National Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams Training and Technical Assistance Program at Children and Family Futures. This prestigious designation, which marks a three-year certification period, acknowledges the programs’ dedication to collaborative and early intervention approaches for families at higher risk of child abuse and neglect due to parental substance misuse.

These Kentucky counties are among the first five nationwide to attain this status.

The START program, initiated in 2007, has had a substantial impact, having served more than 2,000 families and nearly 4,000 children since its inception. The START program has since expanded to Boyd, Daviess, Fayette, and Campbell Counties in Kentucky, as well as nine other states and a tribal affiliate in Montana. The achievement of being certified as official START providers is a testament to Kentucky’s role as a pioneer in the START model’s implementation and serves as a model for the Nation. With this certification, benefits such as public recognition, access to national training resources, and alignment with national outcomes are conferred.

In Fiscal Year 2023, START has seen significant growth and a positive trend at case closure, with 69% of children placed or remaining with parents, 18% placed with relatives, and 13% unresolved or resulting in termination of parental rights.

This year has also brought leadership transitions, with Kathy Kleier-Coates, the Assistant Clinical Director, playing a pivotal role in managing this change alongside new Director, John Lewis. Notably, all START sites now operate within the Family First Prevention Services framework, resulting in structural shifts within DCBS and strengthened partnership with the newly formed Division of Prevention and Community Wellbeing.

Certification as a Local Affiliate brings several advantages, including acknowledgment on the National START webpage, verification of implementation fidelity for stakeholders, and authorization to use START materials. Additionally, certified affiliates gain access to the National START eLearning and Training Portal and become part of a community of affiliates, aligning with the National START Model outcomes. This certification strengthens compliance with federal requirements for Title IV-E prevention funds. Engagement activities during the certification period include participation in cross-site events, submission of annual reports, and involvement in quality assurance meetings with the National START TTA Program.

Congratulations START on your amazing accomplishments, and all it means for your service to the families and children in our communities!

Empowering Student Success: CoSW Advisors Earn Appreciative Advising Milestone 

In a transformative stride towards enhancing student experiences, advisors at the UK College of Social Work (CoSW) have embraced a six-week journey of discovery, completing the rigorous Appreciative Advising course by Florida Atlantic University. This endeavor isn’t just a certification; it’s a profound commitment to shaping destinies and nurturing dreams. 

Appreciative Advising is more than a methodology; it’s a bridge that unites advisors with students’ aspirations. It’s about asking questions that fan the flames of potential, igniting paths to educational fulfillment and achievements. CoSW’s dedication to this practice resonates with the Innovation in Ingenuity and Initiative Program (I3), a testament to the college’s progressive approach to professional development. 

In this shifting perspective of organizational development, the CoSW advising team engages in six pivotal phases based on the theory of Appreciative Inquiry – a practice of inquiry-and-change that suggests the very nature of asking generative questions has profound impact in organizational systems.  

  • Disarm: Make a positive first impression with students, build rapport, and create a safe and welcoming space. 
  • Discover: Ask generative, open-ended questions that help advisors learn about students’ strengths, skills, and abilities. 
  • Dream: Inquire about students’ hopes and dreams for their futures. 
  • Design: Students and advisors co-create a plan for making students dreams a reality. 
  • Deliver: Students deliver on the plan co-created during the Design phase, and advisors are available to encourage and support their students.  
  • Don’t Settle: Students and advisors set their own internal bars of expectations high. 

For Senior Academic Advisor Sara Green, this journey amplified connections across institutions. “Certification not only honed our advising strategies but unified us as a stronger advising force.” 

Formal certifications will soon be awarded in June. This accolade embodies commitment. To secure this honor, advisors furnished evidence of their adeptness through Appreciative Advising Skills Rubrics, personal theories, and peer commendations. 

Wainscott, a driving force behind this initiative, illuminated how the program complements CoSW’s ethos. “The Appreciative Advising course aligns seamlessly with our social work principles, enriching our advising techniques.” 

Advisor Kyle Phillips echoed the sentiment, relishing the course as a conduit to foster meaningful relationships. “This journey emboldens us to construct bridges for our students.” 

With every question posed, every dream nurtured, and every plan kindled, the CoSW advisors fortify a legacy of empowerment and transformation. This achievement shapes destinies and elevates lives, resonating far beyond classrooms. 

Fostering Bright Futures: Providing Paid Workforce Experiences for Foster Alumni

Each year, more than 500 young people in Kentucky age out of the foster care system. Because they have not found permanency through parental reunification, permanent legal custody, or adoption, these youth are often left with few safety nets. Years of out-of-home care and the instability of multiple placements means they frequently do not have the skills needed to successfully transition to independent living. Compared to their peers, foster youth are less likely to know how to interview for a job, manage a budget, locate housing, or pay bills. This leaves them at a serious disadvantage and puts them at higher risk of unemployment and homelessness.

Enter the Fostering Success and Earn and Learn programs at the University of Kentucky College of Social Work. Housed in the College’s Training Resource Center, these programs actively seek to empower current and former foster youth to create their own journey to self-sufficiency and stability.

The 10-week Fostering Success Program is a workforce development initiative aimed at current and former foster youth between the ages 18 and 23. The statewide program is structured to provide youth with the opportunity to develop on-the-job skills through a paid internship at a local business or Department of Community Based Services (DCBS) office. Participants are matched with Job Coaches who assist them with professional development and career planning support. The Fostering Success Program is foundationally rooted in the premise that employment, education, and training best occur along a wholistic continuum, and thus positively impact the challenges former foster youth face.

While the program is typically completed during the summer, high performing participants can continue their internship and remain in the program for up to nine months. In this fiscal year, Fostering Success has seen a 133% increase in participation, which speaks to the importance of supporting young adults as they gain valuable experience and develop the proficiency necessary to find success in the workforce.

The mission and positive outcomes of the Fostering Success program have drawn the attention of many large employers across the country, including Walgreens. In 2022, the company committed to provide employment opportunities and training to Fostering Success participants at Walgreens locations across the state.

Earn and Learn, launched in 2020 as a subset of the Fostering Success Program, provides the opportunity for current and former foster youth to boost their earning potential through the completion of short-term vocational training, or by completing their GED. Earn and Learn participants receive support in selecting a vocational program for a high-demand job that matches their skill set and interests. Alternatively, youth without a high school diploma are still able to participate in Earn and Learn through the Skills U program at Kentucky Community and Technical College Systems, which allows students to earn a vocational certificate while working on their GED.

Earn and Learn is a key component of Fostering Success as it increases the number of current and former foster youth obtaining post-secondary credentials across the state. Because education and employment are integral to reducing the likelihood of homelessness and poverty among former foster youth, earning these credentials will increase young adults’ capacity to earn a living wage and live independently.

“Some of these individuals have never had jobs or never thought they could pursue a higher education,” says Linda Smith, Program Coordinator for Fostering Success and Earn and Learn. “We try to match them with their interests and offer options that will hopefully lead to long term employment. Through these programs, we hope to provide meaningful experiences and teachable moments.”

Raising the Bar for Continuing Education

Through virtual, on-demand, and in-person continuing education (CE) courses, the University of Kentucky College of Social Work’s Office of Professional Development and Continuing Education (OPDCE) provides up-to-date trainings for social work practitioners across the Commonwealth to address the ongoing and emerging needs of our state’s diverse communities.

OPDCE is an Association of Social Work Board (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education provider as well as an approved provider with the Kentucky Board of Social Work (KBSW). With an intimate understanding of accreditation and the CE needs of providers, Continuing Education Specialist Chris Dennison notes how the College goes above and beyond the typical expectations of CE providers:

“The online courses we are creating are moving beyond the standard PowerPoint and talking head format that most CE providers still utilize. Our expert production team is working diligently to create more engaging and thoughtful content.”

With a focus on maintaining up-to-date information, the OPDCE provides CE courses through a variety of different channels, including live instructor-led virtual courses, on-demand online courses, and in-person training sessions. These formats allow social work providers across the Commonwealth to receive expert-grade education in a manner that works best for both their learning style, their individual schedule-constraints, and their geographical location. By providing a variety of CE courses, the OPDCE aims to support and inform Kentucky’s social workers on current practices as effectively and efficiently as possible.

This dedication to upstanding quality of content has not gone unnoticed by the social work licensees who have engaged in the OPDCE’s CE courses. “UK College of Social Work has been very easy to work with in obtaining CEU’s,” noted one attendee. “They have offered a variety of interesting and needed topics through the years to achieve the CEU requirements. “

With an emphasis on topics pertaining to the approved and required training subjects established by the Kentucky Board of Social Work, the OPDCE provides CE courses designed to supply Kentucky’s social work practitioners with the most current and accurate care skills and techniques to best serve the needs of Kentucky’s growing and diverse populace.

“Social work practitioners must engage in continuing education to remain up to date with current standards in practice, to explore new emerging topics in the field, and to meet the licensing requirements of the state in which they work,” noted Dennison. “To ensure our social workers are successful in accommodating their continuing education requirements, our content is developed based on the aforementioned state regulatory topics, feedback from course evaluations, and needs assessment surveys. An expert on each CE topic is carefully chosen to create and present material that is evidence-based, that reflects current peer-reviewed research, and that promotes the current best practices in the field.”

If you or someone you know is in need of their CE hours to renew their social work license, the UK OPDCE remains one of the most trusted and reliable CE providers in Kentucky due to its dedication to maintaining up-to-date, accurate content sourced from credible, authoritative professionals within the field. Visit our website to explore available on-demand content or enroll in an upcoming course.

Suicide Is an All-Too-Common Problem Among Military Populations. We’re Working to Change That.

The mental health challenges faced by active-duty, reserve, and veteran military populations have been highly publicized in recent years, largely due to the climbing rates of death by suicide in military families. According to data from the Department of Defense, suicides among active-duty service members has been increasing since 2011, and a study from Brown University found that 30,177 active-duty personnel and veterans who served in the military after 9/11 have died by suicide.

These troubling statistics speak volumes about the mental health challenges that military personnel and their families are grappling with, which include concerns like Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), substance abuse, interpersonal violence, and depression. While combat and deployments are linked to increased risks for these mental health conditions, general military service, as well as separation from the military, can also lead to difficulties.

Unfortunately, there is often a stigma associated with admitting to feeling the effects of mental health issues and seeking help, particularly for those in the military.

Two labs housed within the  College of Social Work (CoSW) at the University of Kentucky are seeking to change this narrative and address mental health in the military head-on. The Military Behavioral Health Lab (MBH) is focused on generating empirical knowledge and testing clinical interventions to address mental health and wellness issues that affect active-duty, reserve, and veteran military populations and their families. The lab builds on CoSW’s considerable expertise in working with military populations, supporting service members and their families by addressing the barriers they may face when deciding to seek help.

In recent years, the CoSW has undertaken numerous military behavioral health (MBH) initiatives. In October 2016, a partnership was established with the Department of Defense (DoD to) offer a one-of-a-kind master’s degree. A satellite site was created within the Army Medical Department Center and School at Fort Sam Houston. Today, 70% of incoming Army social work officers hold a UK diploma.

One of the first projects that the lab completed after launching in 2019 looked at employing Heart Rate Variability Biofeedback to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans. Results demonstrated the positive impact that techniques such as concentration on breath, mindful awareness of physical experience, and self-compassion had on alleviating PTSD symptoms. In addition to research, the Military Behavioral Health Lab provides CoSW students with the opportunity to partner with faculty members to examine an array of behavioral health topics, as well as educate them about career opportunities within the DoD and Veterans Affairs (VA), which is the world’s largest employer of social workers.

Also on the forefront of examining military mental health and its influence on suicide rates is the Suicide Prevention and Exposure Lab (SPEL), which recently concluded a study that was funded by the Military Suicide Research Consortium. This project examined suicide exposure in the Kentucky Army National Guard, and the experience of military helping professionals (such as social workers, psychologists, & chaplains) in working with people who die by suicide.

Each participant in the study was asked about suicide exposure and how it impacted both their work and home lives. The results of the study will be released in the near future.

SPEL researchers continue to establish studies that explore the factors contributing to suicide among military populations, along with clinical social work education related to suicide.

More projects focused on addressing mental health issues for military members and their families are in the works for FY 24, as both labs continue to examine the most effective methods for improving overall health, wellness, and outcomes.

While suicide and mental health issues remain a complex phenomenon worldwide, the University of Kentucky College of Social Work is uniquely committed to developing techniques to address these issues through intentional and innovative approaches to research and intervention.

Complex Supports for Complex Needs: The Medically Complex Training Program

The University of Kentucky College of Social Work (CoSW) has long been committed to providing innovative supports for all caregivers, regardless of context. The Medically Complex Training Program (MCTP), housed in the College’s Training Resource Center, rises to that commitment by developing, coordinating, and conducting training for foster and adoptive parents, nurses, and social workers statewide engaged in the care of children with complex medical needs.

“Medically complex” is a term used when a child has an acute or chronic medical condition, illness, or disorder, that requires ongoing specialized care, day-to-day management, and collaboration with a medical team. These medical conditions can vary widely and are typically functionally limiting and, in some cases, life-threatening. Youth with complex medical needs require extra support beyond traditional care, a need that is amplified even more for children in the foster care system. Caring for a medically complex child may include administering medications, maintaining equipment, and facilitating frequent doctor visits and hospital stays.

Because complex needs require complex responses, the MCTP provides both hands-on and virtual training led by highly qualified medical professionals who have the expertise necessary to educate caregivers on providing lifesaving and life-sustaining care. Through these trainings, the MCTP enables caregivers from various backgrounds to provide care for some of the most vulnerable youth in the state.

“What we are emphasizing with these training sessions is that medically complex children require a higher level of commitment and a higher level of care,” says Karen Bowman, Assistant Director of the Training Resource Center. “Ultimately this is about putting an emphasis on child safety. Foster youth have already gone through the traumatic experience of being removed from their home of origin. We want to make sure that caregivers have the knowledge necessary to not only protect these children, but also to advocate for them.”

The MCTP identifies high level, experienced professionals to lead the training topics, which includes faculty members at major university and hospital systems like UK, the University of Louisville, Norton Children’s Hospital, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. This year, MCTP training attendees had the opportunity to learn about an assortment of complex medical subjects such as neuromuscular diseases, transplants, diabetic technology, and blood disorders.

As the program continues to grow, MCTP is developing new ways to disseminate this important information to a more widespread audience. While the current training sessions are offered in a live online or in-person format, Bowman shares that an on-demand curriculum that will be available in in the future. “Offering this online library will allow us to move forward with customized medically complex content that can be tailored to exactly what families need in order to be successful.”

Image of UK COSW Criminal Justice backpack sitting next to open laptop

Just A Click Away: On-Demand Supports for Kinship Caregivers Available Through Growing Online Catalogue

Kinship care, a term unfamiliar to most outside of child welfare settings, describes arrangements in which children are cared for full-time by blood relatives or other adults with whom the child has a family-like relationship. Across the United States, more than 2.6 million children are in kinship care placements. In Kentucky, kinship care accounts for roughly 8% of all out-of-home placements, the second highest placement rate in the nation.

Kinship placements are preferred by most child welfare workers due to kinship’s focus on maintaining the stability of a pre-existing connection to their caregiver. This pre-existing connection between the child and the caregiver promotes the child’s well-being by minimizing the trauma of separation and significantly decreasing the chances of placement disruption. This in turn allows kinship care to provide better behavioral and mental health outcomes as compared to non-kin foster placements.

While the benefits of kinship care are widely accepted, support for kinship care providers is often lacking. Because most kinship care arrangements are made outside of the formal foster care system, kinship caregivers often do not receive the training, emotional, or financial support available to certified foster care providers.

The Kentucky Kinship Resource Center, housed at the University of Kentucky College of Social Work, recognizes this disparity and actively works to provide innovative, on-demand support for kinship caregivers through the online Kinship Catalogue Training Library.

The Kinship Catalogue Training Library

The Kinship Catalogue Training Library partners with subject area experts to provide interactive, skill-based learning modules for kinship care providers. The training library is a free, innovative, and immersive resource uniquely crafted to highlight issues frequently encountered by kinship care providers, such as communication, learning styles, children’s behaviors, and healthy discipline for teens. Through the self-paced, on-demand modules, kinship caregivers can build the skills needed to provide advanced care to the youth in their homes from anywhere – whenever and wherever it fits their schedule.

Through the library, caregivers have access to essential information to better inform the care they provide to the children entrusted to them. Each module in the library provides an experience that not only teaches important key concepts, but also allows the participant to interact with the course content for greater learning, retention, and impact. These modules, while relatively short in length, are designed to engage the participant, allow them to move through the course at their own unique pace, and apply that information to “real-world” situations.

Beyond Kinship

The Kinship Catalogue Training Library serves as the model for future on-demand e-Learning tools for foster, adoptive, and kinship audiences throughout the Commonwealth and beyond. As the foster and adoptive communities of Kentucky continue to grow, it is essential that a wide range of technological resources be provided to meet the diverse needs and schedules of these caregivers. By doing so, this will help strengthen the stability of these placements, thus ensuring Kentucky’s foster children a bright, happy future with caregivers who feel seen, educated, and supported. The accessibility of the Kinship Catalogue Training Library allows it to be utilized by kinship caregivers everywhere, at any given time, and at their own pace, making it the perfect model for encouraging affordable, digital learning in a comfortable, stress-free environment for foster and adoptive caregivers across the nation.

New Pilot Program Addresses Gaps in Support for Adults at Risk of Self-Neglect

The University of Kentucky College of Social Work (CoSW), in collaboration with the Department for Community Based Services (DCBS), is pleased to announce the launch of the Adult Protective Services Self-Neglect Adaptive Response Initiative (ARI). ARI is an integrative, transdisciplinary pilot project aimed at responding to self-neglect referrals quickly and providing a variety of support services. The comprehensive purpose of ARI is to improve the overall well-being of those referred for possible self-neglect.

Self-neglect involves older adults or adults with disabilities who cannot meet their own essential physical, psychological, or social needs, which threatens their health, safety and well-being. This includes failure to provide adequate food, clothing, shelter, and health care for one’s own needs.

The ARI initiative will begin its pilot in Fayette County, also known as the Southern Bluegrass Service Region, and will aim to address three interconnected goals:

  1. Foster new and innovative APS self-neglect response practices and protocols consistent with contemporary needs and best practices.
  2. Support APS workers in ensuring the safety and well-being of vulnerable adults, while protecting their right to self-determination by utilizing the above innovative practices and protocols.
  3. Cultivate a dynamic service network and communication/information sharing infrastructure necessary for meeting the needs of those referred for APS services.

ARI staff will include a Project Manager, along with an APS Self-Neglect Assessor (SNA) who will be a full-time employee, housed in CoSW.

In addition, ARI will utilize a community-based Interdisciplinary Team and a small Steering Committee. The Interdisciplinary Team will be comprised of partner response agencies that have expertise in serving individuals referred for self-neglect, while the Steering Committee will provide insight about program policies, planning, and training.

Ultimately ARI seeks to meaningfully engage and build trust with individuals who are at risk of self-neglect, then offer them potentially life-changing assistance as quickly as possible. This wholistic approach to care will help preserve the sense of independence and self-determination that is vitally important to people, while also providing the tools necessary to help them live their healthiest lives.

UK College of Social Work Student to Receive CSWE Community Partnership Action Award

By Laura Hennigan

The CSWE (Council on Social Work Education) Commission for Diversity and Social and Economic Justice has selected Kotomi Yokokura to receive their Community Partnership Action award.

Yokokura, a student in the College of Social Work and Lewis Honors College at the University of Kentucky, is being honored in the Student Project category for her work on the Take a Tampon program.

The Community Partnership Action award recognizes a social work student who has engaged in a community partnership activity that successfully promoted social, economic, or environmental justice. CSWE believes that community partnership actions are central to the advancement of social and economic justice, which is intrinsic to social work education. Dr. Kalea Benner, Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs, says “Kotomi’s initiative is truly reflective of our social work profession that identifies issues with a significant individual impact and then seeks solutions at the policy or macro level. This awareness and use of multifaceted levels of problem solving is key to improving wellbeing.”

Take a Tampon began during Yokokura’s freshman year, when she hosted a donation drive of hygiene products after realizing how prevalent period poverty is, and how detrimental it can be to mental and physical health, as well as academic success.

Period poverty is the lack of accessibility or affordability of menstrual hygiene products, education and associated facilities. As a result of this experience, individuals may resort to reusing old products and repurposing rags or cardboard in place of proper menstrual hygiene products. However, this ingenuity can lead to negative mental and physical health consequences, ranging from Toxic Shock Syndrome and infections to increased rates of depression and anxiety. Period poverty can also bleed into one’s academic achievement, with 84% of U.S. teens reporting that they have missed class or know someone who has missed class due to the lack of menstrual hygiene products.

Take a Tampon currently has several basket locations across campus that are stocked with free products and has provided over 1,000 menstrual hygiene products to UK students. The hope is to continue expanding access to resources with more product drives and an online donation portal at https://tatampon.wixsite.com/website.

Yokokura continues to advocate for more period poverty awareness, knowing that it is not limited to the UK campus. Conversations with Kentucky teachers and school social workers who have revealed the common concern that students throughout the state face barriers to accessing menstrual hygiene products and education. As a result of this, Take a Tampon provides menstrual education to local high school students and advocates for state legislation addressing experiences of period poverty. Yokokura has also met with state representatives and senators to advocate for free and accessible menstrual hygiene products in K-12 public schools, along with the removal of state sales taxes on feminine hygiene products.

Future plans for the Take a Tampon program include partnering with UK’s Office of Sustainability to create a plan that will provide menstrual hygiene products in bathrooms around campus by 2024. Yokokura shares that another goal is to continue expanding collaborations across Kentucky. “In partnership with the nonprofit Helping Hygiene, we hope to collaborate with high school students to provide menstrual hygiene education, promote state and local advocacy opportunities, and work alongside students to create their own hygiene product program.”

Yokokura says that receiving this award is a tremendous honor, and she is amazed at how what started as a small act of campus service has expanded into a large grassroots initiative. “Take a Tampon started as a couple of baskets and it’s amazing to see how it’s grown. Receiving this award means that Take a Tampon’s work in prioritizing student voices and proactively collaborating with the greater community has been steps in the right direction. It also helps me to see that you don’t have to wait until you have entered the professional field to make an impact; students are making meaningful contributions as well.”

The award will be formally presented at the CSWE Annual Program Meeting, which is scheduled to take place in Atlanta, GA, from October 26 – 29, 2023.