Courtney Williams, LCSW, DSW-C, is a dedicated social worker with extensive experience providing outpatient therapy, community social work services, and case management services. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Public Health from Western Kentucky University and a Master of Social Work from Western Kentucky University. She is currently a Doctoral Candidate at the University of Kentucky. She earned her Licensed Clinical Social Worker designation in 2014.
Courtney currently works as a Suicide Prevention Case Manager for the Department of Veterans Affairs. She is tireless in her efforts to improve the lives of the veterans she serves. Throughout her career, she has served as an outpatient therapist to a range of patients, including service members, veterans, and their families. She has also conducted community social work efforts aimed at improving the lives of veterans and their families.
Her research targets improving lethal means safety education for veterans and service members. This is particularly evident in her capstone project research, which focuses on overcoming barriers and obstacles to lethal means safety education. Her goal with this research is to make a lasting impact in the lives of service members and veterans by providing quality improvement in this area. Courtney is the daughter of a veteran and is passionate about caring for service members and veterans as well as their families. When she is not advocating for veterans, Courtney enjoys spending time with her husband and their daughter, as well as reading and traveling.
DSW Showcase Student Presentation
Courtney Williams
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
How to protect our veterans and service members: Overcoming obstacles and barriers to lethal means safety education
Concentration - Administrative Leadership
- Monday, April 28, 2025 -
- 1:00 pm
Abstract
This capstone presentation will highlight information about providing lethal means safety education to veterans and service members and the importance of identifying and overcoming obstacles and barriers to this type of education. The systematic literature review analyzes the current research available about lethal means safety education and the obstacles and barriers that have already been identified and provides a rationale for further research into this area. A conceptual solution to the issue of lethal means safety education is introduced and discussed that utilizes the cultural-structural theory of suicide and the interpersonal theory of suicide. The two theories work together to inform what influences suicidal ideation in this population and the cultural factors that need to be understood to design interventions to overcome the challenges and barriers. The intervention at the focus of this presentation is developing training for social workers to learn how to address the challenges to educating veterans and service members about lethal means safety. Practical application strategies for employing this intervention are reviewed and discussed.