Leveraging Social Work Leadership to Impact Health Promotion in Senior Citizens

As the population continues to grow, the increasing age must be considered.  Approximately 54 million adults ages 65 and older live in the United States, which accounts for about 16.5% of the nation’s population. According to America’s Health Rankings (2021), the United States has a sizable and growing population of older adults. By 2050, the number of persons 65 and older will be expected to increase to an estimated 85.7 million, or nearly 20 percent of the country’s total population (America’s Health Rankings (2021).  There are vital roles leaders must play to develop solutions to impact senior citizens’ health promotions that are interwoven throughout the real-world coalition work.  I aim to assist in the awareness that strong leadership within community coalitions provides unique opportunities to increase service accessibility and promote healthy living for senior citizens.  

Strengths-based Case Management with Military Veterans: Building Protective Factors Against Suicide

Our military faces significant challenges in returning and adjusting to civilian society. The experience of military service highlights the dichotomy between an opulent civilian society and the starkness of combat deployment. In addition to re-acclimating to civilian society after service, combat veterans often return home with physical, emotional, and neurological injuries.

Service members enlist in the military for a variety of reasons aligning with satisfying their basic psychological needs. Upon the completion of their military career, veterans often face barriers to meeting basic psychological needs as they transition to civilian life. When faced with barriers to achieving basic psychological needs, veterans may experience suicidality.

While this is a simplified explanation of veteran suicidality, it underscores how the transition home may impact the veterans’ ability to adjust to life outside the military. The focus on basic psychological needs provides a theoretical foundation for why veterans may struggle with suicidality. It also leads to the means of reducing veteran suicidality.

A strengths-based case management approach empowers veterans to meet their basic psychological needs, achieving self-efficacy, connectedness, and expertise. The veteran’s inherent and communal protective factors are identified and enhanced within the strengths-based case management model. These protective factors become tools that mitigate suicidality.

Helping Your Child Succeed In School

Helping Your Child to Succeed in School will increase the ability of foster/adoptive parents to understand educational challenges faced by foster/adopted children. It will give resource parents the tools for creating a positive educational experience for their foster/adopted child, and equip them with the necessary tools to help support their children in the educational setting. […]

Learning Your Child Has A Disability

Learning Your Child Has a Disability aims to help foster and adoptive parents understand the unique emotions of discovering or confirming a child in their care has a disability. This training will also offer tips and strategies to help foster and adoptive families cope with these feelings and challenges. After completing this training, participants will […]

Healthy Boundaries In Teenage Relationships

Healthy Boundaries in Teenage Relationships explores healthy and unhealthy dating behaviors. It is designed to assist caregivers in identifying warning signs that a teen may be involved in an abusive dating relationship and provides suggestions for talking to teens and/or their friends who find themselves involved in such relationships. After completing this training, participants will […]

Perceptions Of Adoption: A Child’s Developmental View

Perceptions of Adoption: A Child’s Developmental View will discuss the ways a child’s cognitive development skills and emotions develop, and how that impact his or her perceptions regarding adoption. This training provides information on how these perceptions change at each major developmental stage, along with how foster and adoptive parents can help children work through […]

KIN VIP Support Group With Arion Jett-Seals

This group will focus on the day to day issues involving relative and fictive kin care and will be shaped by the identified needs of group participants. Members of this daytime group are encouraged to share their emotions, challenges, stress, concerns/needs, and excitement with the group in order to gain feedback, resources, support, and knowledge […]

Confidentiality In Foster Care

Confidentiality in Foster Care explores the importance of protecting the confidentiality of children in care. It offers strategies for how sensitive information about children in care can be communicated in appropriate ways while maintaining confidentiality. Maintaining a child’s confidentiality across a variety of settings, including social media, is addressed. After completing this training, participants will […]

Kinship Families Impacted By Substance Use KIN VIP Support Group

This new KIN VIP Support Group will begin as a 12-week pilot Support Group and will provide a community of support for kinship caregivers who have been impacted by a family member’s substance use. This group will offer a safe space where kinship caregivers can find support, understanding, resources, and hope. The group is completely […]

A Guide To Coping With Allegations

A Guide to Coping with Allegations explores the prevalence of false allegations of abuse and neglect amongst foster homes and reasons such allegations may arise. Strategies for preventing false allegations are shared and tools for successful documentation are provided. Strategies for navigating false allegations and related investigations are also explored. After completing this training, participants […]

Adoption: Understanding Your Commitment

Adoption: Understanding Your Commitment explores adoption dissolution. It addresses the impact on a child and family when adoption dissolution occurs and offers strategies and resources to prevent it. After completing this training, participants will be able to: Interpret information about adoption dissolution and reasons why it occurs. Identify strategies to prevent adoption dissolution. ASK-VIP trainings […]

Financial Planning For Children With Special Needs

Financial Planning for Children with Special Needs helps families caring for children with special needs proactively plan for their child’s future without jeopardizing entitlement benefits. It provides practical tools to make decisions that fit a family’s specific needs and goals. After completing this training, participants will be able to: Understand the importance of utilizing a […]