The United States Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is the largest employer of master’s level social workers in the United States (Department of Veteran Affairs). Social Workers have been employed in the VA since 1926. The VA currently employs over 19,000 social workers nationally and because of this sheer scope in number requires critical approaches to ensuring that supervision in regard to administrative, educational, and supportive supervision are consistent across all locations.

Social work within the VA provides services to veterans that touch upon a myriad of programs including mental health, substance abuse, intimate partner violence, suicide prevention, geriatrics, primary care, homeless services, and caregiver support. The nature of the vast types of services that social workers provide in this system call for a unified approach to training and supporting supervisors responsible for the oversite to social work staff in cross sectioned areas, requiring a level of competent knowledge and expertise that spans across specialties.

Since the Covid 19 pandemic, staffing has suffered with a large exodus of healthcare providers including qualified social workers. The lack of resources and the staffing shortages have left social workers still working in the VA healthcare system with large caseloads, feelings of burnout and cross covering in areas outside their primary area of expertise. Supervisors in the system have often been quickly promoted to cover administrative responsibilities with little education, training or mentoring to prepare them for the role. The lack of adequate supervisory support is leading to the turnover rates and ultimately impacting patient care provided of these critical services from social work.

Organizational support for adequate and consistent supervision provided to social workers in the VA is critical to motivating and retaining staff in this growing resource constrained setting. Review of the research and current literature supports that the provision of quality supervision plays an integral role in reducing turn-over rates, burnout, overall job satisfaction and patient outcomes. The following review of the literature posits that the importance of consistent provision and oversite of supportive supervision to social workers in healthcare settings such as the VA is critical to retention efforts and patient outcomes.

Legislation has implemented laws that mandate that students who qualify for special education services have equal opportunities in the school environment. The Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Education for All Handicapped Children in 1975 ensured that all children receive free education and that institutions accommodate each child. However, they do not specify what accommodations. This is up to the individual's school district and what programs they offer. Some students who qualify for special education services are placed in self-contained classrooms; these students learn academics and life skills. Unfourtanky many of these classrooms are secluded from the general education environment and other students. This affects them socially. I propose mainstreaming self-contained students with general education students during exploratory classes. Inclusion benefits not only students in self-contained classrooms but students in the general education setting as well. Our educators aim to prepare students for life as best as possible. These students will only sometimes be in a secluded setting that fits their needs.

The presentation will explore the impact of burnout, trauma, and mental health barriers that child welfare workers endure while working. There is a lack of self-awareness for the barriers experienced, resulting in high turnover rates, stress, high caseloads, lack of support, and inconsistency providing adequate services to children and families within child welfare. There are a variety of interventions developed to support children within the child welfare, however there is a lack of support for providers within child welfare. Trauma-informed care initiatives have been successful addressing trauma and the barriers because of traumatic experiences. The capstone creates awareness to implementing trauma-informed care initiatives within child welfare agencies to promote greater well-being, retention, supportive environments, professional development, and self-care. Utilizing theoretical approaches such as strength-based, solution-focused, systems, and trauma-informed care are essential in implementing a practical solution within organizational leadership. Implementing policies, trainings, and leadership support will help to increase retention, create a safe environment, promote greater well-being, and eliminate barriers. Providing support to child welfare workers is essential to support their well-being and to ensure that adequate services are provided to children within child welfare.

The presentation will explore the impact of burnout, compassion fatigue, and lack of supervision within school social workers. In school social workers, research has been lacking, particularly in terms of burnout, compassion fatigue, self-care, and supervision. Taking care of yourself and implementing different interventions are important to eliminate other problematic stressors as a school social worker. There are a variety of interventions developed to support students which helps decrease burnout and compassion fatigue. This capstone will create awareness of different restorative practice interventions, self-care techniques, and ways to implement appropriate supervision to decrease burnout and compassion fatigue. It's important to provide a theoretical perspective, the strengths of using both approaches are their identification of the problem and the creation of a feeling of reliance. They look to enhance social and emotional awareness, support for all involved, and resources.

Trauma-informed care initiatives have been successful addressing trauma and the barriers because of traumatic experiences. The capstone creates awareness to implement trauma-informed care initiatives within child welfare agencies to promote greater well-being, retention, supportive environments, professional development, and self-care. Utilizing theoretical approaches such as strength-based, solution-focused, systems, and trauma-informed care are essential in implementing a practical solution within organizational leadership. Implementing policies, training, and leadership support will help to increase retention, create a safe environment, promote greater well-being, and eliminate barriers. Providing support to school social workers is essential to support their well-being and to ensure that adequate services are provided to students and the school community.

People are often drawn to helping professions because they have experienced some form of adversity in their lives. This presentation explores the concept of the "wounded healer" and how this manifest in social work practice. The presentation explores the concept of the “wounded healer” and theories that explain the reported high rates of adverse childhood experiences by helping professionals, particularly social workers. An examination of the Kentucky Board of Social Work (KYBSW) approved clinical supervision training required for licensed clinical social workers in pursuit of providing clinical supervisions. After a review of the current competencies of the KYBSW approved training, a curriculum and competencies will be explored by the presenter, that includes information regarding the disproportionate experiences of childhood adversity, ways to support certified social work practitioners, and ways to encourage open communication during supervision. With the use of clinical supervision, the negative implications of childhood adversity can be reduced. The purpose of this, is to enhance the integrity of social work practice, enhance clinical social work, and prevent impaired social work practice by raising awareness and supporting social workers.

Disproportionality in special education refers to the rate at which students from diverse backgrounds are placed into special education in comparison to their White peers. Disproportionality exists across public schools in America, and efforts to reduce disproportionality have been unsuccessful. Research suggests that black students and black students are rapidly qualifying into special education, receive harsher discipline methods, and are placed into self-contained special education programming at significantly higher rates than all their peers. Black students are twice as likely to qualify for special education under an emotional impairment, and three times more likely than their white peers to be identified as having an intellectual disability. Placing students in special education at monumental rates and misidentifying need is directly associated with negative outcomes, including greater involvement with the juvenile justice system and lesser access to higher education. Rooting practice in theory, this presentation will explore the perceived causes of disproportionality and align them with evidence-based solutions to create viable district-level change.

The presentation examines the current reality that many social work students graduate or enter field placement lacking a basic LGBTQ competence needed to deal with the unique challenges that this population presents with. The literature confirms this fact despite mandates put forth by the CSWE and the NASW Code of Ethics calling for a basic knowledge around issues of diversity and oppression. Research shows that issues of homophobia, transphobia, heteronormality, and cisgenderism continue to have an impact in social work classrooms today. Rooted in queer theory, systems theory, and relational cultural theory, an intervention in the form of a class dealing with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities has been developed. Covering issues across the lifespan, student will gain the basic knowledge needed to effectively assess and intervene with the LGBTQ community while examining the individual bias one brings to the field and developing an action plan for further development.

Through this presentation entitled “Technology as a Change Agent for Social Work Supervision,” attendees will gain an understanding of how technology can advance the field of social work, specifically highlighting supervision practices. The presenter will summarize scholarly literature and the implications for conducting effective telesupervision. Specifically, discussing what literature identifies as key aspects that can enhance the effectiveness of engaging in supervision through virtual means. Next, the presenter will define traditional supervision, distinguishing administrative and clinical supervision. The presenter will reveal the difficulties of the combination of administrative and clinical supervision and how reconceptualizing traditional practices through an innovative leadership approach can address those identified challenges. The presenter will demonstrate how to conduct a cost-benefit analysis to assist administrators and leaders in evaluating if onboarding a contractual telesupervision program is most effective for their organization. Finally, the presenter will discuss best practice standards for contractual telesupervision. You will leave the presentation empowered by the opportunities technology affords social work practice, especially in addressing industry issues such as provider shortages, employee turnover, and access to clinical training and development opportunities.

This presentation overviews an examination of the need for social work education and training for child welfare staff. Although social workers' extensive education and ongoing training make them preferable for child welfare positions, many states have had to broaden their hiring searches for these positions. In West Virginia, child welfare staff only need to have a four-year degree. These child welfare staff members are missing crucial foundational knowledge and training for working with the vulnerable families served by the child welfare system.

There is a gap in the literature surrounding the need for social work special education and training in child welfare and whether it affects the families served. However, there is information regarding the need for some specific training that would be helpful in child welfare jobs. Given the sometimes oppressive nature of child removal systems, the need has been identified for providing child welfare staff with social justice training, specifically in anti-oppressive practice. Through collaboration between child placing agencies and social work schools through Title IV-E funding in WV, training can be implemented to increase the competence of child welfare workers that do not have previous social work education.