Serious mental illness (SMI) is heavily stigmatized by the public and within healthcare systems. This stigma can be a barrier to treatment and recovery, negatively impacting the person, their family, and the community. Becoming aware of the stigmatizing beliefs of clinicians and acknowledging implicit bias exists among clinicians is imperative to the success of treatment.

Through formulating and practicing an integrative approach to treatment, people with SMI can receive ethical and competent care. Social workers often serve at the forefront of care for vulnerable populations and can act as effective agents in changing the therapeutic dynamic with people with SMI.

The promotion of human rights, equity, and social justice are central tenets in the social work discipline. However, as a profession, social work has experienced ideological fissures, leading to failures to capture the complexities of contextual and systemic influences in clinical practice. This capstone project seeks to address this dichotomy in education and practice by situating clinical supervision as the ideal pedagogical space for the development of justice-oriented practitioners.

In this presentation, the author will first report on the findings of a systematic literature review investigating the role of social justice in the salient clinical supervision literature. Next, the author will propose the rationale for a conceptual model for social justice–oriented clinical supervision. The Critical Relational Model (CRM) emerged during the analytic process, demonstrating the layered and contextual nature of clinical supervision (e.g.: sociocultural identities, power dynamics, systemic injustices).

Grounded in a constructionist metatheory and applied though a relational lens, the model draws from critical theories, critical pedagogy, anti-oppressive and decolonizing frameworks, while centering the supervisory relationship in the process of learning and growth. Last, the author describes how the model can be applied in clinical supervision to develop critical skills and meta–competencies, decolonize supervision, and promote epistemic justice. Beyond a supervision model, the CRM is a call to action.

Given the growing socio-political and racial tension in the US and emerging debates over the many manifestations of injustice, oppression, marginalization, discrimination, and human rights violations impacting individuals’ lived experiences, there has never been better time to reclaim social justice in the clinical arena.

The presentation focuses on the societal issue of suicidality among young adults and how the COVID-19 pandemic has a significant impact on this societal issue. This presentation explores this social problem by examining a literature study, a conceptualization of the social problem, and how the social problem is seen in a practice context. The purpose of this presentation is to discuss some of the primary contributors to the social problem at hand, as well as the increased prevalence of substance use disorders observed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, and how these two concepts are related.

This presentation examines the 8754: Impact Young Adults policy and how it offers resources to substance use?clinics and first responders throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky. This presentation’s emphasis on the significance of educating the community about potential risk factors, warning signals, chances for awareness and education, and the need for resources will aid in bringing about the necessary change. A substantial proportion of young adults are engaged in a “quiet war” with suicidality and other mental health difficulties and are unsure about what to do next.

This presentation addresses this topic to raise awareness and encourage that one young adult to seek attention or assistance. One young adult lost to suicide is one young adult lost to many.

This presentation will look at the opioid epidemic in Black communities. Black individuals now die at higher rates than white individuals from opioid overdoses. Once considered a white disease, communities of color have not been given attention in the epidemic, and resources have focused on rural, middle-class white communities.

This presentation will address this problem and discuss the impact of systemic racism in regard to addiction treatment and, more specifically, opioid use disorder. Historical context will be provided, and the impact of the opioid crisis on Black communities today will be discussed. The presenter will suggest that the use of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Systems Theory combined can be used to implement comprehensive and culturally responsive care for Black individuals and communities.

The presentation will address the need for macro-level change through policy but will end with suggestions for immediate solutions to remediate care disparities and reach more Black individuals.

This presentation will provide an overall summary of the presenter’s capstone project. The presentation will cover three distinctive products: the systematic literature review, the conceptual paper, and the practice application paper.

The first product, a systematic literature review, focused on simulation-based learning as an innovative, experiential, teaching method in enhancing clinical competency skills in MSW students in field practicum and practice.

The second product, a conceptual paper, presented a multi-dimensional framework for understanding and grounding simulation as a pedagogy, in addition, its ability to connect field education and social work curriculum is presented.

Bridging the gap in research, the 3rd and last product, a practice application paper, presents a simulation educational model for curriculum development that can be applied to graduate social work clinical courses.

Enhancing Effective Leadership & Leadership Evaluation through a Neuroscientific Lens Amanda Morris This presentation will highlight the three products of the Capstone Project. The Capstone Project converges three products: (1) a systematic review of the literature on the effectiveness of leadership evaluation and integration of neuroscientific applications in leadership relative to social work education and […]

This presentation will review the scholarly literature surrounding current interventions that have been attempted in the hopes of alleviating the stigma and biases that exist in healthcare settings for individuals who have a history of mental illness. Product One will discuss the stigma and biases that exist for individuals with mental illness, the resulting healthcare disparities, and the detrimental effects they have on patient welfare. It will also examine the success and failures of existing interventions in eliminating those biases.

Product Two will take a closer look at the existing interventions to assess the positive and negative aspects of each in order to evaluate what may be useful when proposing a new training intervention as well as stress the importance of extended patient contact during the intervention.

Product Three outlines a new training and contact intervention that teaches medical personnel, both current and future, how to use an anti-oppressive approach when working with patients. It also includes extended contact with individuals with mental illness which will be an integral part of the intervention.

At the nexus of therapeutic practice and urban youth’s mental health, including depression, anxiety, and grief there are gaps in knowledge. The knowledge available on the mental health of urban youth and their exposure to violence could be used to build interventions and services that support the integration of academic success outcomes through trauma informed care. Young people exposed to violence are affected by fatalism and disenfranchisement, especially those from inner city and high crime neighborhoods.

To better understand how loss impacts urban youth, a theoretical framework that combines two concepts—the socio-ecological theory and the meaning reconstruction theory—is presented. Our objective is to contrast these theories’ justifications for modern treatment methods and their application to young people, then offer a post-positive framework for successful interventions based on these beliefs. The knowledge related to urban youth and exposure to violence can be addressed through culturally aware practice and assessment of need.

The capstone will identify and propose the HEARTS resource created to address the disproportionate services for urban youth and share the research that supports this innovative approach to urban youth and grief.

The aim of this capstone presentation is to bring attention to the unique barriers of availability, accessibility, and acceptability that rural populations in the United States tend to face in relation to mental health services. This capstone presentation will discuss how cultural competence in rural areas is lacking and should be tailored to the area where the rural population served resides. Cultural competence tailored to the population served is important for mental health agencies and providers to possess to work effectively with rural populations.

Specifically, understanding how each unique rural area presents with barriers to mental health services that have an interconnected relationship with the culture in that area. The incorporation of ecological perspective into cultural competence is a proposed solution for mental health agencies and professionals to use to more effectively understand the influence of their geographic location on their area’s culture. Recommendations to alter trainings for mental health professionals at rural community mental health centers, along with agency policy, are provided to incorporate this perspective.

It is said that people spend more time at work than they do at home. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on average, people spend one-third of their life at work (BLS 2022). Having a poor experience in the workplace leads to turnover, decreased productivity, disengaged employees, and poor customer service.

Leading others can be difficult, and most times leaders supervise by the way they were led or have no supervisory training at all. This capstone product provides three distinct scholarly articles that address leadership strategies for new supervisors in leading a diverse workforce.

Product one is a systematic literature review that examined leadership frameworks that promote job satisfaction and retention of healthcare employees. Product two consists of a conceptual framework for cross-cultural supervision, that promotes employee engagement and retention. Product three focuses on leadership training and the importance of the supervisor-supervisee relationship.

The social work profession has no developed leadership approach. This presentation will discuss the history of leadership in social work and the professional implications that have resulted from not having a developed leadership approach such as burnout. The presenter will then explore Empathetic Leadership as a standard leadership model in social work practice by defining empathy, leadership, and when leaders lead with empathy it can be transformational because research is suggesting that leaders who are empathetic have workers who experience less burnout.

The implications that empathetic leadership could have on the social work profession aren’t known but the possibilities are exciting because the research points to healthier work environments, increased productivity, and overall better health outcomes for employees. To create this level of change it would take a systematic approach starting with a Empathetic Leadership Curriculum Pilot to teach, model, and replicate empathetic leadership theory and skills to MSW students.

Could empathetic leadership improve burnout? This presentation will have you wanting to answer that question.

Black trans women are one of the most vulnerable populations in America. Black trans women face multiple forms of legalized and social discrimination that impacts both their livelihoods and mental health. Unfortunately, most social workers and other mental health professionals are not trained on how to address the mental needs of Black trans women.

This presentation will explore the impact of discrimination on the mental health of Black trans women, how clinicians can treat the mental health needs of Black trans women, and how clinicians can become radical allies to Black trans women in the process.