Skip to main content

Faculty and staff briefs

Behavioral Healthcare Resource Program (BHRP) Coordinator Tara Bohley and Ruby Brown-Herring from Wake AHEC, co-facilitated Mental Health First Aid Training for NC DHHS Secretary Rick Brajer and his leadership team on Jan. 27 (pictured above).

Secretary Brajer has requested that all of DHHS become Mental Health First Aiders, and BHRP will continue working with DMH/DD/SAS on dissemination efforts. In addition to DHHS, North Carolina’s Department of Public Safety has also embraced the training with all Juvenile Court counselors and Adult Corrections staff becoming certified by the end of 2016.

On March 6, Bohley and Rachel Johnson of DMH/DD/SAS were invited to present at the National Council for Behavioral Health annual conference in Las Vegas on “Statewide Implementation of Mental Health First Aid.” At the conference, Bohley had the pleasure of meeting the Australian creators of Mental Health First Aid, Betty Kitchener and Anthony Jorm.

Professor Iris Carlton-LaNey gave a lecture at the University of Chicago’s School of Social Service Administration on April 13 on “A Legacy Ignored: African Americans’ Parallel System of Social Work/Welfare during the Progressive Era.”

Associate Professor Gina Chowa and Assistant Professor Rainier Masa trained 20 interviewers for the Impact Evaluation of Adolescent Boys and Girls Program in India on March 21-25 (pictured above). The interviewers are current MSW students at the Centre for Research in Social Development-Institute of Social Work & Research in Ahmednagar, India. Also in the picture are Dr. Suresh Pathare (seated next to Dr. Chowa, front row), former visiting professor at the UNC School of Social Work; and CSRD-ISWR faculty members.

Professor Michael Lambert presented at a colloquium at the UNC-Wilmington Department of Psychology on March 31. His talk was entitled, “Culture Specific Measures are Ethically Mandated: Addressing Associated Challenges in Cross-Cultural Research.”

Clinical Instructor Amy Levine, Field Education, was a panelist at an April 15 discussion organized by Prevent Child Abuse North Carolina.

Assistant Professor Melissa Lippold and Clinical Associate Professor Sarah Verbiest presented individually about their work to the School of Social Work’s Board of Advisors at their spring meeting on April 8 in Chapel Hill. Other speakers included Dean Jack Richman; board chair Louise Coggins; Associate Dean for Advancement Jackie Pierce; and an MSW student panel, Becca Brandt, Verlissa Mason and Vanessa Collier-Robinson.

Professor Rebecca Macy gave the paper presentation “Trafficking in Persons and its Consequences for Individuals’ Health and Wellbeing: A Systematic Review to Inform Social Work Research,” at the 6th European Conference for Social Work Research in Lisbon, Portugal, in March. She gave the presentation on behalf of a team that had been working on this research together: Abby Cannon (MSW ’10), research associate, UNC Populations Center; Jennet Arcara, doctoral student, UNC School of Public Health; and Laurie Graham, doctoral student, UNC School of Social Work.

Clinical Assistant Professor Sherry Mergner is speaking at an April 29 conference presented by Greensboro AHEC on “Evidence-Based Services for ASD and Related Disorders Across the Lifespan.” Mergner will co-present with colleagues from the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities on “Social, Emotional and Cognitive Interventions for Individuals with ASD and Related Disorders.”

Professor Kim Strom-Gottfried presented a symposium on March 31 on “Empirical Ethics in Social Work,” with colleagues from Durham University (UK) and the Hogeschool Utrecht – University of Applied Sciences (Netherlands) at the 6th annual European Conference for Social Work Research in Lisbon, Portugal.

On April 22, Strom-Gottfried will give an address at Case Western Reserve University on “Ethical Research: Beyond Fraud and the IRB” as part of their Centennial Speakers Series. It will be live-streamed at http://bit.ly/MandelSchoolLivestream.

The week of April 24, Strom-Gottfried will be conducting training through the Academic Leadership Center for the Ministry of Education in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. She will be working with female chairs and deans in Dammam and Abha on “Authentic Academic Leadership” and “Developing and Supporting Academic Leaders.”

Clinical Associate Professor Lisa de Saxe Zerden and Clinical Professor Anne Jones delivered a UNC School of Social Work Clinical Lecture Series presentation on April 12 on “Addressing the Needs of Dually Diagnosed Transitional Age Youth and their Families.”

Emerita professor Hortense McClinton visited Iris Carlton La-Ney‘s class on April 4. She was interviewed by Dr. Aminifu Harvey about her career in social work and some of the challenges and issues that she faced as a pioneer in social work practice and education.

Upcoming AHEC presentations

AREA L AHEC

  • May 25 – Depression and Suicide in Children and Adolescents – Jodi Flick 

CHARLOTTE AHEC

  • April 6 – Am I my Colleagues Keeper? – Kim Strom-Gottfried
  • April 19 – Managing Risk Through Ethical Practice – Kim Strom-Gottfried
  • April 25 – Client Violence; Keeping Yourself and Others Safe – Jodi Flick 
  • May 9 – Evidence Based Caregiver-Provider Partnerships: Working Collaboratively with Families of Children Who Have Special Needs – Tamara Norris and Barbara Leach 
  • May 17 – CBT for Substance Use Disorders – Marty Weems 
  • May 25 – Child Maltreatment: Reporting and the Ethical Use of Professional Discretion – Tara Bohley

EASTERN AHEC

  • April 21– Ethical Issues of Involuntary Commitment – Tara Bohley 
  • April 27 – Clinical Supervision: What is it all About?  – Marilyn Ghezzi 
  • May 11 – Assessing and Treating Serious Mental Illness – Marilyn Ghezzi 

MOUNTAIN AHEC

  • April 27 – Ethical Practice in the Digital Age – Tina Souders 

NWAHEC

  • May 24 – CBT in Community Practice – Marty Weems 

SOUTHEAST AHEC

  • May 12 – Ethics and Colleagues – Kim Strom-Gottfried 

SOUTHERN REGIONAL AHEC

  • April 15 – Advanced Issues in Suicide Intervention – Jodi Flick
  • May 11 – Colleagues and Ethics – Kim Strom-Gottfried 

For information on AHEC programs, see: http://www.med.unc.edu/ahec/