Now closed--Information on the 2022 Annual Conference is coming soon!
NASW Virginia Encore Conference
May 1-2, 2021
Registration is now open! Earn 12 CEs at the NASW Virginia “Encore Conference” May 1-2
Join your peers this Saturday and Sunday, May 1-2, for an NASW Virginia “Encore Conference” that lets you earn up to 12 CEs, including six ethics CEs! It’s a great chance to earn ALL of your required six ethics CEs for your Virginia license in one weekend!
DC-licensed social workers also can earn three public health priorities CEs.
Thanks to the generosity and support of our presenters, the chapter is offering this live-virtual event to provide more opportunities to earn CEs via a selection of popular sessions from the chapter’s March 25-27 Annual Conference.
NASW members pay the discounted rate of $160. Nonmembers are welcome and pay $242.
Not an NASW member yet but want to save that $82, as well as enjoy year-round discounted trainings and other benefits?
Join NASW today!
Encore Conference Agenda
Saturday, May 1
9 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Guess Who’s Coming to the Playroom: An Examination of Clinical Response to Race, Culture, and Intersectionality in the Playroom
Presenters: LaTonya Bolden, LCSW, and Robin Wiley, LPC, RPT-S
CEs: 3. You must attend the full session to receive credit.
Explore cross-racial dyads and how the therapist’s own cultural beliefs and personal biases impact his/her conceptualization of a child’s symptomology, diagnoses, and identification of play therapy themes. You’ll become familiar with Ecosystemic Theory, which will serve as a theoretical lens to engage you and other play therapists in self-reflection and boost awareness of your world view and how it can obscure your view of a child.
Ecosystemic theory commands therapists to consider the child’s race and culture, and how these inform ways a child can interact with various systems and--most importantly--how outside systems shape the child’s world view. To protect the sanctity of play therapy, therapists are responsible for engaging in the emotional labor of discussing race, participating in lifelong learning, and being intentional in practicing cultural humility. You’ll study your cultural beliefs and experiences; identify three personal stereotypes of race, culture, and ethnicity; and examine a “color blindness” approach to facilitate increased awareness in the playroom.
9-10:30 a.m. Two Ethical Codes: A Dynamic Duo for Social Work Practice
Presenters: Jodi Smith, LICSW, LCSW, and Jeannine Deem Purdy, MSW
CEs: 1.5, including 1.5 ethics CEs
Our interactive workshop will include discussion about how the Council for Certification in Volunteer Administration’s (CCVA) 5 core values and accompanying ethical principles complement core social work values and ethical principles. An understanding of this duo enhances social workers' personal and professional growth and work on micro and/or macro levels. Through group discussion and personal reflection, social workers will be equipped with vital tools to increase self-awareness and to practice more effectively and creatively.
10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m. Google Maps Can’t Help, But Perhaps Maslow’s Pyramid Can! (Leadership)
Presenter: Dr. David Rosen
CEs: 1.5, including 1.5 ethics CEs
Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (HON) framework (Maslow, 1943) arranges human functional life areas (needs) into a five-level pyramid, where our most basic needs (i.e., physical and security needs) at the foundation, would have to be met first before we could be sufficiently prepared to manage our “higher-level” needs (i.e., social and ego needs).
Over time, HON has become social work’s primary theoretical lens for engaging in motivation-based behavior change counseling, as well as for providing a starting point for client intervention. However, his theory can also useful as an ethical approach to social work practice because Maslow viewed psychoeducation itself as an effort to “produce the good human being, to foster the good life and the good society” (Maslow, 1964).
Join this session to learn how HON can be used as a tool to inform and guide our own ethical decision-making in situations when our social work values come into conflict–both with those of other professionals we work with and within our own NASW Code of Ethics. Our actions can advance Maslow’s ideal of the “good society” by guiding us to the ethical choice that meets the client’s most basic needs rather than fulfills a purposefully pursued or implicit ideological agenda.
Topics covered will include competing values and interests. For parties engaged in an ethical dilemma, a social worker using the HON tool would be best positioned to identify the most basic functional life area among those priorities, thereby determining the most ethical course of action to take that upholds the NASW code. Using case studies about current major social controversies, the instructor will walk you through a process where issues such as abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, and undocumented immigration can be considered through an ethics-based HON lens in which meeting basic needs becomes the prioritizing guide for determining the choice among actions to take and then discussing possible application in real-world social work settings.
1-4:15 p.m. Domestic Violence in Black Communities: How Social Workers Can Empower Black Women
Presenter: Stephenie Howard, PhD, LCSW
CEs: 3-hour session, including 3 DC public health priorities hours.
Research shows that Black women are disproportionately affected by domestic violence and more likely than other racial groups to be killed by an intimate partner. However, they are less likely to seek or participate in traditional services. To enhance participation and retention of Black women in domestic violence services, they should be culturally informed.
This cultural competence training will be informed by the unique needs and experiences of Black women. Led by the founder and president of the nonprofit Communities in Power, the session will cover historical and cultural influences on gender relations in Black communities. It will also address the cultural mistrust of systems of care and the implications for domestic violence services, as well as other cultural barriers preventing help-seeking such as an emphasis on self-reliance and family privacy.
Learning takeaways include understanding the importance of adopting a systems approach to addressing barriers to the use of services, including collaboration with extended family and religious leaders, as appropriate. You will learn to identify ways to assess domestic violence and engage Black women with cultural sensitivity and to assess and redress barriers that Black women encounter in getting help within their organizations.
1-2:30 p.m. Discovering Your Innate Somatic Tools for Self-Care
Presenters: Ashley Duquette, Jody Wager, and Kirsten Wilkinson
CEs: 1.5
Self-care for therapists is not optional... It is a necessary part of our work. It helps us to show up every day and to be fully present for our clients and patients. In this session, we will explore a variety of ways to care for ourselves through movement and body-based exercises. Through a creative lense, we will play with the themes of grounding, releasing, calming, centering, energizing, and more. It is our hope that you will leave this session with new tools for your own personal "toolbelt", maybe bring some new restorative tools to your clients, and explore a stronger commitment to using those tools that you already have.
2:45-4:15 p.m. Laughter Yoga
Presenter: Sarah Routman
CEs: 1.5
Come try the latest mindfulness and wellness trend that’s sweeping the nation! Laughter yoga started in 1995 when a medical doctor in India concluded that voluntary laughter provides the same benefits as spontaneous laughter. Combining seated laughter exercises with deep, yoga-like breathing, laughter yoga offers a great way to bring something positive into your life and help you live a more balanced and joyful life. People of all abilities and no prior yoga experience can easily enjoy this activity, and no special clothing or equipment is necessary. You’ll leave the session feeling younger, healthier, and happier!
Sunday, May 2
10 a.m.-1:15 p.m. What Does Trauma-Sensitive Look Like?
By Dr. Allison Jackson, LCSW, CSOTP
CEs: 3. You must attend the full session to receive credit.
Nearly 223 million people in the U.S. have experienced a traumatic event before age 18, which increases their chances of adopting risky health behaviors that could lead to cognitive, social, and physical impairments; disease; and early death. Attending to trauma-sensitive practices as a human service professional requires us to engage the youth and families we serve using a phase-oriented array of care actions: screening, connection to trauma sensitive services and providers, case management, and overall monitoring of youth who have experienced trauma.
This session will provide an overview of the impact of trauma on children, caregivers, and adults; explore how to determine your organizational trauma-sensitive screening/assessment process according to best practice; discuss how these tools can be incorporated into current required activities for human service professionals; and give an overview of what trauma-sensitive therapeutic services should look like, according to the National Child Traumatic Stress Network Guidelines. Dr. Allison Sampson-Jackson also will share her own traumatic journey as a child and caregiver, incorporating work she did with the Iowa Department of Health to define and phase-in elements needed to become a trauma-responsive organization.
A Firefighter’s Life
Presenter: Jeff Dill
CEs: 3, including 3 ethics CEs and 3 DC Public Health Priorities hours. You must attend the full session to receive credit.
Ever wondered about the culture of first responders, including myths and beliefs around the behavioral health and mentality of being a professional in such high-pressure, crisis-focused professions such as police work, dispatching, and firefighting? This is your chance to enter the emergency world culture, learn the basic terminology of these professions, and be introduced to their emotional and physical stressors, addictions, and suicide statistics. You will be role-playing and engaging in group discussions and exercises to simulate embedding in certain elements of the field.
Among the takeaways will be an understanding of how the fire and EMS cultures have brainwashed individuals into acting in certain ways and how that effects their personal lives; what the do’s and don’ts are when working with first responders professionally; and common mental health challenges such as PTSD, depression, and anxiety.
11:45 a.m.-1:15 p.m. Doing More with Less: How COVID19 Unexpectedly Expanded Resources in Rural Areas
Presenter: Rachel Connell
CEs: 1.5 CEs
Focus will be on how our rural intensive outpatient program was able to rapidly transition to a telehealth platform that benefits our most vulnerable patients. You’ll explore current barriers in meeting the needs of those in rural areas who are bearing the brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic, look at ethical concerns, and hear how social workers can advocate for expanded services. Special emphasis will be given to examining the role of current policy in mental health service provision, a break down by age cohort of adaptability to teleservices, and a review of outcome measures and needed advocacy.
3:45-5:15 p.m. The Escape Key: Assessment and Treatment of Digital Use Disorders
Presenter: Clifford Sussman, MD, PLC
CEs: 1.5
Learn the latest definition, criteria, and treatments of digital use disorders from child psychiatrist Clifford Sussman, MD, PLLC, who specializes in screen addictions. You’ll be part of a discussion on digital use disorders that social workers are encountering more than ever before. Sussman will share his cutting-edge biopsychosocial approaches and techniques such as motivational interviewing to enable you to assess and treat habitual overuse of digital media in children and young adults. Bring your questions to the half-hour Q&A that follows.