Description: This interactive workshop teaches a social justice framework for direct practice and pedagogy through a deliberate grounding and focus on anti-oppressive theory and practice. Dr. Varghese will incorporate didactic elements into a largely interactive workshop in which participants will have opportunities for self-reflection to foster critical consciousness and engagement in active, interpersonal processes to allow for meaningful, transformative learning.
Trainer: Rani Varghese, MSW, Ed.D., Assistant Professor at the School of Social Work at Adelphi University, received her MSW at Smith College School and her doctorate in Social Justice Education at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research is grounded in qualitative methods and interdisciplinary and practical knowledge and focuses on bringing a social justice framework into pedagogy and clinical practice. She has published on the role of dialogic practices across professional contexts, the impact of Intergroup Dialogue facilitator training, and the application of social justice in clinical practice. Her clinical work has focused on supporting survivors of gender-based violence in college campuses; and her identities include social justice educator, feminist, and mother-academic.
Learning objectives: At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Name and describe at least 1 connection between clinical practice and social justice work.
- Identify and reflect critically on social identities, personal biases, assumptions, and its intersections that affect perceptions of difference and power dynamics
- Identify and practice using positionality as an anti-oppressive practice in work with clients, supervisees, students, or colleagues
- Identify and practice with at least 2 specific strategies that foster transparency, accountability, and shared power during encounters
Resources:
- Understanding Implicit Bias. The Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at The Ohio State University. http://kirwaninstitute.osu.edu/research/understanding-implicit-bias/
- Implicit Association Test (IAT). Project Implicit. https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatest.html
- Chimamanda, A. (2009). The danger of a single story. TedGlobal. https://www.ted.com/talks/chimamanda_adichie_the_danger_of_a_single_story?language=en
References:
- Adams, M., Blumenfeld, W. J., Castañeda, C. R., Hackman, H. W., Peters, M. L., & Zúñiga, X. (2018). Readings for diversity and social justice. New York: Routledge.
- Asakura, K., Strumm, B., Todd, S., & Varghese, R. (2019). What does social justice look like when sitting with clients? A qualitative study of teaching clinical social work from a social justice perspective. Journal for Social Work Education. 56(3), 442-455. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2019.1656588
- Banaji, M.R. & Greenwald, A.G. (2013). Blindspot: Hidden biases of good people. New York, NY: Bantam Books
- Bell, L., Goodman, D., & Varghese, R. (2016). Critical self-knowledge for social justice educators. In L. Bell, D. Goodman, K. Joshi & M. Adams (Eds.). Teachings for diversity and social justice. Routledge.
- Harro, B. (2013). The cycle of socialization. In M. Adams, W. Blumenfeld, R. Castaneda, H. Hackman, M. Peters & X. Zuniga (Eds), Readings for diversity and social justice (3rd ed, pp.45-51). New York, NY: Routledge.
- Martinez, D.B. & Fleck-Henderson, A. (2014). Social justice in clinical practice: A liberation health framework for social work. New York, NY: Routledge.
- Quiros, L., Varghese, R. & Vanidestine, T. (2019). Disrupting the single story: Challenging dominant trauma narratives through a critical race lens. Traumatology. https://doi.org/10.1037/trm0000223
- Sue, D.W. & Sue, D. (2016). Counseling the culturally diverse: theory and practice. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
- Varghese, R. (2016). Teaching to transform?: Addressing race and racism in the teaching of clinical social work practice. Journal for Social Work Education. 52(sup 1), S134-S147. https://doi.org/10.1080/10437797.2016.1174646
- Varghese, R. (2019). Intergroup dialogue: Frequencies of social justice. Social work with Groups, 43(1-2), 109-113. https://doi.org/10.1080/01609513.2019.1639976
- Wood, L.L., Nadrich, T., Bustamante, D., Beauregard, M., Kestemberg, L.L. (2017, March). Keynote Address: Honoring multi-cultural narratives with our students and our communities. Western Suffolk Spring Conference for Long Island Counselors. Melville, New York.
- Zúñiga, X., Mildred, J., Varghese, R., DeJong, K., & Keehn, M. (2012). Engaged listening in race/ethnicity and gender intergroup dialogue courses. Equity & Excellence in Education, 45(1), 80-99. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665684.2012.644962
- Zúñiga, X., Nagda, B. A., Chesler, M., & Cytron-Walker, A. (2007). Intergroup dialogue in higher education: Meaningful learning about social justice. ASHE Higher Education Report, 32, 1–128.