Recognitions and Awards

The Academy for Community Behavioral Health’s new residency program helps reduce the distance between promising behavioral health approaches and their implementation in the city's communities.

Launched in June 2021, the Academy is run by the CUNY SPS Office of Professional Education and Workplace Learning (PEWL), with funding from the Mayor’s Office of Community Mental Health (OCMH) and Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity (NYC Opportunity).

The Academy’s residency program has three components designed to shift dialogues and improve community behavioral health practice. Residents will curate a series of public conversations, support innovation in Academy programs, and pilot a new or improved community care model that transforms access to compassionate, culturally responsive care.



As the inaugural Resident, Dr. Ortega-Williams will partner with the Academy and others to expand possibilities for trauma recovery and healing. She will organize public conversations on Transforming the Trauma Discourse, starting in December 2023. She also acts as a Senior Advisor to the Academy’s Trauma-Informed Organizational Practice pilot, leading a co-design strategy and teaching from her work on historical trauma and posttraumatic growth.

Faculty Promotions

Promotion to Associate Professor with Tenure

Education

PhD in Social Work

Boston College 2013

MSW, Boston College, 2006

Areas of Expertise

• Social Determinants of Health
• Asian Americans
• Older Adults
• Immigrants
• Mental Health
• Disability
• Substance Use
• Population Health

Courses

• Social Work Research I & II
• The Aging Process: Clinical Issues in Social Work Practice with the Aged

Education

PhD in Social Work

New York University, 2015

MSW, New York University

Areas of Expertise

• The Effects of Historical and Contemporary Trauma on Mental Health Functioning for People of the African Diaspora
• Child Welfare - The Intersection of Parental Trauma Exposure and Family Stability

Courses

• Human Behavior in the Social Environment III
• Clinical Practice IV - Trauma
• Practice Lab

External Funding Awards

Conferences

Silberman School of Social Work was well represented at the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Annual Program Meeting,

October 26-29, 2023, in Atlanta, GA.

Associate Professor Keith Chan continues to serve since 2021 as Co-Principle Investigator of the NIMHD/P50-funded Center for Asian Health Promotion and Equity (CAHPE) and Co-Director of the Community Engagement Core. Along with Dr. Soko Setoguchi (PI: Rutgers), Dr. Bei Wu (PI: NYU) and Dr. Emerson Ea (Co-PI: NYU), he presented an overview of the center and its mission on September 13-15, 2023 at the NIH-funded Health Equity Action Network (HEAN) conference held in Bethesda, MD.

More info...

International Conferences

From September 12-15, 2023, Professor Gary Mallon presented at The European Scientific Association on Residential and Family Care for Children and Adolescents (EuSARF) Conference at the University of Sussex, United Kingdom. Professor Mallon coordinated a symposium on Social Support for LGBTQ+ Youth in Care, with international colleagues from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, the University of Valencia in Spain; and Suffolk University in the United Kingdom. The conference was attended by over 800 participants from over 35 counties.

Associate Professor Colleen Cary Katz also presented at the EuSARF Conference at the University of Sussex, United Kingdom. The title of her session was: "The Transition-Age Youth Special Interest Group (TAY-SIG): The Establishment and Activities of a US-Based Network of Child Welfare Researchers" 

Assistant Professor Laura Graham Holmes and colleagues presented "Risk for Suicidal Behavior among Autistic Gender Minority Youth" at the International Summit on Suicide Research, October 15-18, 2023, in Barcelona, Spain. The paper was based on The Gender Minority Youth Study, an online, cross-sectional, self-report survey of U.S. adolescents ages 14-18 (Mage = 15.93). In this study 2,041 participants provided data related to autism traits that were included in analysis. To review the slides, please go to this link.

Recent Notable Publications

Assistant Professor Liat Shklarski co-edited a new book, Rethinking social work education in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Lessons learned from social work scholars and leaders.

The book recognizes that the pandemic took an emotional, cognitive, and physical toll on those in the academy, which also affected students’ ability to learn and instructors’ ability to teach. Each chapter explores students’ and instructors’ experiences throughout the pandemic and showcases the creative ways in which educators in the United States, Canada, and Israel developed projects, classes, and innovative field experiences to support students while teaching remotely.

Click here for more info

Recent Notable Publications

(Peer Reviewed Journal Articles)

Author Abstract:

In this paper, we apply the reproductive justice framework to discuss how gendered racism disadvantages pregnant and parenting young Black women aging out of foster care. Specifically, we highlight the reversal of Roe v Wade as reflective of the United States’ long legacy of efforts to control Black women’s reproduction. We then discuss the structural factors contributing to the reproductive injustices of young Black women aging out of care, including a lack of access to sexual and reproductive health education, barriers to educational attainment, and foster care-based relational and placement deficits. We conclude with research, practice, and policy enhancements.

Author Abstract:

Under multiple public administration reforms since the 1980s, public bureaucracies’ activities range from connecting with markets to inviting the participation of service users, citizens, and networks of organizations in policy development, decision-making, and implementation. Despite this broadening of stakeholder participation, certain organizations are at risk of being overlooked, despite their direct involvement in efforts to engage communities and address persistent social problems. We contend that one reason for this exclusion is that these organizations are not recognized as their own organizational type. This paper identifies Relational, Emergent, Transformative and Change-Oriented Organizations (RETCOs) as a discrete organizational type, and argues that they should be represented in the model cases that are used to educate public administrators, recognized as worthy of public funding and support, and included in public administration research. Recognizing RETCOs as legitimate stakeholders can correct some of the ethical problems of under-representation of important voices and perspectives in government-citizen interfaces. RETCOs are most appropriately studied through qualitative research methods that are sensitive to what make RETCOs a uniquely responsive organizational type, including their prioritizing of relationships within organizations, emergent rather than fixed organizational forms, goals of transformation, and commitments to liberatory social and economic change.

Author Abstract:

Current anti-transgender legislative activity necessitates social workers take action in solidarity with transgender and nonbinary (TNB) individuals and communities. Pervasive discrimination and marginalization of TNB people across multiple public domains, including education, is irrefutable (James et al, 2016). Social work education is no exception. Not only is there a documented lack of affirming educational and practicum opportunities for TNB social work students (Austin et al., 2016), social work students also report being ill-prepared to practice with TNB individuals and communities (Craig et al., 2015). Social workers are ethically obligated by their professional identification to demonstrate competency related to service provision with marginalized individuals and groups and to confront oppression and foster social justice, including related to gender identity (National Association of Social Workers [NASW], 2021). Yet, social work educational settings must first reckon with their own cisnormativity and anti-trans bias. Scant research has explored the experiences of TNB social work students, particularly during the practicum experience, termed social work’s “signature pedagogy” (Council on Social Work Edu- cation [CSWE] Educational Policy 3.3, 2022). This paper reports on part of a multi-phase project examining TNB social work students' practicum education experiences.

Author Abstract:

The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact on people’s professional and personal lives is ongoing. The transition to remote teaching has particularly affected social work education due to its experiential methods incorporating a direct experience whereby students “learn by doing.” This study examined the impact of the global pandemic and the transition to remote teaching on the emotional and cognitive experiences of 144 social work instructors in Israel. The results indicated that they quickly adapted to remote teaching. Furthermore, the instructors reported a mixed effect of the transition to remote teaching on their work-life balance. This study suggests that institutions should provide their instructors with sufficient time and tools to design remote classes in order to better engage their students in the learning process. The findings provide the foundation for understanding the complexity of remote teaching in the social work profession and offer opportunities to learn from experience.

Author Abstract:

Objective: To evaluate the association between prenatal prescription opioid analgesic exposure (duration, timing) and neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS).

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of Wisconsin Medicaid-covered singleton live births from 2011 to 2019. The primary outcome was a NOWS diagnosis in the first 30 days of life. Opioid exposure was identified with any claim for prescription opioid analgesic fills during pregnancy. We measured exposure duration cumulatively in days (1-6, 7-29, 30-89, and 90 or more) and identified timing as early (first two trimesters only) or late (third trimester, regardless of earlier pregnancy use). We used logistic regression modeling to assess NOWS incidence by exposure duration and timing, with and without propensity score matching.

Results: Overall, 31,456 (14.3%) of 220,570 neonates were exposed to prescription opioid analgesics prenatally. Among exposed neonates, 19,880 (63.2%) had 1-6 days of exposure, 7,694 (24.5%) had 7-29 days, 2,188 (7.0%) had 30-89 days, and 1,694 (5.4%) had 90 or more days of exposure; 15,032 (47.8%) had late exposure. Absolute NOWS incidence among neonates with 1-6 days of exposure was 7.29 per 1,000 neonates (95% CI 6.11-8.48), and incidence increased with longer exposure: 7-29 days (19.63, 95% CI 16.53-22.73); 30-89 days (58.96, 95% CI 49.08-68.84); and 90 or more days (177.10, 95% CI 158.90-195.29). Absolute NOWS incidence for early and late exposures were 11.26 per 1,000 neonates (95% CI 9.65-12.88) and 35.92 per 1,000 neonates (95% CI 32.95-38.90), respectively. When adjusting for confounders including timing of exposure, neonates exposed for 1-6 days had no increased odds of NOWS compared with unexposed neonates, whereas those exposed for 30 or more days had increased odds of NOWS (30-89 days: adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 2.15, 95% CI 1.22-3.79; 90 or more days: 2.80, 95% CI 1.36-5.76). Late exposure was associated with elevated odds of NOWS (aOR 1.57, 95% CI 1.25-1.96) when compared with unexposed after adjustment for exposure duration.

Conclusion: More than 30 days of prenatal prescription opioid exposure was associated with NOWS regardless of exposure timing. Third-trimester opioid exposure, irrespective of exposure duration, was associated with NOWS.

Author Abstract:

Using the American Community Survey 2015–2019 combined data, this study conducts an industry- and geography-specific analysis of annual earnings of social workers in four human services industries in the NYC metropolitan area. It specifically addresses two research questions: 1) What are the sectoral (i.e., nonprofit, for-profit, government) differences in overall pay among social workers? 2) What are the sectoral differences in the racial pay gap among social workers? The analytical results suggest that: 1) Social workers of all races employed by the government were paid significantly higher than their counterparts in the private sector. Within the private sector, nonprofit social workers were paid lower than their for-profit counterparts. 2) There were not statistically significant differences in the racial pay gap for social workers across the three sectors. In other words, nonprofit and government agencies were not more racially equitable in pay compared to for-profit organizations.