Fall 2026 Social Work Conference
Friday, October 23, 2026 | Virtual and In-Person
Advancing Practice: Ethics, Evidence, and Innovation in Social Work
Welcome and Opening Remarks
8:00 a.m. to 8:15 a.m.
Beyond the Presenting Problem: A Context-Informed Framework for Trauma Care with Marginalized Communities
8:15 a.m. to 9:15 a.m. | Dr. Michell R. Herring, Ph.D., LISW-CP, LCSW | 1.0 CE credit
Synopsis: coming soon
Learning Objectives: coming soon
Is It Relapse or Is It Medical? Medical Conditions That Mimic or Trigger Relapse in Addiction Recovery
9:15 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. | Heidi Hill, LCSW, LISW-S, LCDC III, MAC, CST, TCT | 1.0 CE credit
Synopsis: coming soon
Learning Objectives: coming soon
Break
10:15 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.
Crisis Intervention and Safety Planning
10:30 a.m.to 11:30 a.m. | Sweta Engineer, DSW, LCSW | 1.0 CE credit
Synopsis: coming soon
Learning Objectives: coming soon
Lunch
11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
From Deficit to Resilience: Introducing Neuro Social Work for Collaborative Practice
12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. | Dr. Priscila Llamosa, DSW, LCSW, MSW, CEO | 1.0 CE credit
Synopsis: Introduces Neuro Social Work - a budding specialization that bridges the gap between clinical neuroscience and social work’s person-in-environment and justice-oriented perspectives. Moving beyond the medical model, this session reframes human behavior as a complex interplay of neurobiology, adaptation, and environment. Participants will critically analyze how brain-based explanations can be weaponized to justify coercive interventions, pathologize marginalized communities, and reinforce neuronormative assumptions in child welfare, education, health care, and criminal legal contexts, and will explore how this emerging field provides a necessary foundation for understanding trauma, regulation, chronic stress, structural oppression, and resilience in a way that centers the client's lived experience and relational safety. Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of how neuroscience literacy can be a tool for liberation when applied in context, and apply neuro-affirming strategies in assessment, intervention, and supervision, ensuring that biological insights always serve the goals of equity and client self-determination.
Learning Objectives:
1. Evaluate the distinctive contributions of neuro social workers to interdisciplinary teams spanning health care, education, disability advocacy, and rehabilitation settings, formulating a rationale for how justice-oriented neuroscience literacy positions social work as the critical bridge between neurobiological evidence and person-in-environment practice.
2. Analyze the interplay of neurobiology, chronic stress, and structural oppression to deconstruct pathologizing interpretations of survival adaptations and reframe them as context-dependent, resilient communication.
3. Integrate co-regulation and relational safety as evidence-informed neuroplastic interventions into clinical and supervisory practice, applying one strategy to advance equity-centered engagement and client self-determination.
Medical Trauma-Informed Care: Advancing Social Work Practice with Chronically Ill and Medically Traumatized Clients
1:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. | Breanna Crisp, MSW, LCSW, PMH-C, MTIP | 1.0 CE credit
Synopsis: Medical trauma is an increasingly relevant yet often under recognized area of social work practice. Individuals navigating chronic illness, reproductive health conditions, chronic pain, medical procedures, and experiences of medical invalidation may develop trauma responses related to both their health conditions and healthcare experiences.
This presentation introduces a medical trauma-informed framework for recognizing and responding to these experiences. Participants will explore common presentations of medical trauma, assessment considerations, and practical strategies that promote safety, autonomy, validation, trust, and collaborative care while reducing re-traumatization. Special attention will be given to chronic illness, women’s and reproductive health, and clients whose healthcare experiences have been minimized or dismissed.
Learning Objectives:
1. Identify common signs and clinical presentations of medical trauma among clients.
2. Apply medical trauma-informed care principles and trauma-informed interventions that support safety, autonomy, validation, and trust in social work practice.
3. Recognize ways social workers and healthcare systems may unintentionally reinforce medical trauma and identify strategies to reduce re-traumatization across clinical and interdisciplinary settings.
Break
2:30 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.
Self-Care: An Ethical Obligation
2:45 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. | Dr. Dawn Higgins, Ph.D., LCSW | 1.0 CE credit
Synopsis: coming soon
Learning Objectives: coming soon
Closing Remarks & Adjournment
3:45 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
