Latest School News

Congratulations to Assistant Professor Mickey Sperlich and colleagues on the publication of their article, "Scoping Review of Barriers and Facilitators of Breastfeeding in Women on Opioid Maintenance Therapy" in the Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing.

Kudos to ITTIC Co-Director Samantha Koury and Clinical Professor Susan Green on the publication of their article, "Creating trauma-informed long-term care organizations" in Caring for the Ages.

Kudos to Associate Professor Annahita Ball and her colleagues for the publication of their article, "School Mental Health in Charters: A Glimpse of Practitioners from a National Sample" in the International Journal of School Social Work.

Kudos to Assistant Professor Melanie Sage and her colleague on the publication of their chapter, "Technology and Social Work Practice" in the book, Social Workers' Desk Reference.

Congrats to Associate Professor Elizabeth Bowen and PhD Student Nicole Capozziello on the publication of their chapter, "Urban Homelessness: Housing and health equity during health emergencies" in book, "Social Work in Health Emergencies."

Congratulations to Professor Hilary Weaver and her colleagues on the publcation of their chapter, "Human Dignity" in the book, Social work in health emergencies: A global perspective.

Kudos to Associate Professor Lisa Butler and her colleagues on the publication of their article, "'I Don’t Even Remember What I Read': How Design Influences Dissociation on Social Media" in CHI '22: CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems.

Kudos to Assistant Professor Melanie Sage and her colleague on the publication of their article, "Operationalizing ICWA compliance to improve Native American child & family outcomes" in the Juvenile & Family Court Journal.

We, the undersigned members of the University at Buffalo School of Social Work community, are devastated and outraged at the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that overturned fifty years of constitutional protections for abortion rights for women, girls, and others who can become pregnant. Reproductive autonomy is fundamental; without the ability to choose whether to have a baby, all people who may become pregnant are relegated to second-class citizenry in this country, subject to the whims of uninformed officials, vulnerable to pregnancy from sexual assault as adults or sexual abuse as children, and powerless if their birth control fails. The ability to choose when to have children allows individuals control over their education, careers, bodies, and, in essence, their lives. Moreover, abortion is essential health care, and there are many situations in which abortion is the safest and most compassionate choice. Pregnancy and childbirth can be lethal, and ambiguities in state laws put doctors in the impossible position of determining how imminent a mother’s death needs to be before they can legally terminate a pregnancy. Thus, this decision is both a human rights violation and a public health crisis that will traumatize millions of individuals and their families.

Congratulations to PhD Candidate Seventy F. Hall, Associate Professor Annette Semanchin Jones and colleague on the publication of their article, "Adapted Approach to Strengthening Connections for Youth with Intellectual and or Developmental Disabilities: Addressing Barriers to Implementation" in Human Service Organizations: Management, Leadership Governance.

Kudos to Associate Professor Annahita Ball and PhD student Candra Skryzpek on the publication of their article, "Enhancing Transformative Social-Emotional Learning with Intergroup Dialogue: an Exploratory Study" in Currents: Journal of Diversity Scholarship for Social Change.

Congratulations to Dean Keith A. Alford on the publication of "The uphill climb of Black men: Therapeutic treatment and educational considerations for mental health engagement" in the book The enduring, invisible, and ubiquitous centrality of whiteness.

Kudos to Assistant Professor Christopher St. Vil and colleagues on the publication of their article, "Improving Data Collection and Abstraction to Access Health Equity in Trauma Care" in Implementation Science  Operations Management.

The University at Buffalo Health Promotion’s Sexual Violence Prevention & Response program is pleased to announce the inaugural winners of the Award for Student Achievement in Sexual Violence Prevention sponsored by the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (CBE).  Jennifer Elliott and Shanita Glover-Mangam, both MSW students, received the award in recognition of their organization of an innovative "Cocoa and Conversations" event held on April 6 at the Intercultural and Diversity Center to "provide an opportunity to engage in a discussion of health and unhealthy relationships," and to inform and assist students in the area of interpersonal violence prevention. The two student winners, who will split the $1,000 award, were honored at CBE's annual Scholarship Reception on May 11. 

Kudos to Professor Laina Bay-Cheng and her colleagues on the publication of their editorial, "Critical Feminisms: Principles and Practices for Feminist Inquiry in Social Work" in Affilia.

Kudos to Associate Professor Elizabeth Bowen, PhD Candidate Andrew Irish, PhD student Charles LaBarre, PhD student Nicole Capozziello, Emeritus Research Professor Thomas Nochajski and colleagues publish article, "Qualitative insights in item development for a comprehensive and inclusive measure of recovery capital" in the journal Addiction Research & Theory.

Dear SSW Community,

Ongoing wars and pandemics, added to the personal stresses we all face, can take a toll on our mental health. Since 1949,  the month of May has been designated as National Mental Health Month to call attention to the need for mental health awareness and wellness in the lives of Americans. According to Mental Health America, the term mental health refers to the emotional and social well-being of individuals, impacting the way they think, feel, and behave. It plays a role in how people connect with others, make decisions, handle stress and many other aspects of daily life. Paying attention to our own mental health—and our family, friends, and colleagues—is especially important during these unsettled times. As social workers, mental health awareness is a critical aspect of our profession and our ability to connect with appropriate services is imperative. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, for example, has planned an entire month of information, including a Twitter chat on mental health at work, as well as presentations on suicide prevention and reducing the stigma associated with mental health. We also know that stress can look quite different in relation to our diverse backgrounds and the varying interactions we possess.

Kudos to Assistant Professor Mickey Sperlich and her colleague on the publication of their article, "'I got to catch my own baby': A qualitative study of our of hospital birth" in Reproductive Health.