By Brittney Dabney
The Department of Social Work at Tuskegee University will observe the month of March as National Social Work Month and will host its third annual Social Work Conference, titled “Social Work Break Barriers: Using the Arts for Trauma-Informed Care of Families and Practitioners.”
This year’s virtual conference will welcome students and faculty to participate in a full slate of events, including a preconference show of the Triggered Project: Triggered Life is a multi-sensory, multimedia, post-traumatic story. Triggered Life follows a day in the life of two such men, Ishmael and Keith. As these men relive their stories of abusive childhoods, they embark on a journey to define their own manhood and identity. The story is a two-act 90-minute tour de force, with act two being a Trauma-Informed Grounding and processing facilitated by The Triggered Project’s Lead Clinician, Roxann Mascoll MS, MSW, LICSW.
The preconference will also include an Endowment Scholarship event by invitation only for the donation of the $50K endowment donation and $1000 general scholarship that will be awarded to two students from Lawanna R. Barron, LCSW, retired military social worker of Moody Airforce base.
“This year, we want to focus on sessions for our audience that uses the arts (drama, music, art, and self-care) for trauma-informed care practices that break barriers to health and wellness of clients and practitioners whom may experience vicarious trauma,” said Dr. April Jones, Department Social Work Chair.
The conference will offer a keynote presentation from Eugene Durrah, focusing on Refining Social Work Practice. Durrah is a TU Social Work Department graduate and currently serves as a clinical Director at a behavioral health agency in California. He also owns Greatness by Nature, Inc., designed to change lives and communities.
“I am excited to have alumnus, Eugene Durrah, back at TU this year. Durrah is a successful clinician whom has impacted his community and he will bring to the conference a new thought about how we define social work practice in a post pandemic world with diverse clients and particularly the digital-age generational cohorts,” Jones said.
The conference will feature other speakers, including; Terricka Hardy, who will address “Ethics and Self-Care in Social Work,” and Dr. Tiyahri Wilson focusing on “Art Therapy and Identity: Using the Arts to Understand Identity.”
