Social work education integrates theory and practice to bridge the micro-macro divide. The theore... more Social work education integrates theory and practice to bridge the micro-macro divide. The theoretical framework of intersecting identities reveals hidden inequities related to health consequences. The global pandemic, reflecting a colliding of personal and professional worlds, interrupted an elective social work course designed to: 1) develop transformative potential (i.e., critical consciousness of and critical action against white supremacy, anti-blackness, and racial oppression of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC)); 2) model liberation-based social work education and practice; and 3) prepare students to be critical social workers in the field. The pandemic created an in-class opportunity for the professor, also the course’s designer, to practice what she teaches. This self-reflexive essay details the pandemic's impact on a teaching experience and follows the professor’s journey to more fully understand systems, inequity, and her own transformative potential. The transformative potential development process included many learning experiences in the areas of relationship and community building; transformative consciousness development; accountability and responsibility; efficacy; and, critical action. The unforeseen global pandemic presented the professor with opportunities for deep reflection about liberation-based social work education and practice. By bringing the reality of how macro processes create micro consequences into the classroom in real time, the professor’s responses were tested against oppressive norms, standards and values versus those that honor a person’s humanity. An important discovery is that a critical social work educator teaches in ways that spark radical imagination to disrupt the oppressive status quo camouflaged as personal choice and business as usual.
Aims: To evaluate the structure and dynamic process of a CCB whose goal was to create an evidence... more Aims: To evaluate the structure and dynamic process of a CCB whose goal was to create an evidence-based substance abuse/health intervention for ex-offenders and to provide lessons learned to enhance future CBPR endeavors. Methods: Meeting notes, attendance, video recordings, and indepth interviews with 13 CCB members at baseline (Baseline: two weeks after the CCB’s first meeting) and elevenmembers at twelve months follow-up were used to conduct an independent process evaluation. Open coding identified themes and patterns across answers regardingmembership engagement, retention, and power distribution. Results: Results showed member retention (73.3% retention rate) was due to strong personal commitment to the targeted problem. Analysis also revealed an unequal power distribution between members. Nevertheless, the development of an innovative, community-based health intervention manual was accomplished within one year. Aspects of the process, such as, incentives, sub-committees and trainings, enhanced the Board’s ability to integrate the community and scientific knowledge to accomplish its research agenda. Conclusions:CBPRwasauseful framework inenhancingquality and efficiency in the development of an innovative, communitybased substance abuse/health intervention manual for distressed communities. The use of a structured format, incentives, subcommittees, and trainings proved critical in the success of this process. Overall, this article sheds light on a process that illustrates the integration of community-based and scientific knowledge to address the health, economic and societal marginalization of lowincome, minority communities. Financial Support: The studywas supported by Award Number P30MH079920 from the National Institute of Mental Health. The authorswere supported as postdoctoral andpre-doctoral fellows in the Behavioral Sciences Training in Drug Abuse Research Program sponsored by Public Health Solutions and National Development and Research Institutes with funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (5T32DA007233).
U.S. based post-secondary educational institutions usually have violent origin stories that inclu... more U.S. based post-secondary educational institutions usually have violent origin stories that include land theft, genocide, and the participation in slavery. Schools of social work are no exception. In recent years, colleges and universities, including schools of social work, have started to confront their histories of and participation in racial-settler colonialism. The severance of land as kinship, and land theft, have been a significant part of the harms of racial-settler colonialism. Colleges and universities have benefited from land theft, primarily through land-grants. Still, institutional accountability has been minimal, including limited acknowledgment of harm and modest changes in curriculum and staff. This paper expands the terrain of institutional accountability in social work higher education to consider land-based healing initiatives as a critical remedy for the harms of racial settler colonialism. This paper provides a historical review and decolonial analysis of the con...
Social work education integrates theory and practice to bridge the micro-macro divide. The theore... more Social work education integrates theory and practice to bridge the micro-macro divide. The theoretical framework of intersecting identities reveals hidden inequities related to health consequences. The global pandemic, reflecting a colliding of personal and professional worlds, interrupted an elective social work course designed to: 1) develop transformative potential (i.e., critical consciousness of and critical action against white supremacy, anti-blackness, and racial oppression of Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC)); 2) model liberation-based social work education and practice; and 3) prepare students to be critical social workers in the field. The pandemic created an in-class opportunity for the professor, also the course’s designer, to practice what she teaches. This self-reflexive essay details the pandemic's impact on a teaching experience and follows the professor’s journey to more fully understand systems, inequity, and her own transformative potential. The transformative potential development process included many learning experiences in the areas of relationship and community building; transformative consciousness development; accountability and responsibility; efficacy; and, critical action. The unforeseen global pandemic presented the professor with opportunities for deep reflection about liberation-based social work education and practice. By bringing the reality of how macro processes create micro consequences into the classroom in real time, the professor’s responses were tested against oppressive norms, standards and values versus those that honor a person’s humanity. An important discovery is that a critical social work educator teaches in ways that spark radical imagination to disrupt the oppressive status quo camouflaged as personal choice and business as usual.
Aims: To evaluate the structure and dynamic process of a CCB whose goal was to create an evidence... more Aims: To evaluate the structure and dynamic process of a CCB whose goal was to create an evidence-based substance abuse/health intervention for ex-offenders and to provide lessons learned to enhance future CBPR endeavors. Methods: Meeting notes, attendance, video recordings, and indepth interviews with 13 CCB members at baseline (Baseline: two weeks after the CCB’s first meeting) and elevenmembers at twelve months follow-up were used to conduct an independent process evaluation. Open coding identified themes and patterns across answers regardingmembership engagement, retention, and power distribution. Results: Results showed member retention (73.3% retention rate) was due to strong personal commitment to the targeted problem. Analysis also revealed an unequal power distribution between members. Nevertheless, the development of an innovative, community-based health intervention manual was accomplished within one year. Aspects of the process, such as, incentives, sub-committees and trainings, enhanced the Board’s ability to integrate the community and scientific knowledge to accomplish its research agenda. Conclusions:CBPRwasauseful framework inenhancingquality and efficiency in the development of an innovative, communitybased substance abuse/health intervention manual for distressed communities. The use of a structured format, incentives, subcommittees, and trainings proved critical in the success of this process. Overall, this article sheds light on a process that illustrates the integration of community-based and scientific knowledge to address the health, economic and societal marginalization of lowincome, minority communities. Financial Support: The studywas supported by Award Number P30MH079920 from the National Institute of Mental Health. The authorswere supported as postdoctoral andpre-doctoral fellows in the Behavioral Sciences Training in Drug Abuse Research Program sponsored by Public Health Solutions and National Development and Research Institutes with funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (5T32DA007233).
U.S. based post-secondary educational institutions usually have violent origin stories that inclu... more U.S. based post-secondary educational institutions usually have violent origin stories that include land theft, genocide, and the participation in slavery. Schools of social work are no exception. In recent years, colleges and universities, including schools of social work, have started to confront their histories of and participation in racial-settler colonialism. The severance of land as kinship, and land theft, have been a significant part of the harms of racial-settler colonialism. Colleges and universities have benefited from land theft, primarily through land-grants. Still, institutional accountability has been minimal, including limited acknowledgment of harm and modest changes in curriculum and staff. This paper expands the terrain of institutional accountability in social work higher education to consider land-based healing initiatives as a critical remedy for the harms of racial settler colonialism. This paper provides a historical review and decolonial analysis of the con...
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Papers by Alexis Jemal