Office Location: Bailey Hall Room 205
Mailbox Location: Pylebox 1302
I have a passion for multicultural social work and have lived, worked, studied, and volunteered abroad. I have worked with several multicultural groups including Urban Appalachians, Hispanic Americans, Refugees, Immigrants, Native Americans, and Scottish Heroin Addicts. I travel to new and amazing places as often as I can, and enjoy making connections with new people and different cultures. I organized a community event East Meets West which brought Buddhist Monks and a Shawnee Native American community together at Fort Ancient to present, share, and teach about their music, cultures, and heritage. I am involved in supporting Native Americans in sobriety and often travel with a Native American drum to various events and reservations to perform and provide support to individuals and families that struggle with addiction.
I am a trained HealthRHYTHMS facilitator, which is an evidence-based program that utilizes drums and other percussive instruments in the intervention/support group process to affect positive changes in anxiety, depression, and health. My goal is to make this program available to Wilmington College students and engage in studies that look at the effectiveness of this program with College Student challenges such as stress, anxiety and depression. Another area I plan to explore is the effectiveness of the HealthRHYTHMS program with those struggling with addiction and recovery.
Other areas of interest to me include how Social Workers can address the challenges of historical trauma, human trafficking prevention/treatment, and Nature Deficit Disorder. I would like to connect with schools and agencies overseas in order to share research and programming ideas for a multitude of Social Work challenges. I have recently connected with the Clinton County Drug Court and am exploring how students can be involved in this therapeutic program and looking at various research topics to undertake.
I studied at Antioch College for my self-designed undergraduate degree in Art Therapy and received my Master of Social Work from the University of Kentucky, where my focus was multicultural Social Work. I have worked with many different populations including at risk families, mentally Ill adults, foster children/families, developmentally delayed adults, addictions, high school students, refugees, and Urban Appalachians.
I recently joined the amazing Wilmington College family as their visiting Assistant Social Work Professor. I am very excited to work with Wilmington’s fantastic students. I look forward to learning about their experiences, aspirations and unique viewpoints. I plan to get students involved and connected with community agencies and needs straight away. We start in our Introduction class with volunteering for 6 hours or more at a social service agency to get a feel for applying Social Work practice methods with clients in the field. I also teach for Tulane Universities Master of Social Work program and have taught for the University of Miami’s Master of Social Work program. I enjoy teaching a variety of courses including Psychosocial Interventions with Individuals & Groups, Social Problems and Social Policy, Field Practicum, Families and Children, Introduction to Social Services and Social Work, and Theories for Direct Social Work Practice.
I am creating a curriculum for new courses that will explore addiction and different treatment modalities. I have aligned the content of these courses with the Ohio Chemical Dependency Professionals Board educational requirements for receiving a Chemical Dependency Counselor Assistant Certification. This certification can expand student’s employment options in their Social Work career.