Faculty Notes: Recent news and accomplishments

Critical Conversations Model Gains National Recognition

Peggy O'Neill, M.S.W., Ph.D., LCSW

Critical Conversations, a model developed by SSW professors that prompts in-depth conversations around power, race, gender and other potentially fraught topics, is drawing national attention after an article about the technique earned an award at the 65th annual meeting of the Council for Social Work Education in Denver, CO.

Developed in 2015 by Assistant Professor Peggy O’Neill, M.S.W., Ph.D., LCSW, and then-SSW colleague Hye-Kyung Kang, M.S.W., Ph.D., Critical Conversations aims to illuminate power dynamics within a social context to allow for deeper examination and reflection with a goal of instigating social change at personal, systemic and institutional levels.

The model was introduced to the SSW campus through faculty training and engagement starting in 2016, and by now is well integrated as faculty rely on it to guide conversations on these difficult topics within their classrooms and other group settings.

Two years ago, O’Neill, Associate Professor Annemarie Gockel, M.S.W., Ph.D., and Professor Nnamdi Pole, Ph.D., from the Smith College department of psychology, launched an undergraduate research study bringing the critical conversations model to Smith undergraduates.

At the CSWE annual meeting in October, O’Neill and Kang picked up honors for their article “Teaching Note—Constructing Critical Conversations: A model for Facilitating Classroom Dialogue for Critical Learning,” published in a 2018 issue of the Journal of Social Work Education.

Meanwhile, the multi-year research project around Critical Conversations has expanded to the University of Massachusetts and Mount Holyoke campuses. While the research team is gearing up for intensive data analysis, initial reports from the field suggest the model is promising.

“It seems to be having transformational impacts, shifting how people are thinking about power dynamics, shaping how they show up in conversations about critical social issues,” said O’Neill.

The research study has facilitators trained in the Critical Conversations model running ten different groups for undergraduates to grapple with social justice issues.

“The real substance of the model has to do with decisively and intentionally paying attention to what the power dynamics of the moment are,” said O’Neill.

The conversations within the undergraduate groups are taped and transcribed for qualitative analysis. The team expects to have results of the study within about six months, but in the meantime, O’Neill has found listening to the tapes highly illuminating.

What she’s heard are deep crossracial and cross-difference conversations. The goal of the model is to unearth hidden assumptions tied up in power dynamics around race, class and gender—just the kind of conversations people tend to avoid. The model seems to push through that avoidance.

“I’m very encouraged,” she said. “We’re seeing that it activates a very meaningful process of critical selfreflection and thought about how to move towards change.”

The article in the Journal of Social Work Education makes the case for how the model can help students and their teachers engage around issues that seem to be intractable, such as race, gender and class and the underlying power dynamics.

“Learning to embrace rather than avoid tension demystifies how to engage with potentially charged topics,” the article states. “Witnessing and experiencing productive engagement may encourage students to become more willing and able to practice skills to work through emerging tensions in critical conversations.

O’Neill is inspired by what she is seeing and believes the model offers hope for working through issues that have stymied interpersonal relationships for so long.

“Being in the mess and being in there thoughtfully and intentionally offers a path and shows it is possible. Critical conversation is a way forward,” she said. “It’s very liberating to find pathways to build the capacity for change.”—Laurie Loisel

Working to Reintegrate Veterans and their Families

Kathryn Basham, Ph.D., '90, LICSW

For decades, Kathryn Basham, Ph.D. ’90, LICSW, focused her research, teaching and clinical practice on improving the lives of Veterans affected by their military service.

This work continues unabated. Basham says even with the resilience exhibited in many Veterans and their families, injuries often persist.

“They are not just away from their families, they often come back home distressed and changed in major ways,” she said. Basham explores the question of whether post-deployment traumatic responses are grounded in a fear response and/or what she refers to as moral injury.

Moral injuries involve a perceived moral default experienced by a Veteran related to their own actions or behavior by a commanding officer or peer.

“Not every Veteran reports this experience, yet it is disturbing to know how frequently this suffering occurs.”

Before joining SSW in 1992, Basham worked in several inpatient and outpatient mental health programs with diverse clients including civilian, military service members and Veterans. Basham served as co-director of the doctoral program for ten years and as editor of the Smith College Studies in Social Work for nine years.

Serving on three congressionallymandated Institute of Medicine research committees focused on Veteran’s mental health has contributed to her expertise in military social work. That work has also provided scaffolding for her research and practice to improve the reintegration of Veterans and their families.

One of Basham’s current projects, underway for five years, explores the outcomes of a 12-session multitheoretical attachment-based couple therapy approach she designed for couples, where one or both members are post-9/11 Veterans suffering post-deployment stress responses. It is “relationship-based, culturallyresponsive, anti-racism grounded, theoretically-supported and research-informed,” she said.

Primary aims are to evaluate the effectiveness of the model in terms of symptom reduction and affect regulation, reduced aggression, improved communication and enhanced relationship satisfaction, utilizing pre-and post-measures.

“We are looking for signs of resilience and a capacity to cope with stress while navigating various challenges involving integrating back home,” Basham said.

Basham is still recruiting licensed clinicians to be educated in the approach and aims to develop a cadre of skilled couple therapy providers. New Veteran couples are also invited to participate in the study.

The model holds great promise; Basham noted that couples are showing decreased post-traumatic stress symptoms as well as increased trust and connection between partners, improved communication and better understanding of the role post-traumatic stress plays within a family system.

A next step will be to compare this approach with other traditional models, such as cognitive-behavioral couple therapy.

Another project Basham has been working on the, Western Massachusetts Veterans Outreach, pulls together civilian and Veteran representatives from local, state and federal agencies and community members to better attune mental providers to the unique needs of Veterans and their families.

This project has offered conferences, seminars and education forums about military culture as well as signature injuries such as traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, intimate partner violence and substance misuse.

Both projects are rooted in Basham’s belief that society has a moral obligation to service members returning from war zones.—Laurie Loisel

For more information, visit: westernmassveteransoutreach.com