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Stacey D. Hardy, Ph.D., JD, LCSW
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Robert Mulligan, MPS, LCSW
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Overview of Forensic Social Work Education & Certificate
Programs
Program Development (using UNLV and LIU as examples)
o Program Genesis
o Planning
o Implementation
o Evaluation and Modification
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Interactive Exercise – Assessing Program Viability
Wrap-Up and Next Steps
University of Nevada Las Georgia State University
Vegas (2005-2011)
Orientation to Forensic
Social Work and the Law
Social Work
Cal State Fullerton
Long Island University
Forensic Social Work and
the Legal System
Seminar in Criminal Law
Forensic Social Work
Role of the Social Work in a
Legal/Correctional System
Seminar in Family Law
Psychopathology
Understanding Clients
FSW Skills Lab
1 elective selected from
among: Ethics in Crim
Justice, Family Violence,
Criminological Theory, Child
Maltreatment or Substance
Abuse
FSW Field Placement
Forensic Skills of Social
Work
Forensic Social Work and
The Criminal and Juvenile
Justice System
Interviewing, Evaluating and
Offering Treatment as a
Forensic Social Worker
Forensic Social Work Drug
and Alcohol Abuse and the
Criminal and Juvenile Justice
System
Forensic Social Work and
Domestic Violence
Legal and Ethical Issues
in Social Work
FSW Field Practicum
/Professional
Presentation
FSW Capstone
18 graduate credits;
270 CEUs
12 graduate credits (plus 2
54 lecture hours; 5.4 CEUs
semesters of field placement)
12 graduate credits (plus 2
semesters of field
placement)
Some are more obvious than others
 Criminal and Corrections
o Mitigation Specialists
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Mediation
Restorative Justice
Family (e.g. custody)
Child Welfare
Policy, Lobbying, & Public Service
Health (e.g. HIPPA and other laws impacting health settings)
School (e.g. IDEA and other laws impacting education settings)
General Social Work Practice (risk management, legal and ethical
issues, malpractice)
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Offering mental health and social work services, clinical and
otherwise, to employees and their families of the criminal and
juvenile justice systems - with a particular focus on law
enforcement officers and their families;
The entire landscape associated with Juvenile Justice, (PINS
Petitions, Juvenile Delinquency petitions as well as their family
members;
Family Court parameters , i.e. Orders of Protection, assisting
family members when they are witnesses or victims of family
based crimes.
Assisting individuals when they are required to offer testimony in
all, of the above areas - as well as when the FSW is acting as an
advocate in plea negotiations with either Attorney's General
offices, AUSA's or district attorneys.
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
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A social worker in a foreign
land i.e. law school
Seeking complementarity
Identifying an
interdisciplinary nexus:
common ground –
advocacy
preparing social worker for
forensic jobs/settings
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Long Island University
Initial frustration with
Social Workers losing their
compass and aligning
themselves with the
criminal and/or juvenile
justice system
Approached the University
with the idea for FSW
program
Crafted courses as a
‘thank you’ gift to the
university
UNLV - > George Mason
University
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Program launched Fall
2005
Successfully bridged
School with community
through small student
cohorts
Victim of budget cuts as
program was being
transition to 100% online
GMU ????
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Long Island University
Program launched Fall
2011
2 classes offered per
semester
Instructors have over 40
years of combined
experience in macro and
clinical FSW
Direct Practice Intervention
Stages (micro)
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Exploration and
Engagement
Planning / Goal Setting
Assessment
Intervention
Termination (Transition)
Program Development Stages
(macro)
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Exploration, Assessment
and Engagement
o Focus Groups
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Planning
o Practice and pedagogy
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Implementation
o Curriculum development
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Evaluation and
Modification
o Program evolution
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Individual v. Group Intervention/Treatment
Eclectic v. Generalist Approach
Boundary Issues with Criminal Justice Personnel (probation,
parole, corrections officers)
Recordkeeping – “less is more” doctrine
Advocacy & Compassion (in a criminal justice context)
Mediating & Family Case Conferencing - neutrality
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The NEED
o Majority of criminal and family law human services are provided by
social workers
o Few programs; no uniform expectations of competency
o Local/regional needs?
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Making the Practitioner-University connection
o Personal network or affiliations
o Opportunities for scholarship; collaborations
o Field practicum as a key avenue for building FSW partnerships
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Working with our professional organizations
o NOFSW - should lead the charge!
• Developing educational standards; FSW competency guidelines
• Foster program development connections
o NASW – Social Work and the Courts (specialty practice section)
o ABA - Section of Dispute Resolution
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Cultural Competence
o Practitioners - learn to understand the university culture, and
o Universities – learn to honor the contributions of practitioners
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CSWE Accreditation and Core Competencies
o Social work educational programs view all programmatic changes
and proposals through the lens of their accreditation status
o Social work educators view all proposals through the lens of tenure
and promotion
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Use social work skills to effect change in social work
education!
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What are the goals of a FSW program?
What qualities of an FSW worker should the program aim to
produce?
What are the benefits of the prospective FSW program to
the university, the social work profession, and society
(justice)?
How YOUR program addresses the answers to the above
questions informs how the program should be evaluated
and modified along the way.
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Building University – Practitioner partnerships: Practitioner
Perspective
o List all university contacts in local social work program
• If you don’t personally know any SW faculty, how might you make a
connection?
• Who can act as your faculty ALLY? (shared vision)
o What are local faculty areas of research or expertise?
• Can link most areas of SW to FSW
o List action steps to survey FSW colleagues about the education and
training they wish they had?
• Curriculum and continuing education opportunities
Dr. Hardy combines her background/training in social work (M.S.W., 1988),
clinical psychology (Ph.D., 1994), law (J.D., 2006) to promote transformative
experiential learning through field education. She joined the faculty at George
Mason University after having served as the Director of Field Education for the
University of Nevada, Las Vegas for nearly 13 years. While at UNLV, she was
administratively active in such diverse capacities as Graduate Coordinator, Child
Welfare Title IV-E Coordinator and Assistant Director of the School of Social
Work. In 2008, she was the recipient of the NASW-Nevada Chapter Social
Worker of the Year Award. She is a past-president of the National Organization
of Forensic Social Work, and contributes to the editorial board for the Journal of
Forensic Social Work. Her other scholarly and service interests include clinical
supervision, management and program development, and cultural competence.
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Contact Information –
George Mason University, Dept. of Social Work
shardy8@gmu.edu
(703) 993-4245
Robert Mulligan holds a master’s degree in Social Work from Adelphi University, Garden
City, NY and Bachelor’s (1978) and Master's (1981) Degrees in Criminal Justice,
C.W.Post of Long Island University.
Mr. Mulligan has worked for Nassau County Jail Social Worker for Nassau TASC program
of the Educational Assistance Center in Port Washington, NY from 1979 through 1987.
This employment involved conducting in-depths evaluative interviews with inmates,
determining appropriateness for the TASC program and completing thorough forensic
valuations with treatment recommendations to the Court. He additionally ran weekly
drug and alcohol treatment groups for the inmates from 1980 through 1983. He has
been Certified as a DWI evaluator treatment provider in NYS since 1988.
He is currently in private practice (1987 to present) - specializing in Psychotherapy and
Forensic Social Work. He has participated in thousands of criminal and juvenile justice
cases with charges ranging from Petit Larceny to Homicide - from local Courts, County
Courts through Appellate Division in NYS My mitigation reports have also been accepted
in several Federal District Court matters from coast to coast. He has offered testimony,
(written and oral) in all previously mentioned jurisdictions. He is grateful and humbled by
the fact that he has had a waiting list (of candidates vying to work with him) since shortly
after opening his doors. He offers clinical supervision to other licensed social workers
as well as provides field supervision to graduate-level students. He has also discovered
a love for teaching and is an adjunct professor at
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For your attendance and participation in this workshop!