I really wish the Bears were as successful last night against the Packers as the 2009 NASW IL Statewide Conference was last week. The last two days of the conference were packed with high level workshops, lots of networking and a culminating Friday morning plenary with Dr. Frederic Reamer.
Thursday was the marathon day at the conference. Workshops began at 8:30 am and lasted all day until 6:00 pm. I had the opportunity and pleasure to present a legislative update workshop in the 4:30 pm slot with NASW IL Governmental Affairs Consultant, Phil Milsk. I spent a great deal of the day going in and out of workshops and admiring the great expertise and efforts are presenters expended on their presentations. On Thursday evening, many conference attendees gathered at Dave and Busters, just north of the hotel, to network and have fun.
Friday’s ethics plenary featured Dr. Frederic Reamer and a panel from the NASW IL Chapter Committee on Ethics (CEC). The NASW IL Chapter Committee on Ethics serves as a resource on ethics for chapter members and develops ethics trainings throughout the state of Illinois. The panelists included:
Brent Diers, LCSW, ACSW, is the current Chair of the NASW IL Chapter Committee on Ethics (CEC). Brent serves as the Executive Director of Lutherbrook Child and Adolescent Center of Lutheran Child and Family Services of Illinois.
Natalie Holzman, LCSW, served as CEC Chair from 2000-2007. She maintains a private practice in Chicago, IL. She also serves as one of the NASW IL Licensure Review Course Instructors and NASW IL Ethics trainers.
Katharine (Kitty) Mann, PhD, LCSW, served as CEC Chair from 1995 – 2000. She serves an adjunct instructor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration and ethics trainer for the NASW IL Chapter. She also maintains a private practice in Chicago, IL.
Brent, Natalie and Kitty presented a brief overview of the Committee’s services as well as discussed some of the types of cases the Committee sees through its intake or “warm” line process.
In addition to being the pre-eminent expert on social work ethics in the country, Dr. Reamer is a very engaging presenter. Among the many things he discussed, he stressed that we now have a conceptual apparatus regarding ethics that is very mature and strong. Contemporary ethics is not just about doing the right thing, but about minimizing risk. He added that the core knowledge that students and practitioners need to know include: ethical dilemmas (the “hard” cases); ethical decision making (what social workers need to know to make sound decisions) and ethics risk management. He also suggested that Chapter Ethics Committees need to focus more on the following:
1) Strengthening case consultation;
2) Policy (practice acts, confidentiality acts, State agency regulations) – all have ethics considerations;
3) Education;
4) Helping people conduct social work audits (“looking under the hood” ) as this serves as a preventative move;
5) Leadership Development – training a new cadre of social workers in ethics work.
Dr. Reamer’s power point presentation will be posted on pathable, our online conference community site for the next month beginning later this week.
I really want to thank our sponsors and exhibitors who helped make this year’s conference possible. And to the many student monitors in their bright blue polos, a big thank you for being patient in stamping attendees CEU forms. They probably had the hardest job of the whole conference! And finally, I want to thank the close to 700 persons who attended this year’s conference. I am sure that many of you came away re-energized and more knowledgeable and affirmed the reason you went into this noble profession.
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