Strategic Directions 2019–2024

Improving the Lives People Live

Here we present our vision, our priorities, and our future directions distilled from our strategic planning process, which included an examination of the external environment and trends affecting schools of social work; an internal assessment; and outreach to students, faculty, alumni, staff, University administrators, and leaders in the field.

Our Vision

BCSSW endeavors to improve vulnerable lives through pioneering social work education, research, scholarship, and practice at home and in the world.

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Header photo: Mark Katzman

“At BCSSW, we are drawing on the foundations of the profession and others to prepare students for social work practice and research to advance the common good. Our faculty is intentional in training MSW students and doctoral scholars to focus on people facing compound needs. We are innovating in research and practice in collaboration with relevant disciplines and professions, social work practice partners, and communities. These networks leverage the strength of diverse fields and draw on the perspectives of communities who are experiencing the social problems of concern to us in Boston and around the globe.”
Gautam N. Yadama, Professor and Dean of Boston College School of Social Work

Five-year Goals

In the next five years, BCSSW will commit knowledge and resources to:

  • Prepare social work students and practitioners to be innovative and effective in responding to challenges and opportunities in a diverse and ever-changing world;
  • Create vibrant exchanges, identify social problems and emerging trends, and stimulate translational research and scholarship that informs practice interventions; and
  • Generate a deeper understanding of, and robust solutions to, complex social problems.
Solution-Focused Therapy workshop designed for Latinx communities

Our Path Forward

BCSSW is pursuing strategies to reimagine social work education and training; to develop partnerships in research and practice; and to draw upon and work across disciplines. Our school will focus on five interrelated and reinforcing strategic areas:

  1. Social Work Education
  2. Equity, Justice, and Inclusion
  3. Interventions with Diverse Populations
  4. Global Social Work Practice
  5. Innovations in Practice and Research
CBSD workshop in Rwanda

Our Strategic Areas

Social Work Education

We will work to ensure that our curriculum is competitive, relevant, and distinct, and prepares students and practitioners with the tools they need for clinical and macro practice in all communities. We are committed to training students who apply systems thinking to adapt and implement clinical and macro interventions for better lives and social progress.

Key initiatives:

  • Examine structures of concentrations and certificate programs and explore new models of delivery for core courses in the MSW program
  • Develop coursework at both the graduate and undergraduate levels and certificates at the graduate level with other schools at Boston College
  • Continue to develop programming for student formation
  • Build capacity of students to use new concepts, tools, and methods from systems science and design thinking for better practice and sound research

LEARN ABOUT OUR PROGRESS

A Black fist inside a yellow circle

‘I think programs like the Black Leadership Initiative should be everywhere’

Students reflect on why they chose to join the BLI, a new program that prepares social workers to tackle some of the biggest problems facing Black communities.
A desk with a notebook that says "diversity" and "equality"

BCSSW creates certificate program to prepare social workers to improve equality in the workplace

The program, called “Leaders for Equity and Justice in the Workplace,” will launch in fall 2021.

An illustration that shows the outline of a baby in the foreground and the bodies of two adults in the background

The impact of trauma

A multifaceted initiative launched by the School of Social Work will enable the school to become a national thought leader in addressing the impact of trauma on individuals, families, and communities, organizers say.
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BCSSW receives grant to train social workers to reduce the harm caused by opioids

The funding will enable a select group of students to complete paid internships at organizations that promote a well-known public health strategy that aims to decrease the negative effects of opioid use.
Resmaa Menakem

How social workers can break the yoke of oppression

“Social workers have to create room for communities to reclaim and reestablish their own ways of healing,” says Resmaa Menakem, a social worker and trauma specialist who spoke to students, faculty, and staff earlier this month. If you missed the event, you can watch it now.
An illustration of a person doing a breathing exercise

Here’s why this professor starts every class with a guided meditation

Kathleen Flinton, an assistant professor of practice, says guided meditation prepares students to help clients cope with trauma while guarding themselves against its effects.

Equity, Justice, and Inclusion

We will expand our pioneering work to train leaders who develop policies, practices, and interventions that advance equity, justice, and inclusion across the University and in diverse communities. At the school, we will continue to build a caring, respectful, and inclusive community that prospers and flourishes because of diversity.

Key initiatives:

  • Conduct an assessment of BCSSW’s implicit and explicit curricula with regard to equity, justice, and inclusion
  • Create trainings and events for the BCSSW community
  • Increase the investment in the Latinx Leadership Initiative
  • Create certificate programs in leadership for diversity and inclusion in organizations
  • Design and implement studies about equity, justice, and inclusion to understand the experiences of inclusion/marginalization of underrepresented groups at the workplace and the steps that organizations are taking to address issues related to equity, justice, and inclusion

LEARN ABOUT OUR PROGRESS

A Black fist inside a yellow circle

‘I think programs like the Black Leadership Initiative should be everywhere’

Students reflect on why they chose to join the BLI, a new program that prepares social workers to tackle some of the biggest problems facing Black communities.
Samuel Bradley, Jr., an assistant professor, teaches his students how to help their employers cultivate diversity and inclusion in the workplace.

BCSSW is working to infuse equity, justice, and inclusion into learning, teaching, and scholarship

The Equity, Justice, and Inclusion Committee wants to tackle inequalities that contribute to unfair outcomes in the classroom, better prepare students to work with diverse populations around the world, and create a culture steeped in mutual respect and lifelong learning.
People protest at a Black Lives Matter rally

‘Our values force us to not conduct business as usual, but to shine a spotlight on injustices’

Students and faculty in the School of Social Work have reshaped classes and reimagined assignments to address anti-black racism in the wake of the unjust killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery.

A photo of students and faculty in the Latinx Leadership Initiative

The Latinx Leadership Initiative wins national award for accelerating the success of Latinx students in higher education

The LLI has been named a 2020 Example of Excelencia by Excelencia in Education, the only national effort to identify and promote evidence-based practices that help accelerate Latinx student success in higher education.

Black Lives Matter

How to dismantle white supremacy in social work

“We need to start thinking more profoundly about the way we approach every aspect of how we live together as a community in order to root out racism,” Vincent D. Rougeau, dean of the Law School, said in a one-on-one conversation with Gautam N. Yadama, dean of the School of Social Work.

From left to right: Suelen Yancor, Susan Tohn, and Ximena Soto

They created videos to help social workers serve Latinx clients. You can request access to them.

Members of the BCSSW community must complete a short form to apply to receive the videos and companion guides.

Interventions with Diverse Populations

We will tailor and offer evidence-based clinical and policy interventions to diverse populations. Over time, we will strengthen existing partnerships and develop new alliances with communities, government agencies, NGOs, and for-profit organizations to develop, adapt, and implement evidence-based interventions and to build and disseminate research expertise and knowledge.

Key initiatives:

  • Continue and expand family-strengthening interventions with diverse populations
  • Lay the groundwork for new interventions, including clinical and behavioral interventions for diverse populations
  • Create resources for diverse populations, such as solution-focused therapy videos in Spanish for Latinx communities
  • Create a database for the systematic review of evidence-based clinical interventions
  • Hire faculty and post-doctoral fellows with expertise in clinical and behavioral interventions with diverse populations

LEARN ABOUT OUR PROGRESS

Photo of Maggi Price

She wants to improve mental health therapy for transgender youth

Maggi Price, a newly hired assistant professor, has analyzed clinical interviews and survey data to better understand the experiences that transgender youth have had in therapy. Here’s what she found.

Yvonne Castañeda, a psychotherapist at the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center, says the coronavirus has raised the level of anxiety among Latinx clients who view the pandemic as a major threat to their health, financial stability, and day-to-day lives. Photo by iStock.

The coronavirus has hit Latinx people hard. A graduate wants to ease their anxiety.

“I’m reminding my clients to use the coping skills they’ve learned to pull them out of an uncertain future and bring them back to the certain present,” says Yvonne Castañeda, a recent graduate who provides mental health care to Latinx patients at the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center.
Christopher Salas-Wright

He wants to improve the lives of migrants who have been forced to leave their homes, their languages, and their cultures

Newly hired professor Christopher Salas-Wright is working to develop strategies that social workers, civic leaders, and educators can use to help migrants make the most of their new lives in the wake of natural disasters and political crises.

In one video, a high school teacher who founded bhutaneseliterature.com provided tips for parents to help their children learn even if they are not familiar with the education system in the United States.

These videos in Nepali teach Bhutanese refugees about the coronavirus

The videos, created in part by the Research Program on Children and Adversity, provide tips to prevent COVID-19, dispel myths about the disease, and present strategies for parents to help their children cope with the pandemic.
From left to right: Suelen Yancor, Susan Tohn, and Ximena Soto

They created videos to help social workers serve Latinx clients. You can request access to them.

Members of the BCSSW community must complete a short form to apply to receive the videos and companion guides.

Kathleen Flinton

This social worker has treated trauma survivors for more than 20 years. Now she wants to teach students what she’s learned. 

Kathleen Flinton, a newly hired assistant professor of practice, provides psychotherapy to political dissidents who have survived torture and struggled to remake their lives in the United States.

Global Social Work Practice

We will expand current work in clinical and behavioral interventions in low- and middle-income countries with a particular emphasis on children, youth, and women in conflict and crises. We will also deepen our commitment to sustainable development and address the impact of poverty and exclusion on social, health, environmental, and gender inequities.

Key initiatives:

  • Establish a Global and Local Sustainable Development Hub at BCSSW to track, train, and impact health and social development at the global level, including facilitating direct interactions between BCSSW’s faculty and students and its global partners
  • Strengthen our collaborations and relationships with Catholic Relief Services, the Jesuit Refugee Service, and UNICEF
  • Hold a Global Migration Conference
  • Continue research at the intersection of energy, environment, and health on rural poor in India in partnership with the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society
  • Develop a mid-career program in global humanitarian practice
  • Adapt, test, and scale evidence-based interventions with children and families facing acute disruptions around the world

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Afghan citizens pack inside a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III

2,000 Afghans are staying at Fort McCoy in Wisconsin. A BC social worker is there to support them.

Maryanne Loughry, a part-time faculty member who consults for the Jesuit Refugee Service, is helping to create a temporary wellness center at the military base and hopes to train volunteers to administer psychological first aid.
A woman cooking in India

Personal networks may hold key to adoption of cleaner cooking fuels in India

A first-of-its-kind study led by BC School of Social Work researchers finds that personal networks in India could play an important role in advancing the adoption of a cleaner cooking fuel, in this case liquefied petroleum gas.
A screenshot of the report "A Population in Peril"

A population in peril

A joint report by the Boston College School of Social Work and Harvard Global Health Institute describes a serious public health crisis at the United States-Mexico border, where thousands of migrants seeking asylum are vulnerable due to hazardous conditions.
Photo of Jannah Muhammad and Kevin O'Brien

Two members of Class of 2020 receive fellowships from Catholic Relief Services to do humanitarian work in Asia and Africa

Jannah Muhammad and Kevin O’Brien, both of whom graduated from the School of Social Work in May, will work approximately 5,000 miles apart from each other. But they’ll share the same goal: to improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the world.

Christopher Salas-Wright

He wants to improve the lives of migrants who have been forced to leave their homes, their languages, and their cultures

Newly hired professor Christopher Salas-Wright is working to develop strategies that social workers, civic leaders, and educators can use to help migrants make the most of their new lives in the wake of natural disasters and political crises.

A photo of Theresa Betancourt

Her research improves the lives of children and families all over the world

Theresa Betancourt, who directs the Research Program on Children and Adversity, recently received a prestigious award for developing programs that improve the mental health of kids and their parents in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and the United States.

Innovations in Practice and Research

We will build a platform of innovative practices and approaches to help improve life in diverse and vulnerable communities in Boston and abroad. We will strategically strengthen our capability in novel problem-solving and engage in inter- and transdisciplinary approaches to adapt, test, and scale evidence-based interventions to address pressing complex social problems.

Key initiatives:

  • Build and leverage our expertise and capacity in systems science, implementation science, data science, and design thinking to adapt, test, and scale evidence-based interventions with communities and practice partners
  • Broaden the scope of the Center for Social Innovation and strengthen its focus to address complex social challenges through  innovative problem-solving approaches and interdisciplinary collaborations with practitioners and communities
  • Contribute to and partner with the Schiller Institute for Integrated Science and Society in curricular and research innovations addressing complex social challenges
  • Create response processes that address evolving needs of practitioners and community organizations

LEARN ABOUT OUR PROGRESS

Samantha Teixeira and Rebekah Levine Coley

A public housing complex in South Boston is being redeveloped into a mixed-income community. How will the makeover affect the health of its residents?

A team of researchers, led by faculty in the School of Social Work and the Lynch School of Education and Human Development, has received a $3 million grant to survey residents, collect physiological samples, and measure environmental conditions such as air quality.

A police car with its siren on

Here’s how police violence affects the mental health of young Black adults

Assistant professor Robert Motley has found that Black people aged 18 to 29 experience an increase in anger, depression, and hypervigilance when they are exposed to police violence that is perceived to be motivated by racism.
An illustration that shows the outline of a baby in the foreground and the bodies of two adults in the background

The impact of trauma

A multifaceted initiative launched by the School of Social Work will enable the school to become a national thought leader in addressing the impact of trauma on individuals, families, and communities, organizers say.
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Reducing homelessness among Boston public school students

The Boston College School of Social Work will collaborate with the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley to evaluate the effectiveness of a program designed to prevent homelessness in students in grades K-8.
A photo of Kirsten Davison

Nearly 20 percent of children in the US have obesity. She wants to decrease that number.

Kirsten Davison, the Donahue and DiFelice Endowed Professor in the School of Social Work, recently received a fellowship from the Institute for Implementation Science Scholars, a program at Washington University in St. Louis that trains researchers to improve the adoption of evidence-based practices that reduce chronic diseases such as obesity.

Photo of a parent disciplining a child

Public health researcher wants to reduce childhood trauma and corporal punishment

“Exposure to violence really puts children at a disadvantage in terms of their ability to be as happy and healthy as they can be as adults,” says newly hired professor Catherine Taylor. “It became clear to me that if we could intervene in early childhood, we could set people up for better health throughout their lives.”
Vision Impact Graph for the School of Social Work

Acknowledgments

BCSSW would like to thank the members of our community who contributed to the development of this strategic plan.

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