Hamovitch P.I.Pioneering Interventions

A researchpublication of the

USC School ofSocial Work

Hamovitch Centerfor Science in theHuman Services

Vol. 3, Issue 3

Fall 2013

You have in your hands a special issue

of Hamovitch P.I. summarizing some of

the highlights of the 7th International

Conference on Social Work in Health and

Mental Health led by the USC School of

Social Work and the Los Angeles County

Department of Mental Health. As opposed

to the service delivery system in the United

States, the number of social workers in

health and mental health care sectors is

limited in many countries. Therefore, this

international conference series, held since

1995, has represented the most important

venue in which health and mental health

social workers can meet their fellow

international and compatriot profession-

als to exchange knowledge, experiences,

and skills.

Los Angeles, which boasts the nation’s

largest school of social work at USC and an

expansive social service system overseen

by the Department of Mental Health, rep-

resented an ideal site for this international

encounter. This conference proved to be a

shining example of ongoing collaboration

between a leading academic institution

and a top-tier social work service agency.

This issue provides a taste of the rich-

ness of plenary sessions, abstract and

poster presentations, and numerous site

visits to local service agencies enjoyed by

more than 700 participants this summer.

[ from the director ]

Under a sunny Southern California sky, hundreds of leading social work researchers, clinicians, and policy makers convened to discuss the latest breakthroughs in health and mental health during a recent international conference led by the USC School of Social Work and the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health.

Held in the United States for the first time in its nearly two-decade history, the 7th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health featured more than 300 presen-tations and discussions on critical issues such as aging, integrated care, and homelessness.

“Southern California and the greater Los Angeles metropolitan area really is an ideal loca-tion to focus on the role of social work in client-centered health and mental health,” Marilyn Flynn, dean of the USC School of Social Work, said in her opening address to conference attendees. “Because of the size and diversity of our population, we’ve introduced many innovations in research and practice in client-centered care.”

Participants witnessed many of those strategies in practice during field visits to more than 30 ser-vice providers and clinics throughout the region,

[ inside this issue ]

Professor offers personal

account of struggles with

schizophrenia

page 2

Symposium series focuses

on mental health care in the

Canadian military

page 6

Speaker describes path forward

for social work in the context of

health care reform

page 5

PATHWAYS | continued on page 10

Haluk Soydan, Ph.D.

Director of the Hamovitch Center

International conference draws leading social work scholars

[ news ]

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A group of conference attendees toured the Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center, including a visit to the emergency helipad.

hamovitch p.i. | usc.edu/socialwork/research 2

[ plenary session ]

“The humanity we all share is more

important than the mental illness we

may not. With proper treatment, someone with mental illness will lead a full and

rich life.”

Elyn Saks

Professor describes personal battle with schizophrenia

Elyn Saks, a professor with the USC Gould School of Law, discussed how schizophrenia

has affected her personal and professional life during the conference’s closing session.

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SAKS | continued on page 3

In a calm, almost detached manner, Elyn Saks described fantasizing about suicide and self-immolation.

She described falling into a deep depression, losing weight, and injuring herself on purpose.

She described looking into the mirror one day as a graduate student at Oxford University and not recognizing the emaci-ated, vacant-eyed, wild-haired woman staring back.

As the final speaker during the 7th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health, Saks described her personal battle with schizo-phrenia and offered several strategies to ensure others don’t face the same struggle.

Despite being diagnosed with chronic schizophrenia and given a poor prognosis, Saks earned degrees from Oxford University and Yale University, recently received a MacArthur Fellowship, and teaches mental health and family law at the USC Gould School of Law.

She documented her experi-ences in The Center Cannot Hold: My Journey Through Madness, a book she quoted from exten-sively during her speech begin-ning with a description of her childhood in Florida.

Although she had caring par-ents and didn’t experience any significant trauma, Saks said she was prone to night terrors and phobias, turned to drug use for a brief time, and as a teen-ager began to feel her identity was coming apart at the seams.

At age 15, she experienced a psychotic episode at school and left her classroom to walk home.“As I walked along, I began

to notice that the colors and shapes of everything around me were becoming very intense, and at some point I began to realize that the houses I was passing were sending messages to me,” she said. “Look closely, you are special. You are espe-cially bad.”

Tired, hot, and frightened, she told her parents what she had seen and heard. They took her to drug rehab and nothing more was said of the incident.

At Vanderbilt University, Saks became class valedictorian and excelled, but warning signs emerged. Her personal hygiene was appalling. She had more episodes that, although ulti-mately resolved, scared her.

While studying ancient phi-losophy at Oxford University on a Marshall Scholarship, she was diagnosed with severe depression and mild paranoia. She lost weight, dropping below 100 pounds despite her 5-foot, 10-inch frame. She withdrew from others.“I wasn’t supposed to talk,”

Saks said. “I thought talking would spread my evil around.”

She visited a psychiatrist and checked herself into a hospital. When she saw her reflection one day, of a gaunt-faced and disheveled stranger, she vowed to do whatever it took to get out of the hospital, even agreeing to take antipsychotic medica-tion. For four months, nothing seemed to work, until she was referred to a psychoanalyst.

Saks said she felt heard in those sessions, that her analyst wanted to know what she was thinking and feeling. Her psy-choanalyst also recommended that Saks stay at Oxford and continue her studies.“That was very wise,” she said.

“The doctors were recommending that I withdraw from school and go back to the States.”

Although her psychosis con-tinued, Saks was able to find respite in her work and after graduating, she applied to law school. At Yale University, her thoughts again spiraled out of

hamovitch p.i. | usc.edu/socialwork/research3

SAKS | from page 2

Speaker highlights sociopolitical and historical factors in health inequities

[ plenary session ]

Health inequities among different populations are not solely a function of personal attributes and biological factors—the larger effects of history and society on the health of individuals must be considered.

That was the argument posed by Nancy Krieger during a plenary speech at the 7th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health, that disease and death cannot be viewed solely from a fixed perspective of population traits based on individual characteris-tics but must include both societal and ecological contexts to understand the nature of risk.“Observed differences

between populations are simply that: observed in a given context, not clear-cut indicators of innate difference,” said Krieger, a professor of social epide-miology with the Harvard School of Public Health.

“Decontextualized theo-ries and explanations can be not only deceptive but dangerous, potentially posing a threat to societal health and exacerbating health inequities.”

She outlined the use of epidemiology in relation to population science as a strategy to explore health inequities based on analysis of population distribution and health-related phenomena. Determining how populations are defined, as well as who has developed those definitions, is essential to push past the dominant assumption that individuals within a larger group can be considered representative of the whole.“We have to remember we are not one

day a woman or a man, another day white or a person of color, another day straight KRIEGER | continued on page 12

or LGBT, another day working class or a professional, and still another day native or foreign-born,” she said. “We are all of these at once, with our histories, individual and societal. … Our bodies integrate this knowledge every day, and it is up to us to do likewise conceptually and analytically, so that we can contribute our public health knowledge for all people to live healthy and

dignified lives.”History, Krieger said, is

an essential component of how scientists, clinicians, and social workers perceive epidemiological theory and culture when attempting to reduce health inequi-ties across different racial, ethnic, gender, and demo-graphic populations.

Two views outline how health inequities are understood, she said. The dominant view, which informs most contempo-rary research on disease distribution, focuses on the implicit biophysical nature of health, that pat-terns of disease are merely reflective of individual cases and thus the whole is the sum of its parts.

In contrast, the alterna-tive view focuses on the theoretical premises of health, is population ori-ented, and recognizes cause

and effect in shaping social contexts; thus, the whole shapes the properties of its parts.

Theory, or how causal inferences are con-structed, should be the driving force behind both perspectives when analyzing variables involved in health inequities, Krieger said, and is necessary for elucidating how dif-ferent social contexts influence health.“Theory is fundamental, such that any

science concerned with explaining causal

By Charli Engelhorn

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“We need to understand how our bodies daily

embody and integrate our experiences ... how denial of dignity in one domain might translate

into another.”

Nancy Krieger

control and she had a major breakdown on the roof of the law school library.

After visiting a professor to seek an exten-sion, she was taken to the emergency room and violently restrained on a metal bed with thick leather straps. Saks described the half-groan, half-scream that escaped her lips as barely human and full of terror.“I was an exhibit, a specimen, a bug impaled

on a pin and helpless to escape,” she said.Five months of hospitalization followed,

including up to 20 hours a day in restraints, occasional forced medication, and little pri-vacy. She was not allowed to speak to anyone, including her parents, outside the presence of hospital employees. Nonetheless, she returned to Yale the following year.“It never occurred to me that I wouldn’t

finish my degree, although it had occurred to a lot of other people,” Saks said.

She entered psychoanalytic treatment again and excelled academically, being selected as class marshal during graduation. After a stressful yet boring stint at a legal services office, she decided to enter aca-demia and eventually took a position with the USC Gould School of Law.

Having found a new psychoanalyst, Saks said she began to avoid taking medica-tion and tried to hide what she was feeling. Thoughts of evil beings surrounding her began to flood her mind. She saw an expert on schizophrenia who urged her to enter a hospital or at the very least avoid work.

When she met a colleague in the hall one day, Saks began to describe seeing little people and explosions. Her colleague, who had a basic understanding of her illness, realized what was happening and drove her home. She agreed to take medication again.“I could not deny the truth and I could

not change it,” Saks said. “The law that kept me, Elyn, Professor Saks, separate from that insane woman I had seen in that mirror long ago lay smashed and in ruins.”

She began taking a new antipsychotic drug, Zyprexa, and eventually switched to clozapine, which had fewer side effects. Her illness was still there, she said, but it wasn’t pushing her around. “The clinical result was, not to overstate it, like daylight dawning after a long night,” she said.

In the years that followed, Saks met a librarian at USC named Will who invited her to lunch and then to the Antelope

SCHIZOPHRENIA | continued on page 12

hamovitch p.i. | usc.edu/socialwork/research 4

Allies of youth[ field visit ]

More than 300 homeless youths between 18 and 24 years of age find a safe haven in the Jeff Griffith Youth Center each month.

The center, established in 1995 and affiliated with the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center, moved into a new, larger facility in October 2012, allowing staff members to expand services for young people experiencing homelessness.“Since we have moved to our new space,

we aren’t necessarily seeing more undu-plicated youth, but the youth we do see are coming here more often,” said Kris Namath, the center’s director. “They are coming back because they feel safer and more engaged. It’s working.”

A group of attendees of the 7th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health toured the facility and learned about the different programs and services the center offers to the homeless youth pop-ulation in Los Angeles.

Those programs include legal services and counseling, case management, out-reach, mental health services, medical triage and testing, HIV/STD interven-tions, individual behavioral counseling and future planning, and group pro-grams on topics such as drugs, sexual behavior, and self-image.

Attendees toured the main hub of the center, the youth drop-in facility, where young people can find a safe place to stay, even if only for a day. The facility provides computers, laundry machines, showers with private dressing areas, clothing, and personal hygiene supplies.

Two outreach workers, a health edu-cator, and five case managers help cli-ents navigate the facilities and develop a sense of independence and normalcy; youths are free to use services as needed.“We start with basic-level interven-

tions to start building relationships and have conversations about simple aspects of daily life,” Namath said. “We try to keep things on a standard schedule and model how life typically works to pro-vide some structure.”

Youths are free to come and go as they please. Their belongings are not

YOUTH | continued on page 5

[ plenary session ]

Speaker outlines disability reform in Sweden

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By Charli Engelhorn

Address highlights legacy of social work[ plenary session ]

In a rousing speech to fellow social workers during the opening festivities of the 7th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health, Elizabeth Clark delivered an emphatic argument that the profession needs to assume leadership on issues of social justice and human rights around the world.

Clark, the immediate past CEO of the National Association of Social Workers, called on attendees to embrace the con-ference theme of client-centered care and follow the example of historical figures in the social work field.“I’m asking you at this conference to own

our expertise,” she said. “We have a very rich legacy to build on.”

That legacy includes Jane Addams, Clark said, describing the well-known founder of Hull House and advocate for peace and women’s rights during the late 1800s and early 1900s. She also cited Dorothy Height, an activist in the civil rights and women’s movements who served as a social worker

until two months before her death in 2010 at the age of 98.

As her final example, Clark highlighted the accomplishments of Barbara Lee, a

CLARK | continued on page 11

As minister of social affairs and deputy prime minister of Sweden in the early 1990s, Bengt Westerberg oversaw one of the most expansive reforms of disability policy in the country’s history.

Rather than receiving community-based services or being forced to live in institu-tional settings, individuals with significant mental and physical disabilities in Sweden benefit from personal assistants.

Despite its expense, which is difficult to compare to other forms of care due to com-plex factors such as loss of family income and reduced social interaction, Westerberg said the personal assistance approach has improved the lives of many individuals.“For thousands of Swedes, the right to

personal assistance has meant a freedom never before experienced, a revolution for those with the most significant impair-ments,” he said during a plenary session of the 7th International Conference on Bengt Westerberg, former deputy prime minister of

Sweden, described efforts to improve disability services.

Outlining social work from a global perspective, Elizabeth

Clark called on attendees to embrace leadership roles.

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hamovitch p.i. | usc.edu/socialwork/research5searched, but they must be stored upon entry. Privacy is an important aspect of the center, Namath said, explaining that having a few moments to themselves might be the only positive experience of the day for some clients.

Beyond the necessities of health and hygiene, the center provides GED training and job support. The education program is self-paced, and specialists and tutors help clients study and take them to GED testing sites. Thirty-five youths have graduated so far.

The job center also offers career work-shops, internships, shadow opportuni-ties, job placement, and support after attaining a position. Training is provided for the interview process, and clothes are available for interviews and jobs.“We have been building this program

for the last two years, and over the last month, we had 100 youth using this pro-gram, which is a record,” said Namath.

“Some have skills already and some don’t, but we are seeing there is no wrong door.”

The center’s emergency housing pro-gram provides 20 beds and four overflow cots. Beds are available on a first-served basis and youths are allowed to stay for extended periods, if necessary. If the center runs out of space, case managers link clients with other agencies that provide shelter. Beds are gender neutral and based on the gender identity of each individual, which can change on a daily basis, Namath said.“This is a safe place for them, so we

do not force them to choose an identity for their duration,” she said. “Of course, if a female desires a female-only room, arrangements are made to accommodate that. And if a youth has never been on the street, we will find them somewhere, even a couch.”

Erica Myrtle-Holmes, a conference attendee from the Veterans Affairs center in Washington, DC, said she chose this field visit to learn more about LGBT culture and the services most valued by LGBT individuals.“A lot of vets are coming out, and it’s

good to learn a little about the issues and how to help these people,” she said. “There are similarities between the youth here and our population as far as searching for where they belong and finding a sense of community. I think they do a great job of creating a com-munity for the youth here.” t

YOUTH | from page 4

Professor plots path in new era of health care

With the advent of the Affordable Care Act, Sarah Gehlert believes the need for social workers in the health system will increase substantially and their roles will mirror those of the social work profession’s founding members.

Starting with Ida Cannon, the first full-time hospital social worker, she described the history of the health social worker as an advocate and translator of medical information during a plenary session at the 7th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health.“Health social work has

been through a lot in its first 100-plus years and has weathered multiple challenges with grace and agility,” said Gehlert, a professor at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work and the Department of Surgery at Washington University. “Its focus on client-centered-ness is as strong today as it ever has been, but there are still challenges to be faced.”

Meeting the needs of immigrants and refugees, as well as the increasing number of individuals affected by violence and war, is a major challenge. Approximately 20 per-cent of U.S. residents are born outside the country to immigrant parents and an esti-mated 21 million individuals will remain uninsured in 2015 due to undocumented status and barriers involved in purchasing insurance through new exchanges.

The need to convince the medical field of the importance of social factors in health care and adapt how sick people are treated echoes the challenges faced by social workers at the turn of the 20th century.

More than 35 million Europeans immi-grated to lower Manhattan in New York City between 1820 and 1924, creating a health crisis due to overcrowded tenements, unsanitary living conditions, food shortages, and a high rate of infant death. Multiple languages and cultural ideas about illness and treatment complicated the situation.“You couldn’t help but notice that social

factors were affecting health and conditions,” Gehlert said. “For the first time, attitudes started to change and family size and demo-graphics started to be taken into account.”

Gehlert described the approach of Richard Cabot, a doctor who hired the first

social worker with money from his own pocket in the early 1900s. He believed social workers should give feedback and act as a translator between physi-cians and family members, in addition to providing information on social and mental health factors.

This early bidirectional communication led to a decrease of patients returning to the hospital with the same condition, which drew the attention

of leading health care officials. Placement of social workers in hospitals increased. In 1954, approximately 2,100 people attended a conference held by the American Association of Medical Social Workers.

However, a shift toward health manage-ment organizations (HMOs) by the U.S. government started an ongoing trend of increased health care costs, Gehlert said.“The effect of HMOs on social workers

was that forces were downsized and recon-figured, the duties now fell under nursing, less time was spent with the patients, and their abilities were limited in acting on their own assessment of patient needs, which made it hard to perform the work as outlined by the founders,” she said.

Social workers have responded by adapting traditional theories to fit time constraints set by HMOs and developing new roles, such as disease managers, profes-sional navigators, and care coordinators.

Gehlert sees those roles expanding to new venues, such as behavioral health clinics and service systems for veterans. She heralded the strength of researchers to develop evidence-based interventions for marginalized and vulnerable populations and emphasized the need for increased transdisciplinary collaboration.

[ plenary session ]

By Charli Engelhorn

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GEHLERT | continued on page 12

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Sharing strategies

[ field visit ]

As a major health care safety net for many individuals in Southern California, the Los Angeles County + University of Southern California Medical Center sees approximately 500 to 600 patients pass through the doors of its expansive emergency department every day.

Many are individuals who are expe-riencing homelessness, suffering from substance abuse, struggling with mental illness, or facing some combination of physical and mental health issues.

During a field visit to the medical center, a group of attendees from the 7th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health experienced firsthand how many of those patients receive care and referrals to outside agencies for treatment.“It was really interesting to see how

they cared for people who don’t have insurance and how the state of care is so good,” said Karen Nelson, chief of social work and director of spiritual care at Ottawa Hospital. “We hear in Canada that people get no care or terrible care, and this is a great example of how the United States does manage to care for these patients.”

Conference attendees who par-ticipated in the field visit toured the medical center’s emergency depart-ment, explored the former hospital that was recently replaced by a 1.5 million square-foot facility, and visited Exodus Recovery, a psychiatric urgent care center located across the street from the medical center.

The new hospital facility, which cost $800 million in construction and $200 million in equipment, had approxi-mately 33,000 admissions in 2011–2012 and features 76 licensed psychiatric beds.

Patricia Evans, the hospital’s clinical social worker supervisor, described the two-tiered social work department. Clinical and psychiatric social workers focus on clinical interventions and diag-noses, whereas medical caseworkers help with the discharge process and referrals.

Social workers at the medical center are integrated into multidisciplinary care teams, she said, and often play a major role in helping homeless individuals

LAC+USC | continued on page 7

[ symposium series ]

Session highlights social work in Canadian Forces

Upon returning from overseas deployments, 5 percent of service members in the Canadian Forces report symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder or depression and 11.9 percent report a mental health problem of some kind.

Responsibility for identifying and treating those mental health issues falls on the Canadian Forces Health Services, which provides social work services among other forms of care to members of the military.

During a series of symposium sessions at the 7th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health, repre-sentatives of the Canadian Forces described support for soldiers and other service mem-bers who are deployed. Lt.-Col. Suzanne Bailey, who chaired the series, said she was thrilled to share Canada’s experiences with military social work during the event.“One of the things I think is very exciting

about this conference is the opportunity for such a small organization with military social workers to be able to showcase that even though we are small, we do have some interesting research going on and collabo-ration with other nations and organiza-tions,” she said.

In Afghanistan, the Canadian military has worked in concert with other countries at Kandahar Air Field, where psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, social workers, psychol-ogists, and physicians offered health and mental health services to approximately 40,000 coalition forces and civilian con-tractors in the region.

Maj. Michele McCashion described the predeployment process for members of the Canadian Forces, as well as care provided to service members during deployment. Prior to leaving Canada, soldiers undergo an extensive screening process and attend psychoeducation classes to improve their awareness of stress management tech-niques and symptoms of mental health and behavioral problems.“We try to reinforce this because it’s when

you’re under stress that sometimes you don’t recognize these things in yourself,” McCashion said. “In a theater of operation, that stress will be amplified even more.”

Social workers conduct predeployment interviews with 500 to 800 soldiers a day, flagging any service member who exhibits concerning behavior for further assessment.

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Capt. Valérie Marceau (left), a psychosocial program leader with the Canadian Forces, speaks with Lt.-Col. Suzanne

Bailey following a symposium session on stress experienced by health and mental health workers in the military.

MILITARY | continued on page 7

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find housing and become self-sufficient, a critical strategy to help them receive consistent medical treatment rather than relying on the emergency room.

Exodus Recovery also handles a sig-nificant portion of individuals who come to the medical center due to psy-chiatric issues, helping reduce the strain on the emergency department. Kathy Shoemaker, senior vice president of clin-ical services, said the urgent care center had nearly 16,000 clients in 2012–2013.

By law, staff members at Exodus have 23 hours to stabilize clients and refer them to outside agencies.

Only 11 percent of their clients return to an inpatient unit within 30 days, Shoemaker said, along with 2 percent who return to a psychiatric emergency room and 2 percent who end up in the criminal justice system.“We believe we are doing a good job

with our partners in the community,” Shoemaker said.

After the tour, Nelson said she was impressed by the facilities and traded contact information with hospital offi-cials to explore the possibility of devel-oping an exchange program for social workers from both hospitals to experi-ence health care in new settings.“We really need to see what care is like

in the United States because Canada has a very jaded view because we hate everything that is not socialized medi-cine,” she said. “We think it is the way to go and Americans are wrong, and we only get propaganda about how bad it is here. This has opened my eyes about how it really works.” t

LAC+USC | from page 6

[ gala dinner ]

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Karen Nelson, chief of social work and director of

spiritual care at Ottawa Hospital in Canada, would

like to see increased collaboration and information

sharing among health providers across borders.

Metta World Peace, a professional basketball player born Ronald William Artest, Jr., spoke during the conference’s

gala dinner. An advocate for mental health awareness and outreach who has worked closely with the Los Angeles

County Department of Mental Health, World Peace discussed his personal struggles with mental health issues

during his childhood and how psychiatric counseling has helped him cope with challenges throughout his life.

Support staff members also help soldiers and their families prepare for deployment, ensuring that they have taken care of issues ranging from family counseling to unpaid parking tickets.

Service members who experience mental health issues during deployment typically fall into one of four categories, McCashion said. Some have preexisting problems they may be unaware of or may have been previ-ously treated for posttraumatic stress dis-order or depression. Others have disorders that manifest during deployment, such as psychosis or schizophrenia.

Some soldiers experience trauma-related problems, such as acute stress reactions to specific incidents in the field. Others are struggling with psychosocial issues or con-cerns, such as problems at home that are affecting their job.

In addition to providing treatment during deployment, members of the Canadian Forces Health Services also help soldiers transition from war to civilian life. En route to Canada, service members spend time at a decompression center in Cyprus, where they receive briefings on physiological aspects of

stress, coping strategies, and reintegration issues, in addition to rest and relaxation.

Serge Boudreau, a social worker who has deployed four times to Cyprus, said the experience allows soldiers to begin to pro-cess their experiences and have a sense of closure before returning home.“It’s not just like a light switch you can

turn off and become who you were nine months earlier,” he said. “It’s not that easy.”

Four to six months after deployment, service members complete a structured interview with mental health workers to identify any remaining mental health issues. Boudreau said that although a significant number of soldiers have mental health problems, many are already receiving care by the time they are interviewed.“If we look at some of the reasons for

that, we’re going to notice that we’re using the client-centered care approach in the Canadian Forces throughout the deploy-ment process,” he said.

That holistic approach to mental health is not limited to soldiers in Canada’s military. Capt. Valérie Marceau described a program

MILITARY | from page 6

CANADA | continued on page 12

hamovitch p.i. | usc.edu/socialwork/research 8

Leading scholars debated strategies to securing housing and integrated services for the increasing number of homeless individuals around the world during a symposium series on homelessness at the 7th International Conference on Social Work in Health and Mental Health.

Blending interdisciplinary approaches and perspectives on these issues was a major goal of the symposia, said Suzanne Wenzel, professor and research council chair at the USC School of Social Work.“We had the opportunity to tap into

some leaders in the European Union and the United States to find out how some of the most promising and cost-effective, impactful programs are helping homeless-ness,” said Wenzel, who moderated the series. “Progress in science and social policy requires an interdisciplinary approach from multiple players, and this process is helping us learn from each other.”

Speakers from the United States and Europe discussed the issue of supportive housing, emphasizing the Housing First model as a successful approach. This model involves the immediate provision of per-manent and supportive housing for all homeless individuals, regardless of mental health or substance use status.

This relatively novel approach differs greatly from typical housing models, such as a “staircase” approach, a form of the con-tinuum-of-care model in which individuals work their way up through shelters and abide by strict rules, such as sobriety, cur-fews, urine tests, and social isolation, before gaining independence and attaining housing.“Housing agencies started to realize that

high-functioning people could meet these models, but the most severely affected people were not able to meet these mile-stones, mostly because they are multiply affected by psychiatric issues, substance abuse, and medical disorders,” said Susan Collins, a research assistant professor at the University of Washington.“With this model, housing is the pri-

mary goal and is a basic human right, not a reward for behavior.”

Collins highlighted a Housing First

program in Seattle known as 1811 Eastlake, which houses 75 individuals with lengthy histories of chronic homelessness, alcohol-related problems, and significant reliance on public services and resources.

In a study following the progress and outcomes of this population, Collins and her colleagues noted a significant reduc-tion in alcohol use and risk behaviors over time, including an 8 percent decrease in peak use during a three-month period and subsequent 3 percent declines each month for the remainder of the study.

Despite local and national criticism regarding the expenditure of public funds and resources to house these individuals, Collins said the intervention resulted in a reduction of crime and negative conse-quences in the surrounding community and $4 million in savings during the first year of the program due to decreased use of emergency rooms and jail facilities.“This is contrary to the enabling hypoth-

esis that is deeply engrained in our society and in substance use treatment profes-sionals that if we don’t do everything to ensure 100 percent sobriety, drinking will spiral out of control,” she said.

Deborah Padgett, a professor from New York University, discussed the advent of the homelessness crisis during the last three decades, how randomized trials and research created an awareness of various models such as Housing First, and how those models have been successfully implemented throughout Europe and the United States.

“In the United States, the bigger issue of homelessness is the most visible manifesta-tion of housing insecurity there is,” Padgett said. “We socially construct homeless prob-lems and funnel funding in those directions, and these constructs are based on both evi-dence and values. When you look at pro-grams in Europe and Canada, you see how those values are influencing the growth of these programs.”

Padgett said American society tends to see housing as a privilege for individuals by virtue of having a mental illness or dis-ability based on human rights values.“I think this contrasts other parts of the

world where they have more social housing systems,” she said. “If you put these require-ments on housing, it leaves all of the others whose service needs are based on poverty

[ symposium series ]

Homelessness forum focuses on housing and integrated services

HOMELESSNESS | continued on page 9

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Experts on homelessness discussed housing and integrated service models during a conference symposium series.

By Charli Engelhorn

hamovitch p.i. | usc.edu/socialwork/research9

other members to use at their discretion.“This allowed them to employ, train, and

supervise their own personal assistants and to decide with what, where, when, and how their assistants should work,” Westerberg said.

After a meeting with Ratzka and his colleagues, Westerberg began pressing for disability reform based on their personal assistance model. In 1993, he succeeded in passing legislation that greatly expanded disability support, including companion ser-vice, domestic assistance, and arrangements for children and adolescents who need to live apart from their biological parents.

That trend continued in subsequent years, and the Swedish government has adopted a five-year strategy through 2016 to improve accessibility in public transportation, sports facilities, and educational institutions.

However, cost remains a significant chal-lenge. Although it is difficult to determine how much personal assistance costs com-pared to older models, Westerberg esti-mated that between one third and one half of the expense of the personal assistant model can be considered an increase.

Nonetheless, the reforms have been met with considerable enthusiasm. More than 90 percent of beneficiaries reported being satisfied or mostly satisfied with their per-sonal assistance benefits in a recent survey.

When he encounters politicians or other individuals who think personal assistance is too expensive, Westerberg often poses two questions: Do you think the lives of individuals with significant disabilities are too good? Would you like to change places with any of them?“So far, the answers to both questions

have been negative,” he said. “The discus-sion then tends to peter out.” t

Social Work in Health and Mental Health. “This does not mean that their lives have become easy. We cannot eliminate their disabilities. What we can do is partly com-pensate for them.”

A Swedish government agency found that 25 percent of Swedes between 16 and 64 years old report some form of disability, half of whom regard their ability to work as reduced and one fourth as greatly reduced.

Of the latter group, which consists of approximately 400,000 individuals, only around 20,000 people receive personal assis-tance for an average of 115 hours a week at a cost of roughly $5 billion. That represents 1 percent of Sweden’s gross national product and 2 percent of public expenditures.“This can be regarded as a measure of the

priority given to normalizing the living conditions of the individuals served by the act,” Westerberg said, referring to the legis-lation he helped shepherd through in 1993.

Before that major reform, life for indi-viduals with disabilities was difficult. Those with intellectual disabilities in particular faced incarceration or sterilization.“Over three decades, more than 60,000

people were sterilized,” Westerberg said. “The law remained on the books until 1975.”

By the late 1960s, institutional incar-ceration was considered the most humane option for those with physical or intellectual impairments, he said. More than 200 insti-tutions housed approximately 15,000 people, one third of them children younger than 7.

However, the outlook began to change as criticism of institutionalization increased. Laws passed in 1968 and 1985 began to phase out this approach and promote housing and services for the intellectually disabled in open society.

The movement was led in large part by Adolf Ratzka, who was born in Bavaria and afflicted by polio in 1961 at age 17. Despite excellent grades, no German university would accept him, so Ratzka applied to and was accepted by UCLA. When he traveled to Sweden in 1973 to collect material for his dissertation, Ratzka brought insight from his experiences regarding public sup-port for individuals with disabilities.

In the 1980s, he helped found the Stockholm Cooperative for Independent Living, which convinced local authorities to give funds they would have spent on community-based services to Ratzka and

WESTERBERG | from page 4

“A large majority of beneficiaries experience assistance as

absolutely crucial for participation in social interactivity and a

meaningful life. Almost everyone pointed to personal assistance as

the most important factor for their quality of life.”

Bengt Westerberg

with no options. When we are talking about housing, we are also talking about services that will help people stay in the housing.”

Benjamin Henwood, an assistant pro-fessor with the USC School of Social Work, and Lise Ruiz from the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health discussed housing and interdisciplinary services for the homeless population in Los Angeles County.

L.A. County features the largest home-less population in the country, with more than 26,000 individuals experiencing varying degrees of homelessness.

However, there are only 17,616 beds, of which 9,000 are based in permanent sup-portive housing facilities. Many of these facilities follow continuum-of-care or cri-teria-based approaches, Henwood said.

To address this issue and further integrate services for this population, county officials are implementing the Integrated Mental Health Team Project, one of four innova-tive pilot projects focused on providing multidisciplinary services as part of the last phase of the Mental Health Services Act passed in 2004.

This field-based project is focused on individuals with serious mental illness (SMI) and severe emotional disturbance (SED) who are homeless and have sub-stance abuse problems and a physical con-dition that requires ongoing care.“We are taking three years to look at

quality of care for SMI and SED patients to see if we can improve outcomes and better coordinate care,” Ruiz said. “Our approaches are through outreach and engagement, mental health services, harm reduction, motivational interviewing, and looking at the Housing First model.”

Wenzel said she is hopeful that the sym-posium series and other similar forums will lead to increased collaboration and sharing of empirical evidence to stimulate new social policy and research to improve the lives of homeless individuals.“It’s a rare and very effective case that

practice and science have informed policy, but with all this evidence, policy makers are realizing that it is cost effective for soci-eties to invest in supportive housing,” she said. “With these programs, people have the opportunity to follow these individuals over a longer period of time, and we may see some major impacts in their lives.” t

HOMELESSNESS | from page 8

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PATHWAYS | from page 1

from the San Fernando Valley to Long Beach, in addition to attending plenary ses-sions that focused on issues ranging from the role of social work in an increasingly interconnected world to efforts to improve disability care in Sweden.

The conference also featured a symposia series on advances in specialized topics such as cancer care, health reform, Latino health, and military personnel and their families.

Marvin Southard, director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health, said the recent passage of fed-eral health care legislation known as the Affordable Care Act gave the event par-ticular relevance.“Here in California and Los Angeles and

many places in this country, we’re trying to find the right way to figure out how mental health, primary care, and substance abuse treatment merge together in such a way that they really serve the needs of families, individuals, and communities,” he said. “No one has the magic answer. Nobody has the full picture yet.”

Although he acknowledged strategies to improve health and mental health care might not always translate across cultural and national boundaries, Southard said he was hopeful that the gathering inspired dia-logue about promising approaches and led to increased collaboration across borders.

“The highlight for me is to hear from international colleagues and get feedback for some of the ideas we have, because many other nations have had more experi-ence in integrative health systems than we have,” he said. “I hope that together we’ve learned something we can do to help the people of all of our nations lead better, richer, and fuller lives.”

To kick off the conference, Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas gave a short address and praised the USC School of Social Work for producing a steady stream of well-qualified practitio-ners who often go on to provide services to many of the county’s 10 million residents.

A USC graduate with a doctorate in social ethics and policy analysis, Ridley-Thomas has championed community engagement on issues of health, mental health, and chil-dren’s services since being elected in 2008. During his opening remarks, he said the profession of social work plays a critical role in helping people facing challenging circumstances, from discrimination, abuse, and addiction to unemployment, disabili-ties, and mental illness.“It seems to me we owe a great debt of

gratitude to social workers,” he said. “They help prevent crises and counsel individuals, families, and communities to cope more effectively with the stresses of everyday life. Social workers rock!”

Ridley-Thomas noted that the profession is expanding rapidly, citing U.S. census fig-ures indicating that approximately 845,000 people identify as social workers. That figure is expected to increase by 25 percent from 2010 to 2020, he said, faster than any other comparable occupation.

In addition to presenting a scroll signed by the Board of Supervisors to confer-ence leaders recognizing the event, Ridley-Thomas also offered a few words of advice to the audience, encouraging them to showcase their work and highlight the pro-fession as a rewarding career path.“Don’t forget to toot your own horn,” he

said. “My grandmother was clear about that. She said to me, Mark, it’s a mighty poor dog that doesn’t wag its own tail.”

The opening ceremony also featured a plenary session led by Elizabeth Clark, the immediate past chief executive officer of the National Association of Social Workers. She encouraged conference attendees to step

CONFERENCE | continued on page 11

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Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas

speaks with a conference attendee following his

keynote address during the opening ceremony. Ridley-

Thomas presented conference leaders with a scroll

signed by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors.

Christina Azelius received top honors in the poster

competition for a research project she led with

Britt-Marie Alner at Karolinska University Hospital in

Stockholm, Sweden. The project explored a psychosocial

support intervention for teenagers with chronic illness.

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CONFERENCE | from page 10

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Haluk Soydan, conference co-chair and associate dean of research, presents Soon Noi Goh with a set of golden chopsticks

symbolizing the shift of conference leadership to a delegation from Singapore, which will host the event in 2016.

back before delving into specific abstract pre-sentations and discussions with colleagues in the subsequent days, to consider social work from an international perspective.

Human rights, social justice, and client-centered care have always been primary tenets of social work, she said, but the pro-fession has struggled to assume leadership in those key areas.“Social work has become a global profes-

sion and we need to think broader about what we do,” Clark said. “I’m asking you at this conference to own our expertise. We have a very rich legacy to build on.”

Clark was followed by four other ple-nary speakers during the five-day con-ference, including Sarah Gehlert, the E. Desmond Lee Professor of Racial and Ethnic Diversity at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work and the Department of Surgery at Washington University, and Nancy Krieger, a professor of society, human development, and health at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Conference participants also attended a discussion by Bengt Westerberg, former minister of social affairs and deputy prime

minister of Sweden, about efforts to reform disability services in Sweden, where many individuals with disabilities now have access to personal assistants.

Elyn Saks, the Orrin B. Evans Professor of Law, Psychology, and Psychiatry and the Behavioral Sciences at the USC Gould School of Law, helped bring the conference to a close by discussing her personal expe-riences with schizophrenia, a presentation that brought attendees to their feet for a sustained round of applause.

During the closing ceremony, Haluk Soydan, conference co-chair and asso-ciate dean of research at the USC School of Social Work, passed the reins of the ongoing conference series to a delegation from Singapore, where the next gathering will take place in 2016. As the event drew to a close, Flynn said she was honored that the school was selected to host the confer-ence and pleased with the results.“I think it was very satisfying for an

international audience,” she said. “I think we made excellent use of the campus and people better understand USC and the strength of our faculty and the beauty of this environment.” t

CLARK | from page 4

social worker and the only member of Congress to vote against authorizing the use of military force against terrorists fol-lowing the attacks of September 11, 2001, arguing that it gave overly broad powers to the president and could lead to an open-ended war with no exit strategy.“She said we must step back for a minute

and think through the implications of our actions today so this does not spiral out of control,” Clark said. She described Addams, Height, and Lee as powerful representa-tives of the social work profession. “These are people who have started this legacy that each of us has an obligation to continue.”

In terms of the global reach of social work, she emphasized the role of social workers in achieving the Millennium Development Goals established by the United Nations, which include issues such as reducing child mortality, eliminating extreme poverty, and combating diseases such as malaria and HIV/AIDS.

Clark also described a global agenda for social work created by several leading inter-national social work organizations. The document outlines four broad goals to be addressed by 2016: promoting social and economic equalities, promoting the dignity and work of individuals, working toward environmental sustainability, and strength-ening recognition of the importance of human relationships.“If you only take away one message today,

I would like it to be that social work has a moral mandate as a profession to help solve the problems that we’re facing worldwide with health and mental health,” she said. “If we don’t get involved, I’m not convinced we will solve these challenges.”

In closing, Clark urged her fellow con-ference attendees to pursue several key goals, such as challenging social injustices, engaging in respectful and collaborative research and practice partnerships, and tes-tifying before governmental agencies.

She also pressed those in the audience to publish and present their findings as researchers and highlight their expertise and knowledge as practitioners.“You need to make your efforts and your

findings known,” Clark said. “If I criticize the profession of social work for one thing, it’s that we don’t toot our own horn. We do wonderful work and we never tell anybody about it.” t

Hamovitch P.I. is a publication of the USC School of Social Work. Send suggestions and comments to eric.lindberg@usc.edu

Hamovitch Center | 1149 South Hill Street, Suite 360 | Los Angeles, CA 90015USC School of Social Work | Montgomery Ross Fisher Building | 669 West 34th Street | Los Angeles, CA 90089

213.821.3628 | hrc@usc.edu | usc.edu/socialwork/research

GEHLERT | from page 5

Valley California Poppy Reserve. After they fell in love, she told him about her illness and he responded gently and kindly.

While recounting this particular story, she glanced to the back of the room at her husband, who was running the slide show that accompanied her speech, and pro-claimed that he was blushing.

As her speech drew to a close, Saks said she doesn’t regret her life and doesn’t want pity. Instead, she wants to see changes in how people with schizophrenia and other mental illnesses are treated.

She offered several policy suggestions, arguing that individuals with schizophrenia need resources such as intensive treatment and medication to regain control. She said her personal experiences have shown that psychoanalysis can be an effective treat-ment for people with schizophrenia, despite naysayers and its relatively high expense.

She strongly recommended against the use of force if possible, describing it as making her feel helpless and denigrated.

Finally, she argued that mechanical restraints are particularly painful and dam-aging, particularly for victims of sexual trauma. Noting that one to three people die in restraints every week in the United States, Saks said a new law regarding when restraints should be used is critically needed.“The humanity we all share is more

important than the mental illness we may not,” Saks said. “With proper treatment, someone with mental illness will lead a full and rich life.” t

SCHIZOPHRENIA | from page 3 CANADA | from page 7

developed for social workers and mental health workers that seeks to address com-passion fatigue and burnout.

Approximately 40 percent of physicians reported feeling burned out and 38 per-cent of counselors had active secondary posttraumatic stress disorder, according to a recent survey. Deployed to Afghanistan in 2010 and 2011, Marceau developed lec-tures on symptoms of compassion fatigue and strategies to handle stress, such as coping with death and seeing seriously injured fellow soldiers on a daily basis.“You are seeing these people on the worst

day of their life, when they are thinking there is no future,” she said.

The program Marceau helped develop also included monthly meetings to dis-cuss difficult cases and how clinicians were coping. However, she said more research is needed to identify other issues faced by mental health workers in war zones to bol-ster programs that provide mental health care to caregivers and clinicians.

Bailey, the chair of the military social work symposium series, also called for increased collaboration across borders, particularly sharing information about what strategies for mental health prevention and treatment prove effective in military settings.“I hope to inspire our social workers to

engage in more research and communica-tion with the folks we meet at this confer-ence,” she said. “The more we can engage with people outside our organization, the more we can take things a step forward.” t

“Transdisciplinary science allows us to view problems holistically with teams of social, behavioral, and biological science,” she said.

“Policy makers, clinicians, and community members join the social workers to create a powerful understanding of the issues. We get the best of science and the best of com-munity realities and life experiences.”

Gehlert believes the Affordable Care Act offers many potential tasks for social workers, including ensuring access to coverage and serving as navigators, certi-fied application counselors, and educators.

Social workers can integrate and coordi-nate care, facilitating a shift to a holistic focus on physical and mental health rather than a single episode of illness.

Due to expanded Medicaid and private coverage for behavioral health services, need for mental health and substance use treatment is projected to increase by 31 percent. The number of health social workers is expected to grow by 16 percent.“We can’t dichotomize physical and

mental disorders anymore, and training one without the other diminishes the outcomes,” Gehlert said. “This will expand the need and

KRIEGER | from page 3

nature of the social worker in the future.”Expanded coverage for ethnic and racial

minorities will also require a renewed focus on social workers as translators to improve care for the underserved.

In closing, Gehlert called on confer-ence attendees to be vocal about the need for social work in health care, work across nations and borders, learn from successes and failures, and prepare the next genera-tions of health social workers.“We can’t just get mad,” she said. “We

have to work on these issues and make change. We need to pass the baton.” t

processes certainly needs to have some theory to guide inquiry and interpretation,” she said. “Theory is essential because it pro-vides both vision and insight.”

Krieger described health inequities during the 1960s, before and after the abolishment of Jim Crow laws, to empha-size the importance of social factors such as racism, limited access to medical care, and psychological distress as determinants of health for black men and women.

She further discussed a study regarding levels of occupational, social, and relation-ship hazards and corresponding psycho-logical distress as factors that affected the health of low-wage union workers.

In both examples, Krieger described the undeniable influence that cultural and indi-vidual contexts have on patterns of health, morbidity, mortality, and well-being and the development of health inequities.

In essence, she compared the dominant epidemiological approach of focusing on individual pathology, biology, and behavior with the alternative approach of examining contextual factors such as sociopolitical, psy-chosocial, and ecosocial elements.“Links between our bodies and the body

politic are intimate, palpable, and malleable and offer a radically different, inclusive, and promising perspective for public health, clinical medicine, and social work alike,” she said. “It frees us from assuming that observed differences in health status, espe-cially by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic position, are innate and inevitable.” t