Partnering for Health Pilot Project Continues
We are excited to have REI Foundation join with us to continue the pilot project that establish the Social Work Unit at Calmette Hospital. Sundy Khen, BSW and newly graduated Ratha Chhum, BSW support low income patients in Building B. The new funding will be enable service to continue and develop an operations manual to create standards that can be shared with other hospitals.
International Association of Schools of Social Work Conference in Melbourne, Australia
"It was my first time to participate at an international social work conference. I felt it was place where I could share my perspective and a place I could learn from other social work practitioners from different countries around the world who shared about their work focused on social issues including child protection, mental health, disability, and more."
3rd Annual ASEAN Social Work Consortium Meeting
Bora Chun (left) represented the Department of Social Work at the ASEAN meetings which provides an excellent opportunity to network with both ministerial officials in charge of social welfare programming and educators from the different countries.
Mentor Dori Cahn Visits the Team
The DSW are revising the Academic Skills Workshop series to encourage students to develop more habits and skills for effective learning. Dori Cahn arrived again in Phnom Penh to offer technical assistance and meets here with some of the team.
DSW Attends Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors Annual Meeting
Kanika Ung, Acting DSW Head and Vornthyroth Chhim, Program Manager for Field Learning and Instructor attended BPD gathering info and contacts to share with their colleagues. Both stopped by Seattle where they met with UW mentors and supporters including Columbia University Dean Emeritus Ronald Feldman and Dina Feldman.
5th Annual International Social Work Day
Ms. Collette O'Regan from Rainbow Community Kampuchea (RoCK) was honored with the Sil Sineng Year 3 Field Learning Supervisor award. This marked the 5th annual ISW event hosted by the DSW and they were privileged to have Keo Vichith from the Khmer-Buddhist Educational Assistance Project share his thoughts on the theme of facilitating caring communities and respecting diversity and connecting people.
UW Chair of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences Shares Mental Health Services Information
Dr. Richard C. Veith, M.D, Professor in the Neurosciences, Chair, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, School of Medicine, and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Global Health, School of Public Health presented a talk entitled "Model of Mental Health Care for Low Resource Setting" to an audience full of students and instructors at the DSW. It is hoped that Cambodia will expand resources to better address mental health.
Partnership Mentors Travel Again to Cambodia
This marked the 4th trip for Professor and Dean Emeritus Nancy Hooyman to join with the DSW faculty. Among a number of mentoring activities over the year, Nancy has been supporting the faculty to create and implement their strategic plan for 2013-18, which culminated in a faculty retreat at the end of December.
"Even with their busy schedules and competing demands, the faculty invested eight hours of intense work, agreeing on short and longer range priorities identified in the plan and charting next steps to identify standards for social work and create the first social work professional association in Cambodia".
Sharon Berlin, UW Alumni and former Associate Dean and Professor from University of Chicago/SSA, has been a guiding support to faculty who teach direct practice courses in the BA program. She returned this January for her 4th trip to facilitate an all faculty team building session and to meet individually with the direct practice instructors.
"Every time I visit, I am struck by the hard work, talent, and commitment this faculty demonstrates. This is a group that places high value on team work. In fact, they've shown that by working together they can accomplish a great deal".
DSW Meets New RUPP Rector
DSW Meets New RUPP Rector Kanika Ung, acting Department Head and Instructor, Bora Chun, Instructor and Finance Manager, and Tracy Harachi, Partnership Director met with H.E.Chealy Chet, Ph.D., the new Rector for RUPP and Vice Rector Ravy Oum, Ph.D. to provide an overview of the DSW and the UW/RUPP Partnership. The Rector whose doctoral work focused on international development from Nagoya University has already initiated open discussions with instructors and departments suggesting the university may be headed towards positive change under his leadership.
Alumni Martha Moyer (MSW '69) and George Moyer Sponsor Capacity Building Project
Recently the Department of Social Work began their Continuing Education Program to provide learning opportunities to service providers. Martha, a LICSW and her husband George, are generously donating funds to sponsor the delivery of a continuing education course focused on building skills of staff who work with sex trafficked survivors. The Capacity Building for Service Providers of Sex Trafficked Survivors Project will provide scholarships to allow up to twenty staff to attend a semester long course to be offered by the DSW. Many local non-governmental organizations are operating on a shoe string budget and do not have staff development resources. Their generous donation will allow staff from such organizations to take advantage of a learning opportunity that likely would not otherwise happen.
Mara Schneider 2013 Awardee
Saveun Nhim (left), recent MSW graduate from the UW who returned to join the DSW faculty as Director of Field Learning awards Bun Hom (right), staff from Prison Fellowship Cambodia, for his positive contributions as a Year 4 Field Learning Supervisor.
DSW Celebrates the Graduation of the Class of 2013
The departmental graduation celebration took place November 2nd. We wish the nineteen new social work professionals all the best as they enter the Cambodian workforce.
Cambodian School Educates New Generation of Social Workers
Cambodia has some 3,000 registered non-profit groups. Some work on highly sensitive issues such as violence against women and human trafficking. But there are few Cambodians formally trained for such work. That is now changing with the country’s first university-level degree program for social workers.