From Acting to Official
Ms. Kimkanika Ung was (finally!) officially appointed to the DSW Head position and Oudamsambath Phal as Deputy Head.
Strategic Planning with Professor and Dean Emeritus Nancy Hooyman
The DSW continues to take advantage of expertise by Professor Hooyman in departmental planning and preparation for the upcoming second five year plan. She also met with board members of the Association of Professional Social Workers in Cambodia to brainstorm next steps.
DSW First Higher Education Unit to Receive External Accreditation
The DSW just received news that it has received formal, external accreditation status from the Philippines Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities for a three-year period. In March, assessors met with faculty, employers, field supervisors, social work alumni, and students, observed classrooms and visited field partner communities. Information from their on-site visit along with a volume of documentation were reviewed. Congratulations to the DSW for being the first in their country to receive this status. Read More
Expanding the Mental Health Workforce Capacity
Through support from the International Organization on Migration the DSW began delivering a three-course Certificate Education program to build foundational direct practice skills. The sequence focuses on interpersonal communication skills, building empathy and rapport, assessment, treatment planning and an introduction to brief evidence based mental health interventions. Feedback from this program informed the development of a new four-course Continuing Education certificate program “Care Coordination and Practice focused on Mental Health Practice”.
Recruiting Social Work’s Future
The DSW hosted 12 high school students from Siem Reap province who were interested to learn more about Social Work as a major. This exciting activity was coordinated and supported by Caring for Cambodia.
Hong Kong Service Learning and Leadership Symposium and Exchange
Program Manager for Field Learning Sochenda Srey was invited to participate in a two week exchange with Hong Kong Polytechnic University as part their MOU with RUPP. A service learning and leadership symposium was held in Phnom Penh then students from both universities joined together for a community project
Partnering For Health: Expanding into Colloborative Care
The Partnering For Health Project sponsored a Consultancy Workshop to expand social work units in hospitals with presentations by Drs. Jim LoGerfo and Richard Veith, and Tracy Harachi. The workshop was hosted by the MoH Department of Hospitals and an excellent follow up to the consultancy held in 2014. The Department of Hospitals is supportive to create a social work policy for MoH and include social workers in their minimum and comprehensive package of services for the country. There is a significant workforce shortage in mental health services so introduction of a collaborative care model seeks to demonstrate its utility to address this gap. We hope this partnership with MoH will be a step towards creating a civil service position for social workers.
International Social Work Day
The Department of Social Work along with the Association of Professional Social Workers of Cambodia, National Institute of Social Affairs,
Mr. Heang Hen from MoPoTso Organization was awardee of this year’s Sil Sineng Outstanding Year 3 Field Supervisor recognition. Congratulations Mr. Heang Hen!
Michael Light - Visiting UW MSW
UW MSW graduate is back again to partner with the Department of Social Work and the Partnering For Health Project. As a part of his MPH thesis, Michael met with health professionals at Calmette Hospital to get their feedback and insight towards the introduction of social work in Building “B” over the past two years.
DSW Provides Training to Increase Awareness of Diversity
The Department was approached by Winrock International (WI) to conducted 3 days training on “Understanding Gender and Social Discrimination and Reaching Out to Discriminated Groups” to their Counter Trafficking In-Person team and partners from different organizations. Topics were not limited but included a gender focus but also touched on LGBT groups, aging, and working with different religious community members. It was described as “a very successful training” and participants showed very positive reflection such as “I never known that elderly is a discriminated groups, and after I attended the training I start to think much about my mom.” Another participant commented, “I never thought about Vietnamese minorities and their discrimination in Cambodia.”
UW Hosts Visit by RUPP Rector and Dean
The UW RUPP Partnership sponsored visits to the UW by the Rector and Dean of Education/Member of the Strategic Planning Committee in December. The Rector and Dean met with a number of UW administrators who shared about different aspects of higher education administration and program management ranging from policies of the Regents, grant administration, human subjects, the Graduate School and its relationship to department programming. The Jackson School of International Studies, SE Asian Center director Celia Lowe also welcomed them.
An Inspirational Evening
The UW RUPP Partnership took advantage of a brief stopover by instructor Channsitha Marks and field learning supervisor Pisey Ly. It was a lovely chance to bring together Partnership supporters to hear about the department as well as current community work led by these two dynamic women whose work focuses on social justice and marginalized communities in Cambodia.
New DSW Instructors
Sophearith Phul and Soksophea Suong were recruited as new part-time contract instructors who bring extensive experience to the classroom. Welcome!
Children in Conflict with the Law, a Baseline Assessment
Instructor Lo Leang presented a paper at the annual International Society for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect conference in Kuala Lumpur. This significant study examined primary data from a number of sources including children themselves who are in prisons.
Congratulations to the Class of 2016.
Twenty-five more BSWs have entered the work force as professional social workers bringing the total now to 106. Several have already secured employment demonstrating the appeal of the graduates with local employers.
This year’s Mara Schneiders’s Y4 Outstanding Supervisor went to Ms. Tuy Chamroeun from the International Justice Mission.