Barbara Pierce

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https://hdl.handle.net/1805/37290

From Clinician to Community-Engaged Translational Practitioner: Building Social and Mental Health Programs for Children, Families, and Practitioners

Barbara Pierce, Ph.D., LCSW, has been a clinical social worker for 40 years and an academic for 20 years. She is a Professor of Social Work at the IU School of Social Work and a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Fellowship Program graduate. She specializes in teaching about and working to dismantle the destructive effects of the social determinants of health/mental health by creating a culture of health and trauma-responsive programming for children, youth, and their families. I am also dedicated to working to create trauma-responsive work cultures for all social workers, teachers, and other professionals dedicated to working with children and youth. Dr. Pierce is also a community-engaged participatory action scholar. She facilitates trainings to state, national, and tribal federal leaders on developing a resilient and trauma-responsive workforce. Her new grant, part of the bipartisan Safer Communities Act, is a Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Project to build capacity for school mental health services in Indiana. This $5.7 million 5-year grant will serve low-income school corporations in communities with low mental health service capacity. Dr. Pierce's focus on bringing trauma-responsive and equitable health programming to students and practitioners is another excellent example of how IUPUI's faculty members are TRANSLATING their RESEARCH INTO PRACTICE.

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Browsing Barbara Pierce by Subject "Competencies"

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    Competency Curriculum Intervention: Student Task Self-Efficacy and Attitudes in Child Welfare
    (Indiana University School of Social Work, 2017-12-17) Pierce, Barbara; Park, Taekyung
    Three cohorts of BSW and MSW Title IV-E and NCWWI student scholars (n= 125) were educated using a university-agency developed competency-based curriculum and field placement. In order to determine if this curriculum and field placement would improve perceived competence and attitudes toward child welfare work, pre and post-field placement surveys were used. Statistically significant change was demonstrated for most competencies. Attitudes toward child welfare work demonstrated no change from the favorable attitudes students had before entering their field placements. There were no statistically significant differences between BSW and MSW students. Students who had higher perceived competence endorsed motivation and intent to remain in child welfare. Based on the findings, we recommend key strategies to keep up the morale of BSW and MSW graduates in child welfare agencies: transition-to-work initiatives by schools, mentoring programs by agencies, manageable caseloads, and the application of skills and knowledge learned.