FROM STAFF REPORTS

MONTEVALLO– The University of Montevallo Social Work Program is celebrating its 90^th anniversary this year.

Originally founded in 1925 at ‘Alabama College’ the social work program began during a time when social work was an underdeveloped profession and only taught in urban universities.

Myrtle Brooke, Chairperson of the Sociology Department at the time, organized summer training in social work as early as 1924 by employing faculty from the University of Chicago and Simmons College to teach professional training programs in social casework and community organization in Alabama.

Later, in 1925, the UM established the first social work major in the State of Alabama and one of the oldest in the southern United States.

In 1974, the social work major became the first accredited undergraduate professional social work education program in Alabama, where it has remained accredited ever since.

“Many of the graduates of the social work program have been instrumental in the development of child welfare, mental health, public health and aging services across the United States and abroad, but particularly in the State of Alabama, where myriad issues such as rural poverty continue to burden many families,” said Dr. Jason Newell, Associate Professor and Director of the Social Work Program UM. “Given the rich and full history of social work education at The University of Montevallo, we are pleased to celebrate the Program’s 90^th anniversary this year in many special ways.”

In coordination with the anniversary, the program hosted ‘Advocacy Day’ on Tuesday, Sept. 22 alongside the University of Montevallo Counseling Program. The Advocacy Day Conference took place at the Birmingham Botanical Gardens with approximately 150 participants.

Dr. Cheryl Lanktree served as the keynote speaker for the conference and focused on her training on integrative treatment of complex trauma for adolescents.

Lanktree also presented an evidence-based treatment model developed to assist clinicians in the evaluation and treatment of adolescents who have experienced multiple forms of psychological trauma.

As a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Santa Monica, Calif., Lanktree currently serves as a Research Professor of Psychiatry in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Southern California.

Advocacy Day attendees were given expert information regarding trauma informed practice and research focused on the psychological effects of childhood trauma, a topic that is both timely and essential to social workers, counselors and students in the greater Birmingham area.