Social Work Education

Good day everyone

My name is Gwen Robinson. I am honored to be part of this forum and in the company of such an array of esteem social workers.

I have been a social worker for 26 years. This includes clinical, managerial and educational experience. Having earned my DSW in 2023, my first focus is educating future social workers about providing tools and strategies to treat substance use disorders in those with intellectual disabilities. My second focus is developing my research and program development skills in this same field. There is such a dearth of information on this topic, and this is something I am interested in addressing as a clinical gap in service. My third focus is to continue learning about this subspeciality in social work by developing it and developing within it.

Hi Gwen! I'm Kaycee! I'm sorry I'm late to the party, but I read your post and we have some research overlap! I also study intellectual disabilities! I originally started out researching school inclusion and intellectual disabilities (that's what I did for my dissertation). I have recently transitioned to researching what happens once the individual with ID is transitioning to adulthood or what happens to teens with intellectual disabilities in the foster care system who are aging out and don't have family support or support from DCS anymore. 

Your research is so interesting to me because it's a niche area disability research that I've actually never seen (at least not in social work), but my professional experience knows how needed it is! There are so many teens and young adults in the foster care with ID and FASD who struggle with substance abuse and there are just not a lot of treatment options available to them. Especially the ones that are on the more mild end and their ID is a little more "invisible." That, and I can imagine substance abuse treatment is complex for people who have intellectual disabilities because they are likely on a lot of other necessary medications that practitioners have to navigate. I know when I was in practice, my clients with ID were usually on 5+ different medications for various neurological or mental health conditions. I also imagine that it can be complex to tailor therapy and treatment options to those with lower functioning levels because most substance use programs are going to be tailored to adults with "normal" intellectual capacities and functioning levels.

There is so much we could dive into! I will likely be seeking you out at CSWE!

Good day everyone

My name is Gwen Robinson. I am honored to be part of this forum and in the company of such an array of esteem social workers.

I have been a social worker for 26 years. This includes clinical, managerial and educational experience. Having earned my DSW in 2023, my first focus is educating future social workers about providing tools and strategies to treat substance use disorders in those with intellectual disabilities. My second focus is developing my research and program development skills in this same field. There is such a dearth of information on this topic, and this is something I am interested in addressing as a clinical gap in service. My third focus is to continue learning about this subspeciality in social work by developing it and developing within it.

Hi Kaycee

That is wonderful. I am  a new researcher and because of topic I am most interested in, you are right, there isn't much information on it. 

Unfortunately I will not attend the CSWE forum this year because I had been working with my SWS department on a few projects. I would love to talk further about this. I am interested in collaborating with others but because I am very new at this, I am quite a novice. Alos, regarding your research topic, that is interesting. It appears that appropriate services for the I/DD population are sparce especially since there is not enough research in specialized areas, then clinical practice remains uninformed. Perhaps we can talk further. I would love to hear more about what you are doing in the field of social work. Feel free to email me at 

Gwendolyn.Robinson@csi.cuny.edu

Hi Gwen! I'm Kaycee! I'm sorry I'm late to the party, but I read your post and we have some research overlap! I also study intellectual disabilities! I originally started out researching school inclusion and intellectual disabilities (that's what I did for my dissertation). I have recently transitioned to researching what happens once the individual with ID is transitioning to adulthood or what happens to teens with intellectual disabilities in the foster care system who are aging out and don't have family support or support from DCS anymore. 

Your research is so interesting to me because it's a niche area disability research that I've actually never seen (at least not in social work), but my professional experience knows how needed it is! There are so many teens and young adults in the foster care with ID and FASD who struggle with substance abuse and there are just not a lot of treatment options available to them. Especially the ones that are on the more mild end and their ID is a little more "invisible." That, and I can imagine substance abuse treatment is complex for people who have intellectual disabilities because they are likely on a lot of other necessary medications that practitioners have to navigate. I know when I was in practice, my clients with ID were usually on 5+ different medications for various neurological or mental health conditions. I also imagine that it can be complex to tailor therapy and treatment options to those with lower functioning levels because most substance use programs are going to be tailored to adults with "normal" intellectual capacities and functioning levels.

There is so much we could dive into! I will likely be seeking you out at CSWE!

Good day everyone

My name is Gwen Robinson. I am honored to be part of this forum and in the company of such an array of esteem social workers.

I have been a social worker for 26 years. This includes clinical, managerial and educational experience. Having earned my DSW in 2023, my first focus is educating future social workers about providing tools and strategies to treat substance use disorders in those with intellectual disabilities. My second focus is developing my research and program development skills in this same field. There is such a dearth of information on this topic, and this is something I am interested in addressing as a clinical gap in service. My third focus is to continue learning about this subspeciality in social work by developing it and developing within it.