Personally, social work practice, research, and education are driven by a strong sense of commitment and passion to visions of the world where social justice is lived out in everyone's day-to-day experiences. Constantly challenging myself and our students to embody these calls to justice excite me about this work and fill me with hope. My teaching, research, and service converge around the goals of challenging and documenting marginalization in social work education and practice, and more specifically by addressing and preventing negative outcomes for populations who have experienced marginalization in any form. These goals have centered primarily on substance use intervention and prevention with historically marginalized groups, but have also addressed issues of discrimination and, more recently, intersectional lived experiences.
My teaching addresses these overarching goals by developing and delivering courses and simulations incorporating content and discussions focused on power, privilege, and oppression, working collaboratively with students on research that attends to issues of multiculturalism, diverse and intersecting identities, and substance use, mentoring and advising social work students who embody identities that are underrepresented in the social work profession, and supporting students whose work centers on critical approaches to social justice.