Long COVID/PASC (post-acute sequalae SARS-COV-2 infection) is a new chronic illness that can develop after a COVID-19 infection and result in significant impairment and disability. Patient’s suffering from Long Covid/PASC have complex biomedical and psychosocial needs and require team based- approaches to care. The critical role of the social worker as part of the care team will be discussed, including salient interventions that incorporate psychotherapeutic treatments.

Ongoing advances are reframing psychedelic medications as a valuable tool in the 21st Century; however, there has been little to no discussion of psychedelics within the social work profession.  The presenter explored the knowledge, attitudes, and professional considerations of clinical social workers towards psychedelic modalities. The study ultimately concluded that psychedelic-assisted treatments align with the ethical standards of the social work profession. The findings of this study lead to important implications relating to education, practice, stigma, and ethical decision making which will be reviewed in the presentation.

Over the last few years, social work's professional organizations have emphasized such concepts as structural racism, White supremacy, whiteness, and anti-racism. While this is an important step toward highlighting relevant concepts to explain the current injustices against Black, Indigenous, People of color, (BIPOC), social workers must gain a macro-level understanding of these concepts in order to implement effective action steps toward eliminating racism and White supremacy. This presentation will offer macro-level definitions of racial concepts, highlight antiracism resources within the profession, and provide macro-level actions to support the anti-racism goals identified by the social work profession.

Using a reproductive justice framework, this presentation introduces the concept of self-managed abortion (SMA). Participants will learn about the practice and prevalence of SMA and how to help avoid client criminalization. The presentation will highlight how the social work code of ethics can inform practice when a client chooses to self-manage their abortion. With the recent decision by the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v Wade, restricting a woman’s right to abortion, it is urgent that social workers learn more about safe SMA.

Beginning decades before the global pandemic, international NGOs have been developing and increasing mental health responses to disasters, epidemics, and war. Social work’s holistic approach is uniquely suited to design and execute international programs with clinical excellence, social relevance, and cultural humility. Using the presenter’s experience in Doctors without Borders, the session will present examples of mental health projects around the world, and roles for social workers.

Behavioral health organizations must improve diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts for their employees and for the individuals and families they serve. In the wake of the worst pandemic in our lifetime and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement there must be lasting change. The focus for organizations from the Boardroom to the individual needs to be on DEI to better deliver services that are culturally responsive as they change lives. But how do you begin to bring about this change? This presentation will discuss the current climate and how to foster DEI in behavioral health organizations.

This presentation introduces the concept of ‘Template Thinking’ and how when unchecked, can lead to moral erosion and polarization in society. Templates are generally thought of as cut-outs used as a pattern for processes such as painting, shaping, or drilling. Cognitive templates are thinking shortcuts or ‘cut-outs’ that allow our thoughts and perceptions to be easily understood. Social media is an example of how these templates warp and hijacks our thinking. To authentically help others, it is paramount that we transform template thinking. This conversation will explore several methods to shift templates and transform how we think personally and professionally.