Mary Moller, MSW, CAS, comes to us from The Center of Excellence for Alzheimer ’s Disease at Albany Med, and has worked in the community for over 16 years assisting families and caregivers as they try to balance many of the demands placed upon them. Mary is also an author of her new book, Alzheimer's Through the Stages, A Caregivers Guide. As a graduate from UAlbany School of Social Welfare earning an MSW, Mary has returned to the program as an adjunct professor and is pursuing her Ph.D. Mary has also earned a graduate Certificate of Advanced Study in Health and Wellness. In addition to her vast experience in aging and community based social work, Mary has presented at many conferences addressing caregiver health and wellness, compassion fatigue, caregiver burnout and speaks to the importance of prioritizing care for the caregiver.

Jonathan Richardson is a Communications and Special Projects Officer and will be working on communications, impact reporting, and special initiatives. Jonathan has over 8 years of communications and development experience. He is the current President of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, Hudson Mohawk Chapter and was recently awarded AFP Global’s 2019 Oustanding Young Professional Fundraiser. Richardson is active in his community and passionate about professional development, community change, and social justice. One of his most notable achievements is the creation of the Emerging Nonprofit Leadership Accelerator program, which works to attract rising leaders working at New York Capital Region nonprofits and provide them resources, support and a network to succeed and stay in the sector. Richardson also serves on the board of Mission Accomplished Transition Services and the Capital District Chapter of the New Leaders Council.

He earned his Master of Social Work and Master of Public Administration degrees at University at Albany, SUNY, focusing on nonprofit management and social welfare policy. He completed research projects on the effectiveness of a nonprofit’s board of directors, marketing for human service agencies, and collaborations between local governments and nonprofit organizations. He received his bachelor’s degree in Religion, Linguistics and Gender Studies from the University of Rochester.

Teresa Gil, PhD, has a master’s degree is in Professional Studies in Humanistic Education, and her second is in Clinical Social Work. She also has a Ph.D. in Social Work from the State University of New York at Albany. She is the author of 'Women with Histories of Childhood Sexual Abuse: Mothering, Resilience, and Protecting the Next Generation'.

For over twenty-five years, Teresa has been a psychotherapist, professor, and trainer. She has a private practice working with women, children, and families dealing with addictions and recovery from child abuse and trauma. She is a full professor at Hudson Valley Community College in Troy, New York, where she teaches General Psychology, Abnormal Psychology, Child Psychology, and Psychology of Women. Her courses emphasize biological, psychological, and sociological factors that shape human growth and development. She has also taught on the graduate level.

Teresa works as a trainer and consultant in human service settings and has developed and facilitated more than two dozen workshops and clinical trainings on pertinent clinical and therapeutic issues. Her child welfare workshops are designed to provide child welfare staff with the knowledge and skills necessary to help assess and respond to families in crisis, including techniques for engaging families in a working relationship and skills for intervening effectively with clients. Teresa has facilitated large group workshops on communication, parenting skills, and family relations.

Lynn A. Warner is Professor and Dean in the School of Social Welfare at the University at Albany, SUNY. Although she just completed her first year as Dean at the school, she has been on the faculty at SSW for more than 10 years. During that time she’s taught in the MSW and PhD programs and collaborated with faculty and staff in many administrative roles, including director of the MSW program and associate dean for research.

Her research focuses on disparities in the delivery of mental and behavioral health services, especially disparities experienced by groups who are vulnerable because of low-income status or age, and who are racial or ethnic minorities. She has published more than 60 peer reviewed journal articles and book chapters and her research has been supported by more than $1 million in national foundation and federal government grants. Currently, the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is supporting her current project to use Medicaid data merged with mortality data from 20 states in the U.S. to identify suicide risk profiles among youth. She is also funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Interdisciplinary Research Leaders Initiative for a study of how behavioral health service providers in rural New York are adapting to significant changes in the way Medicaid managed care reimburses for their services.

Dean Warner is proud to be a first generation college graduate who earned a Master of Public Policy Degree from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and MSW and PhD degrees in sociology and social work from the University of Michigan.

Alix Foisy is a social worker and therapist in the New York capital region who specializes in working with individuals who suffer from anxiety, those with chronic pain and illness and older adults. She is also a local yoga teacher and social entrepreneur who provides education on the reduction of anxiety and the retirement transition. She pairs the mind-body techniques of yoga with the Acceptance and Commitment Therapy model to help clients address how they feel emotionally and physically and to make a solid commitment to their goals. Alix discusses social entrepreneurship and how more social workers can get involved.

Victoria M. Rizzo, LCSW-R, PhD, Associate Professor, School of Social Welfare, University at Albany, SUNY has dedicated her career to demonstrating the value of social work in health care settings through her research, teaching, and workforce development activities. Dr. Rizzo’s research examines the impact of social work, and interprofessional interventions that include social workers, on health care utilization, health, and behavioral health outcomes for older adults coping with chronic illnesses, elder abuse, and care giving. She also examines the implications of the findings of her work for health care policy and the financing of the provision of social work services to older adults and their caregivers. Dr. Rizzo has extensive experience as a health care social worker and has conducted research with colleagues at Kaiser Permanente Health Care Systems, Rush University Medical Center in Chicago and the Jewish Association Serving the Aging (JASA) in New York City.

Dr. Rizzo has published 39 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters. She is currently co-editing a textbook, entitled Gerontological social work and the grand challenges: Focusing on policy and practice. Dr. Rizzo is a distinguished scholar and fellow of the National Academies of Practice (Social Work Academy), a Fellow of the New York Academy of Medicine, and a John A. Hartford Geriatric Social Work Faculty Scholar.

The author of 'On Conquering Schizophrenia', Robert Francis, is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than 10 years experience as a mental health therapist. However, it is his own 25-year-long battle with schizophrenia that makes this book different.

Read more: https://www.albany.edu/news/91728.php

This unique episode mixes old and new content for an engaging segment on media savvy social work.

UAlbany President, Dr. Havidan Rodriguez, sits down with The Social Workers to discuss the past, present and future of the University. UAlbany is celebrating its 175th year... Happy Birthday, UAlbany.

UAlbany SSW Associate Professor, Dr. Heather Larkin, shares her expertise on homelessness, adverse childhood experiences (ACE), Restorative Integral Support (RIS), and mind/body/spirit interventions.