On Wednesday, February 24, Dr. Geetha Gopalan will lead a Category I CEU training authorized by MD BSWE on “Common Child Mental Health Disorders Experienced by Youth in the Child Welfare System.” 2 Category I CEUs will be awarded.The cost is $25, to register, please RSVP to Valerie Snogren
vsnogren@heartsandhomes.org
Geetha Gopalan, LCSW, Ph.D. received both her MSW, in 2006, and her Ph.D. in 2009, from the Columbia University School of Social Work in New York City. She is currently an Assistant Professor at the University Of Maryland School Of Social Work in Baltimore. Through the doctoral program, Dr. Gopalan focused on mental health service program development, implementation, and dissemination for inner-city, minority youth, and their families. Since her graduation from Columbia in 2009, she has participated in two NIMH-funded intervention research training institutes, the NIH Loan Repayment Program, and a three-year, NIMH-funded National Research Science Award Individual Post-Doctoral Fellowship.
Dr. Gopalan’s interests focus on family-level interventions to improve youth mental health and reduce youth risk behavior, particularly for families with intensive service involvement and extreme psychosocial needs (such as those involved in the child welfare system). She is currently the Principal Investigator of an NIMH-funded study to implement a Multiple Family Groups (MFG) intervention originally provided by advanced mental health practitioners (Masters or PhDs) to reduce child disruptive behavior difficulties, so that it can be delivered by caseworkers providing placement prevention services to child welfare involved families.
Dr. Gopalan’s training today will focus on common child mental health disorders manifested by children and youth involved in the child welfare system. Information will be presented on characteristic symptoms, assessment tools, and an overview of relevant evidence-based treatments for each disorder.