This program has been approved for 3.0 Continuing Education hours in cultural competency/anti-oppressive practice for licensure. NASW VT Authorization 1194.

NASW Vermont Chapter is recognized by the New York State Education Department's State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers #SW-0683. 

Let’s be honest. One of the greatest design flaws in our neurobiological programming is the presence of bias (just the negative ones that is). Whether they are emotion-based, or cognitive, whether implicit or explicit, we often see and perceive what we are socialized to see and perceive. Certain biases are conditioned into us from birth. Biases can either keep us safe or they can confine us. They can lead to rash and faulty decisions and actions, and they can cause great harm. Spur of the moment decisions can create chasm between us and our clients. Yet, the irony of bias is that they can also be responsible for some of our most benevolent actions.

We know that the harmful biases are most likely to emerge when we are distressed and dealing with the painful realities of working in the human services field. Fortunately, there are ways to address these biases, steering through and around them, into more productive, caring and successful alternatives. One of the most powerful strategies to shift our reference points and beliefs is reframing, a staple of social work practice .

Reframing is the capacity to look at something from a different perspective and proximity, whether it is the behavior of someone else or a way to shift your own beliefs and biases. It is an invaluable tool for anyone who wants to work more effectively with clients who display worrisome emotions and behaviors.

Reframing allows us to maneuver through some of the trickiest landscapes with clients, keeping both our integrity, stress and sanity in check. When we can successfully reframe, we are working to shift context, and with it, the potential meaning and impact that other people’s powerful emotions and concerning actions can have on us.

While the concept of reframing is relatively easy to understand, applying it when it is most needed takes time and practice. During this interactive workshop, we will explore and examine the benefits of reframing, and how it is an essential skill to transform trauma and other challenges with our clients. We will see how reframing will improve outcomes with the clients we have long considered “hard to reach”, while also helping to provide professionals with the necessary proximity to see different versions of the truth.

Reframing is not simply “technique”; it is a socio-political decision to see our students differently, and in the process build more equitable and just systems.