Prof. Belkin Martinez & Alums Meshesha & Takinami Present “Radical Mental Health” at Int’l Social Work Conference

On March 26-27, the Social Work Action Network International’s (SWAN-I) held a free, virtual conference featuring BUSSW clinical associate professor Dawn Belkin Martinez and alums Emy Takinami (SSW’20) and Mahlet Meshesha (SSW’19) presenting “Radical Mental Health: The Liberation Health Model of Social Work Practice.”

The conference, “Another World is Possible: Radical Social Work Now,” included webinars in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Greek and Japanese with featured speakers discussing the problems impacting on society and social work.

You can view the full conference timetable here, or learn more about the Social Work Action Network here.

DATE & LOCATION

Saturday, March 27, 2021 at 1:00pm ET | Virtual

SPEAKERS

Dawn Belkin Martinez is a clinical associate professor at BU School of Social Work. Belkin Martinez also serves as associate dean for equity and inclusion, and co-director of BUSSW’s BRIDGE Program. A social worker, educator, and trainer, she has more than 30 years’ experience in family therapy, substance misuse, trauma, liberation health practice with immigrant communities, and popular education. Belkin Martinez is committed to growing the movement of radical social work practitioners with a particular focus in liberation health and a social racial justice focused clinical model of social work practice. She is also a founding member of the Boston Liberation Health Group, an organization with more than 1,300 members from across the country.

Mahlet Meshesha (SSW’19) is a MPH candidate at George Washington University. She received her Masters of Social Work in 2019 from Boston University where she specialized in child trauma and social work leadership. Currently, she is a school-based trauma therapist in the public school system where she works with BIPOC youth and families. Her clinical practice is focused on decolonizing mental health treatment and addressing how oppressive structural and cultural factors impact mental health/wellness. Meshesha is a steering committee member of the Boston Liberation Health group.

Emy Takinami (SSW’20, Wheelock’20) is the Policy and Community Organizing Director at Zero Debt Massachusetts. Takinami previously worked at BUSSW as the Racial Justice Research Assistant and is a graduate of Boston University’s MSW/EdM dual degree program where she studied social work and educational leadership and policy. Takinami is a former fellow of the Rappaport Public Policy Summer Fellowship program, housed at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. As a fellow, she worked with Boston Public Schools’ Office of Opportunity Gaps to support the Office’s policy and implementation plan.