

An annual conference of practitioners and scholars sharing knowledge and research about current issues in clinical practice.
August 1, 2025
Be part of the conversation.
August 1, 2025, 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
In-Person
Smith College Campus Center
100 Elm Street, Northampton, MA 01060
Lunch provided.
Up to 5.5 CEs for social workers available.
Registration opening early May 2025.
2025 Speakers and Talk Descriptions

Lisa L. Moore, M.S.W. ’98, LICSW, Ph.D., is the director of the Master of Arts Program in Social Work, Social Policy, and Social Administration at The Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at The University of Chicago. She is a senior lecturer and also serves as a faculty resident head. Her current scholarship includes the LGBTQ+ Intergenerational Dialogue Project, a collaboration with Karen Morris, Ph.D. and Adam Greteman, Ph.D., both at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and Nic Westrate, Ph.D., at University of Illinois Chicago. This project has been the recipient of a three year Spencer Foundation Grant, and most recently received support from the Neubauer Collegium at The University of Chicago to engage in a participant-based data analysis of the dialogue series.
In addition to this project, Moore enjoys playing with ideas and theories, has been an invited speaker for the Manhattan Psychoanalytic Institute, a keynote speaker for the American Association of Psychoanalysis in Clinical Social Work and the New England Center for Existential Therapy. In her senior lecturer role, she instructs courses across clinical and macro/mezzo arenas of social work practice. These courses include one on relational cultural therapy, Black Women Work: The Labor of Black Women in Institutions, Communities, and Families, and Race, Class and Liberation at the Intersections of Psychoanalytic Thought.
Prior to her current role, she was an associate professor of social work and director of Family Studies, at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN and an assistant clinical professor at Boston University. Throughout her academic appointments, she has remained steeped in practice through private practice work, supervision, ongoing professional development engagement, and organizational consultation. Her clinical practice work has often been with LGBTQ+ adults, couples/relationships, college aged students, and BIPOC communities.
Moore received her bachelor’s degree in political science from Davidson College, her M.S.W. from Smith College School for Social Work and her Ph.D. in social and cultural anthropology from the California Institute of Integral Studies. She enjoys spending time with her two children, and their standard poodle Sadiki in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois.
In this time of profound uncertainty, relationships are the anchor that facilitate one's sense of security. Through an exploration of our relationship with the institutional to the interpersonal, this talk will explore the ways the notion of complimentary trauma is a generative concept that describes the institutional, interpersonal and intrapsychic cycles of retraumatization in relationships.
This concept also articulates the magnitude of the systemic trauma some are experiencing in the present. We will use this framework to explore the ways complimentary traumas manifest in the uncertainty of relationships across institutions and people. This will be explored through an engagement of institutional, interpersonal, and community interventions. This talk will draw on Black feminist thought, psychodynamic theories, and relational cultural theory to explore the intricacies of relationality. This new conceptual framework will be introduced as a tool to access change in social work practice.
Representative Lydia Crafts, BA ’05, LCSW, serves as a state representative in the Maine Legislature, where she chairs the Joint Standing Committee on Transportation. She represents four small towns and the beautiful island of Monhegan in Midcoast Maine.

Rep. Crafts grew up in Belfast, where she learned that being from Maine meant needing to be a thoughtful problem-solver, a strong collaborator, and a champion for justice. She also learned the importance of hard work, dedication, and commitment to the community. These beliefs informed how she chose her profession, how she’s raising her two daughters, and her approach to public service. Rep. Crafts earned her bachelor's degree from Smith College and her master's in social work from the University of Maine. In addition to her work in the legislature, Rep. Crafts is a clinical social worker with a private practice, where she works with children and adults.
Representative Lydia Crafts, BA ’05, LCSW, accidentally entered politics in 2018 when she first agreed to serve on her town's Appeals Board. Finding a love for collaborative decision-making and small town politics, she decided to run and was elected to the Maine Legislature in 2020.
Now in her third term, Rep. Crafts has led coalitions in drug policy reform, behavioral healthcare workforce expansion, and access to mental health services. As a practicing social worker, she will present on strategic policy initiatives and the vital role of social workers in the process. Her talk will use examples from her work in the Maine State Legislature to draw connections between access to behavioral healthcare and policy solutions at the local, state, and federal levels.
Rep. Crafts has championed bills statewide to expand social worker loan forgiveness, enter the interstate social work compact, modernize licensing, and increase access to professional training. Drawing on these examples, she will help participants better understand the role of social workers in political advocacy, how individuals can use their expertise to support policy
work in their communities, and national trends in improving access to behavioral healthcare. Because of her excellent work in these areas, Rep. Crafts was recognized as the Maine Social Worker of the Year in 2023 and the National Social Worker of the Year by NASW in 2024.
Past Speakers

Dawn Belkin Martinez, Ph.D., LICSW is a clinical professor and associate dean of equity and inclusion at the Boston University School of Social Work, where she coordinates the clinical practice with families sequence. Formerly the chief social worker on the inpatient psychiatry service at Children’s Hospital in Boston and an instructor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, she has nearly 30 years of experience as a scholar, clinical social worker and activist in the movement for our collective liberation.
Belkin Martinez is a nationally recognized expert on anti-oppressive social work practice and was recently appointed to the coordinating committee of the International Social Work Action Network. She is the co-author of the book Social Justice in Clinical Practice, A Liberation Health Framework for Social Work (Routledge, 2014), faculty affiliate at the BU Center for Antiracism and a founding member of the Boston Liberation Health Group, which provides training and mentorship in anti-oppressive social work practice to over 2,900 social workers across the country. As the associate dean for equity and inclusion at BUSSW, she has designed, developed, and implemented diversity, equity & inclusion initiatives, in addition to providing consulting and supervision for social justice-focused practice, both nationally and internationally.

Deran Young is a licensed therapist specializing in racial trauma and legacy burdens. She is also a co-author of the New York Times Best Seller, You Are Your Best Thing, a retired military officer and founder of Black Therapists Rock.
Black Therapists Rock is a non profit organization with a network of over 30,000 mental health professionals committed to reducing the psychological impact of systemic oppression and intergenerational trauma.
She obtained her social work degree from University of Texas, where she studied abroad in Ghana, West Africa for two semesters creating a high school counseling center for under-resourced students. Young has visited over 37 different countries and her clinical experience spans across four different continents.
Her passion for culture and people has led her to become a highly sought after diversity and inclusion consultant working with companies like BBERG, Facebook, LinkedIn, and YWCA. She resides in the Washington DC area with her young son.
Continuing Education Credits and Approvals for This Course
Continuing Education (CE) credits offered vary by course. This course only offers the CE credits listed below. It is the attendees' responsibility to contact their licensing board to determine eligibility to meet continuing education requirements.
CSWE
Smith College School for Social Work is accredited by the Council on Social Work Education and is therefore authorized to provide CEs as a postsecondary institution accredited by CSWE in many states. Courses offered through the School’s Program of Professional Education are awarded continuing education credits in accordance with Continuing Education Regulation 258, CMR, 31.00 in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
NY State
Smith College School for Social Work 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-0169.
Not Approved for Counselors (LMHC, LPC)
Smith College School for Social Work has been approved by NBCC as an Approved Continuing Education Provider, ACEP No. 7110. This program does NOT qualify for NBCC ACEP approval.