Addressing Moral Distress and Building Protective Factors and Resilience During Times of Systems Change

The child welfare system needs reform to assure a focus on family preservation and to address inequities. Child welfare workers experience complex emotional, moral, and ethical issues in their work.  This learning exchange will examine the complicated and layered context of these issues with a special focus on examining the factors that are protective for child welfare workers and leaders who are working in systems that are stressed and in need of reform.

Please note: The second half of the session will be spent in small group discussions. Plan to join with your webcam and microphone enabled and ready to explore these issues with your colleagues.

Presenter:

Rachel Imboden, PhD, is a Postdoctoral Fellow with the Butler Institute at the University of Denver and is supporting the evaluation work of the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI). Prior to obtaining her PhD, Rachel worked for 16 years in various human service positions within state government as well as non-profit and for-profit agencies. Rachel’s professional experiences sensitized her to the workforce development needs of those providing direct care to individuals receiving agency services. Her dissertation focused on how moral distress is understood and experienced by social workers and she hopes this work can be used to strengthen supports for human service professionals.