Intergenerational Evolution of Culturally Relevant Practice

Teaching human service professionals about culturally relevant practices with vulnerable groups has followed an intergenerational path. While the content in the early 1960s has always included topics such as practicing with those in poverty and with women, later content on vulnerable groups continued to be added depending on the knowledge production of that generation. An example is a practice with issues related to disabilities. The generation in which you were educated determined the model(s), you were taught and informed your practice with multicultural issues and groups. This workshop presents models taught with their accompanying values, knowledge and skills, the implication for supervision, and case applications. It will begin with the obsolete assimilation model and conclude with the current day critical theory models. 

This workshop has been pre-approved by the following Minnesota licensing boards:

  • Board of Social Work (BoSW): (#CEP-204)
  • Board of Marriage & Family Therapy (BMFT): 3 Supervision CEs, 3 Cultural Competency CEs (#2023-034); this workshop may not be used to meet the 30-hour supervision training requirement found in Minn. Rule 5300.0160.
  • Board of Behavioral Health & Therapy (BBHT): (#2023.CE.053)

After completing this workshop, participants will be able to: 

  • Explain the generational views of social justice practice models and their influences on practice and in supervision
  • Discuss  each model and its practice tenets
  • Apply each model to supervision

After completing this workshop, participants will be able to: 

  • Explain the generational views of social justice practice models and their influences on practice and in supervision
  • Discuss  each model and its practice tenets
  • Apply each model to supervision

About the Presenter

Priscilla A. Gibson, PhD, LICSW

Priscilla Gibson,  a Professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Minnesota, is a 2020 Fulbright Scholar. She has a long history of social work practice and teaches social work with individuals, families and groups; diversity and social justice; and international social work in Ghana. She conducts research on African American grandmothers as intergenerational caregivers, the ally model of social justice, out-of-school suspensions, character virtues in homeless youth and parenting in families with low-incomes. Dr. Gibson explores health and healing of  women of color at predominantly white institutions and international social work education in Ghana, Namibia and Moldova. Some of her publications include Universal design: A new framework for accommodating students in social work courses (2005), Reframing multicultural education: Teaching white privilege in social work education (2007), Mental Health in the African American Community (2007), Extending the Ally Model of Social Justice to Social Work Pedagogy (2015), Ally Model of Social Justice in Social Work (2016), Mental health and older adults (2020) and a special issue on black racism in Reflections: Narrative of Professional Helping (in press).