2024 Continuing Education  Presenters

Brian Benford, MSW 

For the last thirty years, Brian Benford has fought for the City of Madison’s most underserved and vulnerable communities as a family advocate, educator, activist, City Alder, and past president of the City of Madison’s Equal Opportunities Commission. He’s spent his career working directly with - and advocating for - at-risk youth, low-income families, and neighborhood organizations to reach their full potentials. Brian received his MSW from the UW-Madison Sandra Rosenbaum School of Social Work in 2020. Brian currently serves as the Social Worker/Success Coach for the award-winning UW-Madison Odyssey Project which takes a whole family approach to breaking the cycle of generational poverty through access to education.

Dana Johnson, MSW

Dana Johnson, MSW, has over 14 years of direct practice and senior level management experience in county human services, also holding positions as an educator at the baccalaureate and graduate levels, and in the policy realm. His passion includes coaching staff and promoting resiliency in the helping professions. His areas of expertise include leadership development, innovation, child welfare services and reform, ethics and boundaries, trauma-informed care, equity, diversity, and inclusion, including LGBTQIA+, gender and race equity. 

Debra Minsky-Kelly, MSW, LCSW

Debra Minsky-Kelly, LCSW, is a professor of social work at Carthage College. She earned her B.A. from the University of Wisconsin - Madison and a Master in Social Work from Loyola University Chicago. Her experience as a clinical social worker includes serving as a director with Rogers Behavioral Health in Kenosha as well as working in areas of domestic violence, child welfare and homeless healthcare. Prof. Kelly’s ongoing research and clinical interests include the effects of trauma across the lifespan, development of trauma informed organizations, and the impact of secondary traumatic stress on professionals.

Frederick G. Reamer, PHD

Frederic G. Reamer is Professor in the graduate program of the School of Social Work, Rhode Island College, where he has been on the faculty since 1983.  His research and teaching have addressed a wide range of human service issues, including mental health, health care, criminal justice, public welfare, and professional ethics.  Dr. Reamer received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago (1978) and has served as a social worker in correctional and mental health settings.  He has also taught at the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration (1978-1981), and the University of Missouri-Columbia, School of Social Work (1981-1983). 

Dr. Reamer has served as Director of the National Juvenile Justice Assessment Center of the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (1979-1981); as Senior Policy Advisor to the Governor of Rhode Island (1987-1990); and as a Commissioner of the Rhode Island Housing and Mortgage Finance Corporation, the state housing finance agency (1987-1995). Dr. Reamer served on the State of Rhode Island Parole Board from 1992 to 2016.  He also served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Social Work Education (1990-1994).  He serves as Associate Editor of the National Association of Social Workers Encyclopedia of Social Work (Oxford University Press and National Association of Social Workers). Since 2012, Dr. Reamer has served as the ethics instructor in the Providence (RI) Police Department Training Academy.

Dr. Reamer has conducted extensive research on professional ethics.  He has been involved in national research projects sponsored by The Hastings Center, the Carnegie Corporation, the Haas Foundation, and the Scattergood Program for the Applied Ethics of Behavioral Healthcare at the Center for Bioethics, University of Pennsylvania.  He has published 24 books and 175 journal articles, book chapters, and encyclopedia articles.  

Jeanne Wagner, MSW, LCSW, ACSW

Jeanne Wagner joined the staff at the Helen Bader School of Social Welfare in May 2005 as the Director of Social Work Field Education Programs. She received her MSW from Jane Addams College of Social Work, Chicago, IL and her BSW from Morehead State University, Morehead, KY. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker and Clinical Professor with extensive clinical, management, administrative, and educational experience. She has worked in a variety of social service settings prior to her appointment with UWM, which include child welfare, adoption (domestic and international), mental health, intellectual disabilities, geriatrics, and private practice. She currently teaches courses in social work, develops and presents continuing education programs covering social work ethics and boundaries, leadership and supervision, case management, documentation, confidentiality, adoption competency, safety in the field, etc. She is a Trainer for the Training for Adoption Competency (TAC) curriculum through the Center for Adoption Support and Education (CASE) and UWM’s Co-Director for TAC. She has served in the role of Ombuds for UWM since 2007 and has 10 years of experience in Quality Assurance.

Sheng Lee Yang, MSW, LCSW

Sheng is a first-generation immigrant who arrived in the U.S. as a refugee at a young age and has remained in Wisconsin since. Today, she is a practicing Licensed Clinical Social Worker, President and Executive Director for Us 2 Behavioral Health Care. Additionally, she teaches graduate-level courses in Clinical Mental Health and Diversity & Inclusion, and more importantly, is a proud mother of two young girls. Her professional experiences include direct care and leadership positions in public, private, government and nonprofit institutions. Her personal and professional experiences helped cultivate a vision to integrate social justice and cultural humility into mental health. On September 3rd, 2019, Sheng led the opening of Us 2 Behavioral Health Care to increase access to health care in the community with a vision that everyone can be healthier together.