2025 Continuing Education  Presenters

Jessica Barrickman, MSW, CSW

Jessica Barrickman (O’Neel) comes with 20+ years of direct practice, program development, leadership and instructional experience within the field of social work. She has worked within the nonprofit sector, county government and taught within multiple UW Social Work Programs throughout the state of Wisconsin.  
Using both her professional and lived experience she has a strong passion for personal, professional and system continual growth.

Jess Bowers, MSW, CAPSW

 Jess Bowers is an associate professor at the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point and has also served as the field coordinator for the social work program for the past ten years. Jess was recently appointed to the social work section of the Marriage and Family Therapy, Professional Counseling, and Social Work Examining Board through the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services. She is a certified advanced practice social worker and a licensed school social worker. Jess has spent her social work career practicing and teaching in rural communities, so she understands the unique challenges experienced by social workers in rural areas.

Dr. Stephanie L Carnes, Ph.D, LCSW, LL.M

Dr. Stephanie Carnes, PhD, LCSW, LL.M, is a bilingual clinician, advocate, and researcher. She has spent the better part of the past 15 years engaged in clinical practice and advocacy work with Central American immigrant youth, first at a federally funded shelter program and subsequently as a school social worker in a public high school in New York’s Westchester County. Her research focuses on the lived experiences of Central American immigrant youth in public schools, specifically how dynamics such as xenophobia and nativism impact processes of bicultural identity development. She has also conducted in-depth research on the dynamics of burnout in social workers, and the use of collective self-care to combat burnout. 
In a consulting capacity, she partners with school districts and community organizations that seek to better understand the immigrant populations they serve. As an Assistant Professor of Social Work at Sacred Heart University, Stephanie brings an anti-oppressive, social-justice oriented lens to the courses she teaches at the MSW and BSW levels. In addition to a doctorate in social welfare and an MSW degree, Stephanie also holds an LL.M Masters of International Human Rights Law. She is actively involved in the National School Social Workers Association of America (SSWAA). 

Katherine Drechsler, DSW, LCSW-SA, SSW

 Dr. Katherine Drechsler is an Assistant Professor and the Field Coordinator for the Bachelor and Master of Social Work Program at the University of Wisconsin Whitewater and the coordinator of the School Social Work Certificate Program. She teaches in both the Bachelors and the Master’s program primarily social work practice courses and substance use disorder courses. Dr. Drechsler is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with a specialty authorization in Substance Abuse in the state of Wisconsin and has her school social work license in Wisconsin. Dr. Drechsler has 30 years of social work experience including experiences in child welfare, juvenile justice, and 7 years working with individuals with co-occurring disorders in an integrative community-based program.

Sarah Endicott, DNP, RN, APNP, PMHNP-BC, GNP-BC

Sarah Endicott, DNP is a nurse practitioner board-certified in geriatrics and psychiatric mental health nursing.  Dr. Endicott is a Clinical Professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In 2020, she was named a Distinguished Educator in Gerontological Nursing by the National Hartford Center of Gerontological Nursing Excellence.  Dr. Endicott’s nursing career has been devoted to the care of older adults with experience in acute care, hospice, memory-diagnostic clinics, primary care, long-term care and psychiatry.  Her special interest is the care of people living with dementia. She maintains a clinical practice in geriatric psychiatry. 

Dr. Ester Flores, PhD, LMSW

 Dr. Flores earned both her Master’s in Social Work and PhD in Leadership Studies from Our Lady of the Lake University. Dr. Flores has over 7 years of teaching in the Schools of Social Work both at Baylor University and Pan American now known as UT RGV. She was Director of Field Education for Undergraduate students at Baylor University. She has over 30 years as a generalist Social Work practitioner. Dr. Flores has worked as Program Director for Child Protective Services for 14 years; served as the Neonatal ICU social worker for the military, operated as Supervisor of a private social service agency in the Rio Grande where she was successful in obtaining over 4 million dollars in contracts, and has been a traveling Social Worker in California to include Martin Luther King Hospital as their ER Social Worker. Her areas of interest, expertise, and research will include a primary focus on the elderly population specifically in the areas of health, mental health, and hospice services.

Rachel Forbes, MSW

 Rachel Forbes, MSW, is an associate professor of the practice of social work and the Western Colorado MSW program director at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work. She is an appointed member of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) Commission on Educational Policy, the inaugural cochair of the CSWE Committee on Environmental Justice, and a former member of CSWE’s Council on Global, Learning and Practice. Rachel was the taskforce cochair for the CSWE Curricular Guide for Environmental Justice (2020) and is coauthor of the book The Intersection of Environmental Justice, Climate Change, Community and the Ecology of Life (2021). Rachel is an elected member of the Colorado Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers Board of Directors. She has taught coursework on sustainability, ecological justice, culture and place-based equity, and fostering sustainable behavior across undergraduate and graduate programs for over 10 years. Rachel’s current research and teaching looks at the impacts of climate change on mental health and ecological justice social work practice. Her work has been published in Environmental Justice and has been funded by the CSWE Katherine A. Kendall Institute for International Social Work. Rachel lives in Glenwood Springs, Colorado where she advocates for environmental justice in mountain communities across Colorado’s Western Slope. 

 

Emily Green, MSW, CAPSW, SAC-IT

Emily graduated with a Bachelor of Social Work degree in 2020 and a Master's in Social Work degree in 2021 from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Emily currently is employed at Jefferson County Human Services Department working on the Adult Mental Health Team with adults and children. Emily is completing the training and supervision hours toward her licensed clinical social worker and substance abuse counselor. In addition, Emily has completed the Training for Adoption Competency program. 

Fran Kaplan, MSW, EdD

 

Dr. Fran Kaplan is a lifelong social justice educator and activist. She holds a Master of Social Work degree and a doctorate in Education for the Advancement of Learning and Service.

Her 60-year career has included work in legal and community services on behalf of migrant farmworkers, in women’s reproductive and mental healthcare, in child abuse prevention and early intervention, and in the grassroots project to re-establish America’s Black Holocaust Museum. She is also an award-winning filmmaker and author. In all her roles, Dr. Kaplan works to build healthy, equitable, multicultural/multiracial organizations and communities.

Since 2017, her firm, Nurturing Diversity Partners, has provided training and consulting in health equity to a county government, an urban health department, and over two hundred healthcare providers, community organizations, faith institutions, businesses, K-12 schools, and universities in her region and around the country.

Karen Magruder, LCSW-S

Karen Magruder, LCSW-S is an Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Texas at Arlington School of Social Work, where she brings to the classroom a broad background in aging, mental health, and environmental justice. A dedicated and award-winning educator, Karen is passionate about integrating evidence-based and innovative techniques to promote student success in online learning. Karen is also a Doctor of Social Work (DSW) candidate at the University of Kentucky, where she is studying the implications of AI for social work education. She manages a small private therapy practice, provides clinical supervision, and maintains a free social work education resources YouTube channel with over 10,000 subscribers. Prioritizing balance and self-care, Karen also loves animals, yoga, and travel.

Debra Minsky-Kelly, MSW, LCSW

Debbie is a professor at the Carthage College School of Social Work, where she teaches on the subjects of psychological trauma, human resilience, and social work practice. Debbie’s 25+ year career as a social worker includes leadership in mental health and addiction treatment across the lifespan, most recently as a director with Rogers Behavioral Health. Debbie’s has also worked in child welfare, domestic violence, homeless healthcare, private practice, and childhood trauma. Debbie has published research on domestic violence and ethics related to current mental health service delivery models. She was selected as Distinguished Teacher of the Year at Carthage College in 2021. Debbie has presented at local, state, national, and international conferences, and for many agencies and organizations on subjects related to social work ethics and trauma-informed approaches to service delivery. 

 

Jonathan B. Singer, Ph.D., LCSW

Jonathan B. Singer, Ph.D., LCSW is Professor at Loyola University Chicago's School of Social Work, Past-President of the American Association of Suicidology and coauthor of two editions of the best-selling text, Suicide in Schools: A Practitioner's Guide to Multi-level Prevention, Assessment, Intervention, and Postvention, and co-editor of the 2024 text Podcasting in Social Work Education. He is a two-time winner of the National Association of Social Workers Media Award (2012 and 2016). In 2023, he was inducted as an NASW "Social Work Pioneer" for introducing podcasting to social work, and in 2024 he was inducted as a Fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research.

 Dr. Singer is a well-regarded international speaker who has given continuing education workshops, keynote addresses, and presentations on youth suicide, ethics, technology, adolescent development and attachment-based family therapy in the USA, Latin America, Asia, and Europe. Dr. Singer has chaired national committees for the National Associate of Social Workers (NASW) and Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). He is an NASW Expert, Healio Psychiatry Peer Perspective Board member, and has served on several national advisory boards including JED Foundation, Suicide Prevention Resource Center, and the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. He was a 2014 Visiting Scholar at Fordham University, the 2017 Lucille N. Austin Scholar at Columbia University, the 2018 Distinguished Lecturer at Weber State University, and 2024 Visiting Fellow at Indiana University.

He is the author of over 90 publications and his research has been featured in national and international media outlets like NPR, BBC, Fox, Time Magazine, and The Guardian. His research collaborations have been funded through the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, National Institute of Mental Health, and other organizations. His co-authored article with Arielle Sheftall and John Ackerman about the news media's reporting on the suicide deaths of Kate Spade and Anthony Bourdain won the prestigious 2019 SDX prize for research on journalism.

A pioneer in the integration of technology and social work, Dr. Singer is a founding member of the online suicide prevention social media community #SPSM, past-Treasurer for the international human services Information Technology association (http://husita.org/), co-lead for the Social Work Grand Challenge initiative "Harness Technology for Social Good" (https://grandchallengesforsocialwork.org/harness-technology-for-social-good/), and member of the Council on Social Work Education's Technology Advisory Group. Dr. Singer is the founder and host of the award-winning Social Work Podcast (www.socialworkpodcast.com). Founded in January 2007, the Social Work Podcast is the first podcast by and for social workers, with over 55,000 followers on social media, listeners in 208 countries and territories, and over 8 million downloads. He lives in Evanston, IL with his wife and three children and can be found on way too many social media platforms.

Dimitri Topitzes, PhD, LCSW

James ‘Dimitri’ Topitzes, Ph.D., LCSW, is a professor in and chair of the Social Work Department at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He also serves as the Director of Clinical Services for the Institute for Child and Family Well-Being. He conducts applied research and partners with community-based agencies to implement and test innovative trauma-responsive programming.  He is the developer and lead evaluator of the trauma screening, brief intervention, and referral to treatment or T-SBIRT interview protocol. 

David A. Wilkerson PhD, MSW 

David Wilkerson, PhD, MSW, Associate Professor and Director of the Office of e-Social Work Education and Practice at Indiana University School of Social Work in Indianapolis, Indiana has been an instrumental contributor towards advancing technology in social work education and practice. In the area of education, his contributions include the development of a series of digital social work practice graduate courses, an e-social work graduate certificate, and a continuing education course in telepractice basics for social work practitioners. In the area of practice, his contributions include research focusing on digital hybrid group psychoeducation and a design to strengthen peer support. In another application of digital practice, he is participating in the development of university-community collaboration to improve rural accessibility to online wellbeing resources and support. As a co-editor for the new NASW publication, Social Work in an Online World: A Guide to Digital Practice, Dr. Wilkerson draws on his experience and knowledge to help shape its content. The book is an essential resource for social work practitioners looking to expand the reach of their practices and utilize digital technologies to better serve their clients.