2021 Case Management Summit Schedule

Opening Keynote: Case Management is the Answer (To So Many Questions)

• Presenters: Ashley Blamey
• Session Description: The work of Case Managers is seldom celebrated. It does not result in awards and is rarely featured in the high gloss catalogs of our Universities. However, the individual outcomes, systemic impact, and exponential growth of this profession would argue that it should be. Dr. Ashley Blamey will discuss the history of case management in higher education, and describe the universal application of case management skills in micro and macro problem solving in higher education and beyond.

Two Sets of Standards, One Application

• Presenters: Carrie Smith, Ph.D. and Makenzie Schiemann, M.S.
• Session Description: As a new profession in higher education, the work of case managers has long been built on “common” practice. Looking to formalize this work and establish best practices across the field, both the Council for the Advancement of Standards, in partnership with the Higher Education Case Manager’s Association, and NABITA have published standards for case management in higher education. Join the Presidents of HECMA and NABITA to learn about how these two sets of standards are aligned and how they can be implemented in tandem. Whether your school has case management as a position or you are practicing case management as a process, presenters will discuss strategies to enhance your efforts and ensure your programs and process are in line with national standards of practice.

Addressing Racial Trauma as a Case Manager

• Presenters: Aaron Austin, Ed.D. and Joseph Contes
• Session Description: The past year has brought a heightened awareness to issues of race and social justice. On a college or university campus, these issues are often brought into sharper focus as views are debated in classrooms, residence halls, and organizational meetings. However, this can often lead to tension among students, staff, and faculty, and the fallout often has tangible effects on the students we serve, especially those identifying as BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color). We often refer to this as racial trauma. This presentation aims to provide case managers with some background on racial trauma, including causes and symptoms. The presentation will also engage participants to discuss best practices to engage with students experiencing racial trauma and how to help them respond to the physical, emotional, or psychological impact it has on their ability to be safe and successful.

Can I Talk to Them About This? FERPA Considerations for Case Managers

• Presenters: Kim Pacelli, M.Ed., J.D. and Makenzie Schiemann, M.S.
  Session Description: Given the range of responses from parents/guardians, as well as from faculty and staff, regarding a student in distress or who poses a threat, BITs and case managers are often left wondering when and how they should notify or communicate with others. To provide guidance around how and when non-clinical case managers can communicate with others about a student of concern, presenters will provide an overview of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).  Additionally, presenters will explore strategies for leveraging communication with faculty, staff, and parents/guardians, within the bounds of FERPA, to better serve the student and the greater community.

Breaking Down Silos in Case Management

• Presenters: Luke Ahrens, MBA, M.A., Greg Harris, M.A., Marrianna White, MSSA, LSW, and Kimberly Scott, MSSA, M.Ed.
• Session Description: Case management involves holistic support while demonstrating advocacy for and the empowerment of others. Team-based approaches, theories, and humanitarian efforts are at the core of effective case management and behavioral intervention with collaborative, communicative, consultative, and mediated strategies. With decentralized higher education landscapes in mind, this session will provide insight on how to establish and maintain centralized efforts while empowering students and engaging campus partners.

Self-Care: Moving Beyond Manicures and Bubble Baths

• Presenter: Makenzie Schiemann, M.S.
• Session Description: Self-care has become a buzz-word in today’s culture and it has morphed the idea of what it truly means to take care of yourself.  As case managers, we must engage in intentional and structural efforts to ensure that we are building professional, emotional, and mental resiliency. This means going beyond buying ourselves manicures and taking bubble baths at the end of the day and starting to create structures in our profession that promote our wellbeing and prevent burnout and staff turnover. The additional stressors and shifts in our work as a result of COVID-19 and virtual services only further emphasizes the need for effective professional boundaries and self-care.  This presentation will present pragmatic and structural changes that can be made within a case management program to promote staff wellbeing as well as strategies for individuals case managers to promote their own mental and emotional resiliency.

The Art of Engagement: Using Motivational Interviewing During Challenging Student Conversations

• Presenter: Robert Scholz, MA, LMFT, LPCC
• Session Description: Effective decision-making for BITs depends on a variety of factors, including the quality of the information gained from interviews with at-risk students. Even the most experienced professional can be challenged during these conversations since students often enter these interactions guarded, angry, hopeless and fearing for the worst. Motivational interviewing (MI) offers professionals a practical, common-sense style to engage students in difficult conversations through a caring, empathic and collaborative approach. This program will offer participants a brief overview of MI theory and principles, specific early interview MI engagement strategies, skills to respond more effectively to the reactive student, and ideas for structuring interviews that both elicit needed information, while also respecting the student’s readiness to move into more difficult topics.

Managing Suicidal Ideation and Behavioral Health Hospitalizations

• Presenters: Makenzie Schiemann, M.S. and W. Scott Lewis, J.D.
• Session Description: Behavioral health hospitalizations due to suicidality, thoughts of harm to others, or inability to care for oneself, can be stressful and challenging both for the student experiencing the hospitalization and the school community. Administrators often struggle with wanting to determine if a student is ready to return to school when there are due process, ADA, and other regulations that provide protections to students as they access their education. Leveraging their legal, administrative, and mental health backgrounds, presenters will discuss strategies for managing risk, supporting students, and managing safety during and after a behavioral health hospitalization.

Knowledge, Insight Strategies and Structure (KISS Framework)

• Presenters: Leann Griffin, M.S. and Rick Griffin, M.A.
• Session Description:Grand Canyon University, following the evidence-based framework of Knowledge, Insight Strategies and Structure (KISS Framework) and created by Community Resilience Initiative, has created innovative BIT and TAT programs. These programs include a case management model that is designed to be structured, consistent to the NABITA model, yet focuses on helping to teach the skills the student lacks while resolving the problems that tend to precipitate challenging behaviors.

Working Hand in Hand: Law enforcement and Counseling Response to a Mental Health Crisis

• Presenters: Captain Thomas Calucci and Makenzie Schiemann, M.S.
• Session Description: During 2020, there have been multiple challenges and frustrations among law enforcement, protestors, BLM, and other marginalized groups that found themselves being treated aggressively and unfairly by law enforcement. There have been several instances of aggressive, violent, and even deadly responses to an individual experiencing a mental health crisis. NABITA advocates for a middle ground of increased police transparency, mental health and crisis response training, and an emphasis in encouraging intentional and collaborative crisis responses between law enforcement and mental health professionals. Law enforcement only responses tend to be safer for those intervening but often can lack the mental illness awareness and crisis de-escalation skills needed to calm those in an acute crisis. Counseling only responses raise the risk of staff harm and may put those trying to help the student at an increased risk. This training will address the current tension around how to best respond to a mental health crisis in the classroom and around campus and provide strategies for employing a collaborative response.

Increasing College Persistence and Retention; Social Work Case Management Model

• Presenters: Jennifer Meade, Ph.D., Joise Garzon, MSW, LICSW, LaTanya Monteiro
• Session Description: Learning for Life at Rhode Island College is a Student Success office that collaborates with the RIC School of Social Work to train and supervise social work interns and graduate assistants who serve as peer mentors for RIC students. Learning for Life’s Navigator-to-Scholar model of support provides comprehensive services through a linkage to on and off campus resources and opportunities. L4L’s retention rate was 12.3% higher than the overall Rhode Island College first-year retention rate for students entering in fall 2014. This was the last time a full program evaluation was completed but our results have been very promising since, with years of data indicating that L4L students persist at equal or higher rates than the overall RIC population, despite facing the most significant obstacles to graduation.

Trauma Informed Practices for Case Managers

• Presenter: Joseph Vincent, M.L.S.
• Session Description: In this session, we will discuss the sources, impacts, and manifestations of trauma and how they may impact students. Attendees will leave with a healthy appreciation for the broad range of stimuli, experiences, and history that may cause traumatic responses, an understanding of how to identify and adjust based on manifestations of trauma, and an appreciation for the delicacy and patience required to appropriately assist and communicate with traumatized individuals.

Emergency Room Visits: Building Relationships that Help us Help our Students

• Presenters: Carly Jo Archie, MSW, Shannon Perry, M.S. Ed., MBA
• Session Description: Successfully navigating a student emergency room visit requires strategic partnerships and building relationships with campus and community resources.  Identifying stakeholders, establishing processes, and ensuring ongoing collaboration and communication is key.  Presenters will discuss these relationships from the initial crisis call through discharge or inpatient admission with stakeholders such as: Public Safety, On-call crisis teams, hospital staff, community crisis counselors, students, and parents.  Additionally, the presenters will guide the group through a complex case study that ties all these pieces together.

Closing Panel: Looking to the Future of Case Management in Higher Education

• Presenters: Makenzie Schiemann, M.S., W. Scott Lewis, J.D., Ashley Blamey, and Joseph Contes
• Session Description: Join a panel of case management experts as they reflect on the growth in the field of higher education case management and explore the opportunities for the future. Relying on recent survey data and their own expertise in the field, the panelists will discuss the directions, trends, and changes they anticipate the field to experience and will make suggestions for how administrators and case managers can prepare.