Faith leaders and service providers in conversation at the Social Work and Religious Diversity conference
Social Work and Religious Diversity
Conferences for Social Service, Mental Health, and Spiritual Care Professionals
The Social Work and Religious Diversity conference series is cosponsored by ICNY and the Psychotherapy and Spirituality Institute. Our conferences help social service, mental health, and spiritual care professionals work more effectively with religiously diverse clients and communities. We hope you will join us to build your multifaith cultural competence, learn about healing resources grounded in diverse faith traditions, and earn continuing education credit for New York State LMSWs and LCSWs.
Please click here to join ICNY’s email list if you’d like to learn about future Social Work and Religious Diversity conferences. See below for information about our past conferences, as well as links to free resources. If you have any questions about our programs for social workers, contact ICNY’s Director of Programs, Dr. Henry Goldschmidt, at 212-870-3514 or henry@interfaithcenter.org.
Why Study Social Work and Religious Diversity?
Because to make a difference in today’s New York, mental health and social service providers need a rich understanding of the religious lives of the people they serve. The religious beliefs and values of diverse New Yorkers shape their views of pressing social issues – child welfare and youth development, mental health and depression, substance abuse and recovery, sexuality and LGBT relationships, aging and end-of-life issues, and many others. In order to work effectively on these issues, New York’s social workers need to understand the religious traditions of the clients and communities they serve.
Because the city’s diverse faith traditions offer valuable insights and resources that can enrich your practice as a mental health or social service professional. Whether or not you are a faith-based provider, you can learn a great deal by engaging with religiously diverse colleagues. Your practice might be enriched, for example, by Christian understandings of personal transformation; Jewish understandings of “tikkun olam,” or repairing the world; Muslim understandings of the balance between justice and compassion; Buddhist understandings of mindfulness and non-attachment; Hindu and Sikh understandings of “seva,” or selfless service; and much more. In all of these ways, an engagement with religious diversity can transform your professional practice.
Supporting Social Workers and their Colleagues since 2007
The Interfaith Center of New York has offered education programs for mental health and social service professionals since 2007, to help them develop the multi-faith cultural competence they need to work effectively with diverse clients, colleagues, and community partners. Our Social Work and Religious Diversity program has served many hundreds of social workers, MSW students, psychologists, chaplains, and others, and has received overwhelmingly positive participant evaluations. Our students have said, for example:
- “This is one of the most interesting workshops I’ve ever attended. It has opened my curiosity to learn more about every one of the religious traditions presented — not only to better serve my clients, but also to better myself.”
- “These sessions have been such an eye-opener for me. There is so much information I can use in my work. Thank you for this experience!”
- “I valued learning from different perspectives, and learning how to speak about spirituality from a social work perspective.”
- “I learned to appreciate the importance of religious beliefs in shaping every aspect of a person’s life.”
- “I learned that I have to be aware of my own biases and respect others’ beliefs — ie, to meet my clients where they are.”
- “The program was simply awesome — just wish it could be a little longer!”
In 2015, the Social Work and Religious Diversity program was approved by the New York State Education Department to offer continuing education credit hours that satisfy state licensing requirements for social workers. With our partners at the Psychotherapy and Spirituality Institute (and with deep gratitude to our past partners at the Jewish Board), the Interfaith Center of New York is proud to develop high quality continuing education programs that meet the needs of New York State LMSWs and LCSWs, while appealing to social service, mental health, and spiritual care professionals in all fields.
Past Social Work and Religious Diversity Conferences
Click on the title of each conference, to read the conference program and speakers’ biographies:
Being Together While We’re Apart: Building Community and Providing Care, in the Pandemic and Beyond, July 22, 2020
Faith-Based Perspectives on Trauma and Healing, May 15, 2019
Religion, Spirituality, and Family Life, May 10, 2017
Religion and Spirituality as Sources of Strength in Times of Crisis, April 7, 2016
Religion and Spirituality through the Life Course, June 17, 2015
Free Resources for Social Workers and their Colleagues
Click here for downloadable materials created by the Interfaith Center of New York and other social work educators, including bibliographies of scholarly and popular texts on a range of subjects, link to leading faith-based organizations working on a range of social and clinical issues, video trainings, self assessment tools, and other materials.
Click here for a series of 12 ninety-minute videos from ICNY’s 2011 Social Work and Religious Diversity course. These videos include academic introductions to six major religious traditions —Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and African diaspora religions like Vodou and Santeria — as well as panel discussions with local community leaders and faith-based service providers from each tradition.
Click here for a collection from videos from ICNY programs exploring social justice, social service, and mental health issues. These videos include a cultural competence training on “Islam, Parenting, and Foster Care,” excerpts from day-long conferences on “Child Welfare and Foster Care” and “Spirituality and Religion in End of Life Care,” and an interfaith dialogue on “Scripture and Healing: Perspectives from the Yoruba and Christian Traditions.”
Contact the Social Work Program at ICNY
If you have any questions about the Social Work and Religious Diversity continuing education program, please contact the Interfaith Center’s Director of Programs, Dr. Henry Goldschmidt, at 212-870-3514, or at henry@interfaithcenter.org.
Dr. Goldschmidt is always happy to speak with social workers about religious diversity, faith-based service, and the religious communities of New York City.
The Interfaith Center of New York is recognized by the New York State Education Department’s State Board for Social Work as an approved provider of continuing education for licensed social workers, #SW-0163.