In this episode Dr. Lewinson and Laura discuss contributions social workers bring to interdisciplinary team. They also discuss the unique skill-set social workers have to help increase access to healthcare and much more. Please re-share with your networks and follow us on Instagram @carebeyondtheclinic and twitter @CareBeyondtheC
Dr. Lewinson earned her Bachelor’s degree in Developmental Psychology from the University of South Carolina, and Masters and PhD degrees from the School of Social Work at the University of Georgia. Dr. Lewinson has over a decade of social work practice in healthcare settings and communities of low-income and overwhelmed families. She is a skilled qualitative social work researcher with a community-based focus. Dr. Lewinson builds collaborative relationships with policy makers and constituents to create change for people challenged with homelessness and unstable housing conditions. She has several years of experience conducting systematic observations, in-depth interviews, and focus groups using innovative and empowering visual data collection strategies, such as photovoice, which is effective in making hidden and shared environmental concerns more visible and motivating residents to become change agents. Her published work on aging in place has been shared at local and national conferences with professional social workers and interdisciplinary gerontologists where she specifically details complex life experiences of disenfranchised people residing transiently in hotels and coping with chronic and acute health challenges. Dr. Lewinson was also a 2016-2017 Health and Aging Policy Fellow and was placed in the U. S. House of Representatives in Congressman John Lewis’ office Dr. Lewinson was named by the Gerontological Society of America as a 2017-2018 Social Research, Policy, and Practice (SRPP) Fellow.
Laura Taylor is the National Program Manager for Advance Care Planning via Group Visits in the Veterans Health Administration. In this role, she builds stakeholder relationships and is responsible for managing, directing, and overseeing the implementation and dissemination of ACP-GV. Ms. Taylor is a licensed specialist clinical social worker (LSCSW) with over 20 years of administrative, clinical, operational and leadership experience. She completed her graduate social work internship at the Eastern Kansas VA Healthcare System and officially started her career as a social worker at the Robert J. Dole VA Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas. Ms. Taylor held progressive leadership roles at the Dole VA including service line director for Geriatrics and Extended Care. Prior to joining the Advance Care Planning via Group Visits Program, she served as the National Director of Social Work, Fisher House and Family Hospitality and Intimate Partner Violence Assistance Programs and served as the National Director of the Caregiver Support Program in VA Central Office. Ms. Taylor has also previously served as the Acting Chief Consultant for Care Management and Social Work. Ms. Taylor obtained her master’s degree in Social Work and bachelor’s degree in Social Work from the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas.