Dr. Vito presents on leadership in social work
August 1, 2019
Dr. Rosemary Vito, Assistant Professor in the School of Social Work, presented two papers at the Network for Social Work Management (NSWM) 30th Annual Conference, which took place at Loyola University in Chicago, Illinois from May 29-June 1, 2019.
Dr. Vito says she believes she was the sole Canadian presenter at the U.S.-based conference. “It was an excellent opportunity to network with a broad range of faculty and researchers from the US and abroad. This is especially important as there are few Canadian researchers studying leadership in social work,” says Dr. Vito.
Her first presentation, Financial innovation and human services contracting: Using a modified lead agency approach in child and youth mental health services, focused on the impact, strengths and challenges of lead agencies being given planning and accountability responsibilities but not sub-contracting authority and financial management within the child/youth mental health service sector in Ontario.
“Participants were interested in the lead agency example, as human services contracting is becoming more of a reality in organizations,” says Dr. Vito.
The second presentation, Human innovation and leadership development: Variations in training, organizational investment, participant outcomes, and succession planning in human services, focused on innovative leadership development programs in two children’s mental health agencies in Ontario, arguing the need for further organizational investment in leadership development and succession planning.
“This presentation provided an opportunity to share new knowledge of leadership training impact through key findings,” says Dr. Vito. The presentation was especially well attended, as leadership development is a timely topic given anticipated management retirements and lack of succession planning in human services.
In addition to attending both days of the conference, Dr. Vito attended a networking reception, all of which “provided me with ample opportunity to connect with colleagues, learn about emerging best practices that I can apply to my teaching and research on this subject, and discuss possibilities for future collaborative work together,” says Dr. Vito.
For more information on the NSWM Conference, please visit https://socialworkmanager.org/programs/annual-management-conference/
For more information on King’s School of Social Work, please visit https://socialwork.kings.uwo.ca/