Breakout Sessions

Leland Pan
Alma Torres Pierce
Andrew Smith
Maggie Smith

The fact that school social workers are often part of educator unions is often overlooked, but school social workers are often uniquely positioned to push our unions to be forces for racial and social justice. This breakout focuses on the impact of unions on school social workers and in return, how school social workers can engage in our unions to fight for the values of our profession.

Rachel Niesen
Sophia Zisook

We are living through a time marked by overlapping crises – rising authoritarianism, climate catastrophe, and mass dehumanization – while being asked to hold space for others’ pain and uncertainty. This session offers a framework for meeting the moment with grounded resilience, courage, and compassion, drawing on social work practice, internal family systems, and collective care principles. Led by Rachel Niesen, LCSW, a clinician and community organizer, and Sophia Zisook, MSW, a macro social worker and facilitator, this session bridges micro and macro social work approaches. Together, Rachel and Sophia bring more than two decades of experience supporting individuals and organizations in navigating complexity, building collective capacity, and fostering communities of care. Participants will explore how to navigate their own grief, fear, and moral injury without disconnecting from clients or community, and how to guide others in doing the same. The workshop integrates practical tools for emotional regulation, boundary-setting, and media consumption alongside exercises in reclaiming agency, cultivating collective hope. Attendees will strengthen both their personal and professional capacity to stay present in this era of instability. Participants will leave with accessible strategies to care for themselves and others, foster networks of trust and mutual aid, and model the kind of grounded, justice-oriented resilience that this moment demands.

Sheila Badwan

A look at how Hanan Refugees Relief Group integrates direct services, case management, and community partnerships to promote long-term stability, dignity, and self-sufficiency for refugee families.

Erika Chambers
Krystal Folk-Nagua

This session will highlight creative models of service delivery and advocacy that explicitly dismantle racist policies and practices within social work and non-profit systems. The focus will be on how to do anti-racist work at the macro and mezzo levels by using concrete tools and strong community partnerships.

Ronica Mukerjee

An exploration of the reasons we need abolitionist, racial justice focused psychedelics practitioners. We will discuss the problematic funding structures currently in psychedelics as well as the the reasons to include race, disability and other forms of difference in considering care construction.

April Kigeya
Jaylin Stueber

For many BIPOC professionals, especially in social work and justice-centered spaces, the path to leadership and sustainability has required more than just skill—it’s taken strategy, survival, and self-sacrifice. These strategies, which we call The Cheat Code, are the unwritten rules and silent tools BIPOC folks develop to navigate institutions never designed for our thriving. This session centers the voices and lived experiences of BIPOC social workers, community leaders, and advocates who have been doing the work “in the dark”—without spotlight, compensation, or institutional support. Through interactive storytelling, small group dialogue, and reflection, participants will uncover the cheat codes they’ve used, examine the toll they’ve taken, and explore how to transition from survival to sovereignty. This session is not about fixing BIPOC folks—it’s about honoring what we’ve carried, naming what we’ve endured, and building collective strategies for healing, resistance, and sustainable leadership.

Mariela Quesada Centeno
Rosalba Montoya
Aleida Sevilla
Jennifer Valencia

Roots4Change (R4C) began in 2018 as Wisconsin’s first cooperative created and led by immigrant women, mothers, and community-based doulas. We formed a space where our lived experiences, cultural knowledge, and collective power could guide how we support one another. Built on a horizontal model, one person, one vote, R4C trains, mentors, and embraces women who face barriers to normative education and employment while providing culturally rooted perinatal care to Latina and Indigenous immigrant families. In 2024, we supported 7% of all Latina births in Dane County and 11% of births to foreign-born Latinas, most of whom are young mothers insured through BadgerCare and at high risk for postpartum health challenges. The blunt dehumanization directed toward immigrant bodies throughout 2025 has shaken our members and our community to the core, and yet-collectively, we have continued to support more than 58 perinatal dyads and hundreds of families through our food security program. We hear and hold stories of isolation and resistance, obstetric violence and agency, mental health needs and strengths, our work lives in the interstices of these complex experiences. By listening, documenting, and organizing, we continue to bring forward realities long overlooked by public health and healthcare systems that once assumed “Latinas are just fine.” Today, R4C partners with every major health system in Dane County and with more than 150 providers across Wisconsin and Latin America. Together, we have trained 29 immigrant doulas, supported over 488 mom–baby dyads, expanded access to mental health support, and created community-led research and learning spaces. Grounded in reproductive justice, economic sovereignty, and community-led workforce development, R4C challenges the status quo of perinatal care for immigrant bodies by embodying an alternative way of being with and caring for one another.

Curtis Davis
Josh Odam

As systemic polarization and inequities deepen, the social work profession faces defining ethical crossroads. This panel discussion with current SW students, as well as practitioners, invites critical reflection from those who are challenging institutional silence, confronting complicity, and exploring the future of the field. Through honest dialogue, panelists will examine how social workers can remain grounded, sustain presence, build solidarity, and take principled action in a profession that must evolve to meet this moment of social reckoning amid widespread social fragmentation and harm.

Dr. Sagashus Levingston

In this breakout session, Dr. Sagashus Levingston draws from A Pot to P*ss In, focusing on the portion of the chapters, “Poverty Does Sh*t to You,” that explores how she intentionally built a clear, values-driven family culture inside conditions that were unstable, unsafe, and uncertain. Rather than centering poverty itself, the session examines what becomes possible when a parent or leader refuses to let circumstances dictate meaning, values, or identity, highlighting how intentional conversations, shared language, and clarity of purpose can create grounding even when the world feels hostile or unpredictable. Using this moment as a parallel to today’s socio-political climate, Dr. Levingston invites participants to reflect on how power, leadership, and care can still be practiced without waiting for safety, certainty, or permission. The session offers a framework for grounded leadership and relational integrity in times of fear and instability, affirming that even within dangerous contexts, conscious choice remains a powerful tool for shaping identify, healing, and the future.

Vilissa Thompson

It has been over 10 years since Vilissa Thompson, LMSW began her journey as a disabled macro social worker. During this time, she created Ramp Your Voice!, her organization and blog, and has engaged social workers; key stakeholders in politics and movement spaces; and fellow disabled comrades alike about the complexities of race, gender, and disability. A great deal has transpired within this amazing decade of work, most notably the lessons and realities learned of what it means to be a part of communities that fail to acknowledge the disparities that exist for and be in true solidarity with members who are multiply-marginalized. For the fields that engage with this demographic – such as medical and helping professionals, educators, etc. – there is still a ton of work to be done to ensure that these professionals are agents of change and not harm, as well as how to better support disabled people in the communities they serve. Vilissa shares her insight on what should be on their radars, and why she proudly makes good trouble in the name of activism.