Education
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Background
Dr. Van Den Bergh is an Associate Professor and has been involved with social work education for over 2O years, having served as faculty for BSW and MSW programs, as well as Director of MSW and PhD programs.
She also has over 20 years of experience in the field of mental health working with patients in the continuum of services from inpatient psychiatric hospitals to outpatient clinics and as a private practitioner contracted with managed care companies.
Dr. Van Den Bergh has established a specialty in occupational social work, and has been involved with the employee assistance field since 1983.
As such she has been a provider within both internal and external EAPs, and directed the EAP at the University of California Los Angeles for five years.
Within her practice experience, Dr. Van Den Bergh has also served as a community organizer, working with diverse groups from sexual assault victims to farmers and farm workers.
In essence, Dr. Van Den Bergh’s career has included a range of social work roles from psychiatric social worker to community organizer, administrator, educator and researcher.
As such, she values diversity and creativity in thought and practice, which she believes is the core of being an effective and accountable professional.
Courses
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Research
In terms of research and scholarly interest Dr. Van Den Bergh has edited two of the three books the NASW press has produced on feminist social work, Feminist Visions for Social Work (1986) and Feminist Practice in the 21st. Century (1995). She also edited a volume addressing a feminist analysis of addictive disorders, published by Springer Press , Feminist Perspectives on Addictions (1991).
Most recently Dr. Van Den Bergh edited a volume focused on employee assistance practice, entitled Emerging Trends for EAPS in the 21st. Century (2001), Haworth Press.
She has numerous articles, book chapters and conference presentations which address these areas in addition to her interests in addictions, mutual aid and peer support groups as well as critical incident stress debriefings.
She has been undertaking research concerning the problems and needs of sexual minority employees at the workplace.
At present she is partnering with the Employee Assistance Professionals Association to undertake a survey addressing the level of cultural competency of EAPA members with ethnic/racial and sexual minority clients.
An additional avenue of inquiry for Dr. Van Den Bergh concerns spirituality and social work. Of particular interest to her is the application of spiritual principles to organizational and community practice. She believes that attention to spirituality is not only a component of being a culturally competent practitioner; but, it is also consonant with themes of social and economic justice.
Interests
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