Using the Image Exchange to Enhance Interdisciplinary Team Building in Child Welfare

A team building activity, the image exchange, was helpful to interdisciplinary teams in clarifying perceptions and opinions of participants about the roles of each discipline (child welfare, domestic violence, mental health, and substance abuse workers) at a five-day interdisciplinary training workshop. Discussion of team members’ perceptions and views provided opportunities to develop insights about misperceptions. Training in team development and role clarification provided a foundation for the development of effective interdisciplinary collaboration, which may improve interdisciplinary practice.Dr. Packard is an Associate Professor and Dr. Jones is a Professor in the School of Social Work at SDSU. At the time of writing, Ms. Nahrstedt was a Research Assistant in the School of Social Work at SDSU. This project was funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children, Youth, and Families.     

A typology of adolescent runaways

No single program seems adequate to serve a highly complex adolescent runaway and homeless youth population. A service program must have many components with each part addressing the needs of a specific and different population. This paper presents a typology of runaway behavior which has three categories. These categories distinguish among runaway and homeless youth by reference to their family situation, psychological characteristics, and length of time out of home. The implications for intervention that follow from these categories are discussed.former Bush fellow at the University of California, Los Angeles.