Phi Alpha Chapter First Ever to Win All 4 National Honors Society Awards

Loma Linda University's Phi Alpha Chapter, Iota Pi, received the Chapter Support Award, the Chapter Service Award, the Chapter Grant, and first place in the poster presentation competition at the annual meeting of the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) in November!

Read from from LLU about our social work students' philanthropic service →

More photos of Phi Alpha at the Ronald McDonald House at Christmastime →

Phi Alpha at the annual SACHS Christmas Fiesta →

Valentine's breakfast for families staying at the Ronald McDonald House →

A team of School of Behavioral Health students, "Stars Against Stigma," participated in November's National Alliance on Mental Health Illness (NAMI) Walk, helping to increase awareness against mental health stigma. The team raised an amazing total of $2,160 for NAMI, and out of 83 teams, the SBH team placed in the top ten for total donations raised!

At Loma Linda University Children's Hospital (LLUCH) we have an amazing team of Child Life Specialists (CLS) who are able to provide comfort and support to our pediatric patients and their family members throughout hospitalization. The role of a Child Life Specialist is different with each individual child. Sometimes it's educating about a new diagnosis, other times it is teaching and accompanying patients to surgery, and oftentimes it's facilitating play opportunities to help our children continue to learn and grow throughout their stay with us. There are Child Life Specialists on each pediatric unit, including one in the Emergency Department during the evening hours. However, we recognized the need for additional Child Life staff, as our ED Child Life Specialist and other daytime staff were continually being called away from the unit to assist with needs in other busy a reas. After a little research, we discovered that  Spirit of Children , an organization that raises money for children's hospitals around the nation, could help us with this problem.

 

Spirit of Children has donated almost $300,000 to the Child Life Department at LLUCH over the last six years, providing countless opportunities for pediatric patients. Additionally, they donate a variety of Halloween costumes, allowing children to dress up and experience a little bit of normalcy while hospitalized during the holidays. Most recently, Spirit of Children began funding a Child Life Fellowship position at LLUCH. This has helped our department immensely, as our wonderful fellow is now meeting the needs of many patients that otherwise would not have received child life services. Our Child Life Fellowship is a one-year, entry-level, paid position, providing services throughout different areas of the hospital and allowing for a wide variety of unique learning experiences. Below, our current Child Life Fellow shares her experience thus far.  - Dinah Evans, Director of Child Life Services at LLUCH

In October 2016 I started as the first ever Child Life Fellow at Loma Linda University Children's  Hospital. My name is Rachel Kinsinger, and I graduated from LLU in June 2016 after finishing a Child Life Internship at Blank Children's Hospital in Des Moines, Iowa. The fellowship is such a great experience for a recent graduate, and I couldn't be more thankful! As  a fellow, I have the opportunity to gain a wide array of experiences from floating to different units, covering where needed while working full-time. I feel like I am getting quality and quantity, from getting experience on every unit, but also from working in the hospital full-time. For a new Child Life Specialist, it really is the best of both worlds and the exact experience I wanted in my first Child Life job. As much as I see the fellowship as my own benefit, it has been exciting to see how the fellowship is helpful to the Child Life Department. My home base is the surgical unit, which is always very busy. I am able to help the Child Life Specialist on those busy days seeing many of the children who otherwise would have been missed. So, a big thank you is in order to the Child Life Department at LLUCH for having me this year!  - Rachel Kinsinger, Child Life Specialist MS alumna (2016)

 

Dr. Zephon Lister, Associate Professor

Dr. Lister earned his master's degree in June 2003 and his doctoral degree in June 2010. He too is a licensed Marital and Family Therapist and is a candidate for approved supervisor status. Dr. Lister comes to us after a seven-year tenure as Director of the Collaborative Care Program, Family Medicine Residency Program and Assistant Clinical Professor within the University of California San Diego Division of Family and Preventive Medicine.  He has advanced training in medical family therapy and extensive experience in facilitating the provision of collaborative care by behavioral health and medical professionals. Other areas of specialization include c ouples and chronic illness, religion and family functioning, and trauma-informed couples therapy. Dr. Lister has served as an adjunct professor at a several universities and is the recipient of numerous professional awards including the LLU Wil Alexander Whole Person Care Award. He joins us in July 2017 as an Associate Professor and Director of our PhD in Systems, Families, and Couples program. 

- Dr. Kimberly Freeman, Executive Associate Chair

On December 26, 2016, three students from the School of Behavioral Health along with fifteen other LLU students were blessed in traveling to Honduras to provide a range of needed services to children being served under the Pan American Health Service program, as well as adults and children in the local community. The trip was organized through Students for International Mission Services (SIMS) and it was the tenth time services were offered to children who had been abandoned and were living in shelter care. The PAHS is a center offering shelter, nutritional guidance, and care to children. The trip's goals included providing dental care, emotional support, increasing public health awareness, and demonstrating God's love to the children and the community surrounding PAHS through outreach and fellowship. The SBH students included K'dee Elsen (Clinical Psychology PhD student), Vanessa Minishian (Child Life Specialist MS student), Gabriela Navarro (MSW student), along with dental students, nutritionists, a physician assistant student, and an assistant speech therapist. Although these SBH students had not known each other prior to trip, their shared values of compassion and service were a key for them in quickly developing relationships that would be a core factor in their joint service during the mission trip.

The Role of SBH at PAHS

The SIMS Honduras team was a truly remarkable group that in many ways became a family with a clear mission of service to God's children. Being away from the daily stressors of student life, the team was able to focus its energies on providing necessary health care. While the team's mission was to provide health care to residents with little access to services, specifically focusing on dental and nutrition, the Behavioral Health group served the community through interpersonal interactions, needs assessments, active listening and empathic attention. They were referred to as the "glue" that kept the entire team together.

During their time in Honduras, the team stayed on the property of Pan American Health Service, Inc. and started each morning by assisting staff with children's nursery care routines. After the daily morning devotion, the team would then head out to the clinic sites. Members of the dental team would do extractions, fillings, and cleanings. Height, weight, and BMI were measured, and information was shared about nutrition, diet, hydration, and cardiovascular health. Further, eye exams and reading glasses were available for patients with vision problems. In the afternoon, the team visited residents in the community, performing nutritional-themed skits for children.

How SBH Can Be Utilized in the Future

The annual mission trip to Honduras has been designed to provide physical healing through dental work and nutrition (the nutrition component being added this year). While these services are immense blessings to the site and surrounding community, the SBH students witnessed an unfulfilled need for emotional and mental healing. Many of the children at the PAHS site presented with extensive traumatic histories, the caretakers with excessive responsibilities and stress, and the surrounding community with the effects of oppression. The SBH students attempted to address these needs and provide Christian holistic healing. The healing process was indeed begun. However, given the large number of wounded Hondurans, and the deep nature of those wounds, continued follow-up care is sorely needed.

The SBH students spent eight days together in the mountains of North Central Honduras offering emotional healing through the tools they had learned at Loma Linda University. Serving in this way helps meet the urgent needs of the global community and furthers the teaching and healing ministry of Jesus Christ. If you'd like to participate, please contact the SIMS office.

- Gabriela Navarro, MSW student

Details and trip registration information →

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