It’s Health and (not or) Human Services!

All of which brings me to the Stewards’ symposium, which explicitly brings together all the pieces of the puzzle – health andhuman services, interoperability and a critical, too-often-underappreciated additional factor: the social determinants of health and well-being. The opportunity to discuss and assemble all of these pieces makes this event (at Johns Hopkins University on June 22-24) both timely and important, and that’s why I’m excited to be a part of it.

The session at which I’ll be presenting with two of my colleagues fits perfectly into this picture. Titled “Leveling Up: Virtual Simulations for Better Child and Family Outcomes,” it focuses on a training solution that we have developed to help professionals in the child welfare world learn, practice, and apply leading case management practices, offering caseworkers an integrated environment for practicing their decision making, enhancing their empathy for what others across the system are seeing and doing, and providing a context-rich practice environment for “leveling up” their skillset to help them bring a 360-degree perspective to dealing with the vulnerabilities of families and children. We are creating a simulation-based game that can demonstrate the strengths and capacities offered by an integrated services system. We can support a virtual environment, composed of multiple actors with varying job responsibilities and perspectives. Caseworkers can “see,” understand and incorporate these various perspectives into their thinking and mindset, helping them to make plans and take action from a broader platform.