Plenary III. Future of Health and Mental Health

Integrative Social Work in Health and Mental Health: Model Building and Development

Professor Cecilia L W CHAN,
Professor, Department of Social Work and Social Administration, The University of Hong Kong, HKSAR, CHINA

Professor Cecilia Chan is Professor of the Department of Social Work and Social Administration of the University of Hong Kong. She founded many innovative social work services for chronic patients, bereaved persons, and persons with issues of health or mental health in the past decades. By incorporating Eastern philosophies and practices into her integrative Body Mind-Spirit approach, she developed a SMART (Strength-oriented, Meaningfocused Approach to Resilience and Transformation) model to empower clients on their path to recovery. She is internationally known for her creative synergy of Chinese meridian concepts, tai-chi movements, mindfulness techniques, meaning reconstruction and Western social work theories into her practices which are tested vigorously with psycho-physical markers in her follow-up studies.

From Clinic to Community: Opportunities for Creative Collaboration and Inspiring Innovation

Professor Dorothy SCOTT,
OAM, Director, Australian Centre for Child Protection, University of South Australia, AUSTRALIA

Professor Dorothy Scott is the Foundation Chair and Director of the Australian Centre for Child Protection, located at the University of South Australia. Her previous positions include Head of the School of Social Work at the University of Melbourne and Executive Director of The Ian Potter Foundation, Australia’s largest philanthropic trust. Professor Scott has a practice background in child welfare and mental health, and her development of innovative services in these fields was recognised in the award of the Medal of the Order of Australia. She is known internationally for her contribution to the conceptualisation of meaning construction and practice wisdom in social work.