Region B Report: Happy New Year from SLO Unit

San Luis Obispo Report

By L. Jeannette Davis, DSW, Secretary, SLO unit

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Sara Tindula

The SLO unit begins its New Year with great enthusiasm and anticipation. We ended 2014 on a high note at our December 4th Holiday party which was attended by 30 social workers. That evening we heard from Pete Skarda about CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocates), this group’s amazingly hard work and dedication to children involved in the foster care system, and had our first annual Cookie Challenge. Twelve delicious cookies were submitted, tasted by a group of experts, and three were awarded for exceptional quality. It was great fun!

The SLO unit is extremely pleased with the election of Sara Tindula, MSW, as chair at our September 2014 meeting. Sara Tindula obtained her Masters in Social Work from California State University, Long Beach in 2013. Prior to that she obtained a BA in Psychology and a BA in Social Science from California State University, Chico, in 2007. She has been employed by the SLO County Child Welfare Services for the past six years and as the Family Treatment Court Coordinator & Dependency Investigation Social Worker for the past year. The leadership skills that she brings to her Chairperson position include: implementation of a Family Reunification Support Group; a Safety Organized Practice (SOP) coach for families and staff to enhance family participation and foster equitable decision making; as trainer in Trauma Informed Care; and as trainer of PRIDE (Parent Resource for Information Development & Education) for parents and relative care providers for children in foster care. Her attention to detail, her organizational bent, and her commitment to bringing out the best in her clients, staff, and, consequently us in the unit, have already brought new energy to our monthly meetings.

The first SLO unit meeting in 2015 will be on Thursday, January 22, from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. John Roorda, LCSW, will give a presentation on EMDR. CEUs will be available. The second unit meeting will be held on Thursday, February 26, from 5:30pm to 7:30pm. Dr. Nish Abdulcader’s presentation will be on “The Medical Aspects of Child Abuse/Early Childhood Adverse Experiences & Development.” CEUs will be available. For directions to the presentations, contact us at NASWSLO@gmail.com. On Thursday, March 26, the SLO unit will celebrate Social Work Month.