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The Indiana Daily Student

IU School of Education workshops raise awareness on public health, social issues

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The IU School of Education and the Interprofessional Practice and Education Center will have four in-person workshops this year to educate students on social and personal health issues as well as encourage further group work and participation in related causes and activities.

This is the most recent IPEC “Improving Social Justice” certification series, which is a seminar program dedicated to educating students on social and health-related issues. This semester’s series will focus on human trafficking and health issues based on social influence.

The first session in this series is 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 13 in the School of Education Room 2140. Alongside Deb Getz, School of Public Health clinical associate professor, students will analyze human trafficking statistics and learn about methods to respond to a crisis safely and responsibly, Kyla Cox Deckard, IU Center for Rural Engagement Director of Communications, said in an email.

The second session will focus on social factors affecting one’s health from 7 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 20 in the same room. Students will learn how to understand how the community can affect an individual’s decisions and their health, Deckard said in an email.

IPEC project manager Alex Buchanan said he was pleased with the number of contacts and networking opportunities between students and faculty attending the sessions.

In an effort to encourage peer-to-peer learning and sharing experiences, presenters will facilitate sessions in two parts. The first half will be instructional and provide participants with an overview of the session content. The remaining half will be more hands-on and have a heavy emphasis on interprofessional collaboration, Buchanan said.

Students can register for these upcoming sessions on the IPEC website. According to the program description, those who attend at least three out of the four sessions will receive a certificate.

“This training is incredibly important because it informs and educates future professionals — police, social workers, nurses, teachers, and public health administrators — with a team-based approach to assisting people in need,” Todd Burkhardt, Director of Campus Partnerships, said in an IU Center for Rural Engagement article.

Students are highly encouraged to attend, Buchanan said, since it is a broader segue from IU’s Responding to the Addictions Crisis initiative, a program that generates strategies and solutions to help families, employees, and businesses struggling with the addiction crisis aftermath.

Buchanan said his team prioritized inclusion and collaboration when selecting topics and workshop activities for the certification series. Human trafficking and social determinants are a continuation of the same concerns from a different angle, he said.

IPEC plans to hold presentations on trauma-informed care and diversity inclusion this spring.

“The long-term goal, for fall 2022, is to have in-person events in Bloomington and Indianapolis along with a virtual option for others interested in the series,” Buchanan said.

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