Picturing Change

CEs: 1.5

Images have become part of our culture’s daily experience. From selfies on Facebook to images of pets on Instagram, we have become a culture that talks in pictures. Long before Twitter was born, Caroline Wang and MaryAnn Burris brought words and images together to empower individuals and communities to express their needs, goals and ambitions in their own images and words. They began this work over 25 years ago when they gave cameras to a group of rural village women in China so that they could document their own lives and provide information to policy makers about their needs. They called this Photovoice – a participatory approach to communication that engages people in describing their lives in their own images and words.

Course Description

Picturing Change is a course that will harness the power of this visual second language and utilize it for positive change. We will use the principles of Photovoice and put the tools of that methodology into the hands of providers, allowing them to use these to support and empower clients to use their own voices – in images and words – to express themselves and create change. This course will provide participants with the skills needed to develop a Photovoice project plan and the ability to tailor the plan to different populations. We will look at the history of and effectiveness of Photovoice with different groups and explore its relevance to both mental health providers and agency/community-based administrators and workers.

For mental health workers, Photovoice is an engaging way to work with clients to allow them to express themselves, describe their experiences, identify their goals, and depict these in their own words and images. This method can provide clients with an opportunity to see aspects of their past, present, and future selves, and navigate a way forward toward specific goals. In agency and/or community-based settings, Photovoice can be used as a type of needs assessment, allowing clients to depict issues that they deem as important to address. The projects can also be used for community and/or coalition building around different issues as well as for advocacy on different scales for policy change. As many clients have high-quality cameras that they carry with them in their smartphones, they can easily participate in facilitated Photovoice projects. We will learn how to design a project in which clients can both create their own images and accompanying words to express themselves and have a structure in which to view and speak about these. It is an opportunity to depict experiences, reframe these and create images of the type of world clients wish to build and inhabit. As part of the course, Annie will share some images from Photovoice projects she has created and led.

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this course, participants will be able to:

• Create a plan for a Photovoice project.
• Have tools to be able to adapt the plan/structure to a particular group of clients or in a specific setting.
• Identify a sample project they want to design with a specific theme or issues to be addressed.
• Create Photovoice prompts for the project
• Identify potential uses/audiences for the end product images and words,
• Create a structure to integrate the work into the ongoing life of the individual, group or organization

Tuition Rates

• $50 – Regular
• $30 – Alumni, FI, Adjunct
• $20 – VET

Current Adelphi University School of Social Work students attend for free with a promo code.

Faculty Bio

Annie Levy, BFA, LMSW

Annie Levy works with leaders and signature organizations to help them understand and tell the

story of who they are to new and existing audiences. She is also known for her PhotoVoice projects, helping professionals work with different communities to tell their own stories in words and images – ranging from young people with critical illnesses to older adults with early onset Dementia. Trained as both a writer and photographer with her BFA from NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and a social worker (LMSW, Silberman School of Social Work), Annie has combined these two fields. She is an award-winning photographer and creative director whose work telling the stories of different companies, organizations, and people, is done on a variety of platforms – ranging from exclusively digital to live events. She works in both traditional and unique spaces to allow people to both see and experience clients’ stories. Annie is frequently invited to speak to groups about project design and messaging, including Google’s Ignite Healthcare, Cleveland Clinic’s Empathy & Innovation Conference, John A. Hartford Communications Conferences, Center for Health Care Design, New York Times Conference for Journalists, among others.

Credentialling Information

Adelphi University School of Social Work is an approved provider for continuing education credits for the following:

• NYSED Social Workers
• NYSED LMHC
• NYSED LMFT
• CASAC Renewal
• APA Psychology, pending NYSED Psychology
• NYSED LCAT

ACE Approved Provider of Continuing Education Contact Hours

 Adelphi University School of Social Work: Continuing Education and Professional Development, #1786, is approved to offer social work continuing education by the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) Approved Continuing Education (ACE) program. Organizations, not individual courses, are approved as ACE providers. State and provincial regulatory boards have the final authority to determine whether an individual course may be accepted for continuing education credit. Adelphi University School of Social Work: Continuing Education and Professional Development maintain responsibility for this course. ACE provider approval period: March 3, 2022 – March 3, 2023.

ACE is not an approved Continuing Education Provider in the states of New York and West Virginia unless the event is outside of West VA. Adelphi University School of Social Work is an approved NYSED CE provider in New York State.

55 states/jurisdictions accept ACE-approved provider CE contact hours. Successful completion for the award of approved continuing education credits requires attendance at the entire training/workshop and submission of a completed evaluation form.

See full credentialing information and CEUs

Cancellation Policy

Unfortunately, we cannot provide refunds for cancellations made seven working days or fewer before the event for any reason—or for no-shows. We can provide credit towards a future workshop up to 24 hours before the event. After that, no credit will be issued.

Accessibility Statement

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Adelphi University require that all events be accessible. To request a reasonable accommodation, please contact the event host identified on the event webpage; please allow for a reasonable time frame. The event host, when necessary, will collaborate with the Student Access Office.