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2016 Symposium on Research, practice and Teaching Related to
Disaster and Developmental Social Work Practice
University of Wollongong is rated top 2% of world universities. The social work program hosted a two day symposium in July 2016. The conference focused on the role of developmental social work after a natural disaster. Some of the themes discussed included when and how to intervene, how to provide services, how to train and educate social workers and the role of volunteers in disaster relief. Eden has extensive experiences in this field and produced tangible results.
Thus, we were invited to share our experiences during the first day of the seminar in Wollongong. The theme of the first day was research and practical experiences. The organizers invited famous researchers and practitioners to give talks and share their area of expertise. The attendees were then divided into groups for further discussion according to the world café methodology. They deliberated on how developmental social work can be incorporated into disaster relief. Chang, Hsiu-Li represented Eden.
She was a victim of the 921 earthquake but later become a social worker. Her experience demonstrated how useful developmental social work can be in post disaster relief. Senior supervisor Wu, Shu-Tzs also participated in the discussion. They were met with warm
praise and positive feedback.
The second day was dedicated to education and training. Scholars were invited to give keynote speeches. In the afternoon, a scenariobased simulation topic was provided for discussion. Attendees talked about their responses in an event of an earthquake such as
summoning professionals for disaster relief and reconstruction.
Eden representatives actively interacted with fellow participants. They talked about Eden's success in Taiwan and learned more about developmental social work information after disaster in order to keep up with international trends.
