Katherine Tyson

About

Katherine Tyson McCrea, Ph.D., Professor, earned B.A. and M.Div. degrees from Yale University, and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration. She received a Doctorate, Honoris Causa, from Vytautas Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania, in June, 2015. Recognized as a Master Teacher by the Council on Social Work Education since 1994, she developed social work curriculum about child treatment, philosophy of research, and global social work practice. A Fulbright Senior Specialist, she taught seminars for social workers from the U.S. and abroad (Korea, Lithuania, Italy, Greece, Finland, and Thailand), in-person and through video-conference methods. Her publications have focused on 1) improving services for disadvantaged persons, especially children and homeless adults, and 2) a practicioner-relevant philosophy of research for the social and behavioral sciences with a focus on participatory action methods. The founding Editor-in-Chief of Illinois Child Welfare, she developed the journal so that it has become international and multidisciplinary, with a practice-oriented emphasis (see www.illinoischildwelfare.org).  

 

Since 2006 she has been the Principal Investigator for the participatory-action–based Empowering Counseling Program (ECP), which provides clinical social work and after-school services (see www.standuphelpout.org) for disadvantaged children and youth in Chicago’s Bronzeville and Woodlawn communities. The Empowering Counseling Program has received over $500,000 in funding from After School Matters, the Illinois Violence Prevention Program, the McCormick Tribune Foundation, and the Gabe W. Miller Memorial Foundation. The ECP has educated 38 masters and doctoral level social workers, and served over 500 disadvantaged children and youth. ECP research has yielded two dissertations, several journal articles, and local, national, and international presentations.   As Empowering Counseling Program PI, Prof. McCrea is a Co-Principal Investigator, in partnership with Prof. and PI Maryse Richard's Risk and Resilience Lab, in a $1 million Department of Justice award, studying the development of resilience via cross-age mentoring for youth living in high-poverty, high-crime Chicago communities.  

 

Professor Tyson McCrea’s current research foci are 1) improving clinical social work models for traumatized, disadvantaged children and youth, 2) the development of compassion in disadvantaged youth through processes such as cross-age mentoring, 3) global social work with a focus on child welfare, and 4) participatory action research. She lives in Chicago with her husband and three children.

Degrees

University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration

Ph.D., August 1988, M.A., June 1981, Concentration in Clinical Social Work 

Dissertation: The History of Scientific Explanations for Childhood Hyperactivity     

Yale Divinity School

Masters of Divinity in Religion and Psychology, June, 1979

Tew Prize for High Scholastic Achievement

Yale University, B.A. in French and American Literature, June 1975

Magna cum Laude and Honors in Literature, Rotary International Fellowship Awarded

 

Program Areas

Courses Currently Teaching/Teaching Areas:

Global Social Work: Practice to Advance Peace and Social Justice
Participatory Action and Qualitative Research to Advance Social Justice
Clinical Social Work Practice with Children
Social Work Practice with Individuals and Families
The Nature of Clinical Knowledge (Doctoral Program)

Research Interests

• Developing clinical theory in the areas of a) trauma-focused psychotherapy, b) development of clinical social work skills, and c) participatory program evaluation of services for children and severely disadvantaged youth
• Understanding the development of compassion in severely disadvantaged youth
• Developing and advancing a postpositivist approach to research for the social and behavioral sciences with an emphasis on participatory action and qualitative research
• International and cross-cultural social work practice focusing on child welfare
• Supporting families as a means for community development in socially traumatized, impoverished communities (internationally)

Current Projects:

Principal Investigator for 9 (sequentially funded) After School Matters Projects entitled: “Stand Up, Help Out ! 1 & 2”, Summer, 2006, Fall, 2006 - Spring, 2007, Summer 2007, Fall 2007-Spring 2008, Summer 2008, Fall 2008-Spring 2009.  Directing youth leadership development programs for severely impoverished youth in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, supervising doctoral and masters’ level students in proposal development, service provision, and participatory action program evaluation research process. Summer, 2008 programs expanded to another site in partnership with University of Chicago Charter Schools.  Budgets around $58,800 (Summer Programs) and $51,000 (Fall-Spring programs).  Research focuses on 1) the use of self-determination theory, 2) a participatory action research approach to program evaluation with severely disadvantaged youth, and 3) the development of compassion in severely disadvantaged youth as an alternative to violence.

Principal Investigator, Illinois Youth Violence Prevention Authority, youth-led minigrant awarded for 2009-2010 for youth-led violence prevention efforts in the Madden-Wells community.

Principal Investigator, Empowering Counseling Program (2006-present):  Initially funded by the Gabe W. Miller Memorial Foundation, this project:

• provides school-based clinical social work services for severely disadvantaged youth suffering from complex trauma in Chicago’s Madden-Wells community (initial award was $4,000 in stipends for two students);  currently expanded to include student-led clinical social work services at University of Chicago Charter Schools and in concert with Heartland Alliance and Abraham Lincoln Center
• will be a base for research about 1) effective school-based clinical models for psychosocial treatment of severely disadvantaged youth suffering from complex trauma that can be implemented by Masters-level social work interns and 2) the process of intern supervision, learning and professional development in this highly demanding context

Professional & Community Affiliations

Recent Presentations:

“Optimizing Service Responsiveness to Children and Youth Suffering Multiple Adverse Events.” Invited Presentation for Secretaries Innovation Group, a group of Republican Secretaries of Health and Human Services in the Governors’ cabinets representing 14 states. June 24, 2015.

 “Commencement Address.” Vytautas Magnus Faculty of Social Sciences. Kaunas, Lithuania. June 19, 2015.

 “Attachment Disorders and Trauma Treatment Models for Serving Social Work Clients.” Presentation for 60 social workers in diverse practice contexts in Lithuania. Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania. June 17, 2015.

 "Choosing Compassion:  Learning from Severely Disadvantaged African-American Youth about ’A Home in the Heart for Peace.’”  University Conference in honor of Pope John XXIII’s encyclical Pacem in Terris.  Loyola University of Chicago, March, 2013.

 Lecture, “To Dare to Learn Together Over the Seas: Insights from a 9-year International Partnership in Videoconference Teaching of a Peace-Building Global Social Work,” with Jonas Ruskus, Violeta Ivanauskiene, and Daiva Kuzmickaite. Social Work Distance Education Conference, University of Indiana at Indianapolis, April 13, 2015.

 Lecture, “Deepening students’ capacity to care.”  Focus on Teaching and Learning, Loyola University Chicago. Panel presentation, “Teaching for and about social justice,” with Kathleen Maas Weigert, Christopher Manning, and Ben Penglase.  January, 2014.

 Lecture, “Love your Love Life:  Co-creating a Best Practices Program Empowering Black Youths’ Healthy Romantic and Sexual Decision-Making.” American Family Therapy Association Conference: “Coupling Today: Love, Parenting, Community.” Chicago, June 7, 2013.

 “Choosing Compassion:  How Severely Disadvantaged African-American Youth Prefer the Good.”  Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania, June 18, 2012.  Invited University-wide lecture. Available at: http://www.vdu.lt/lt/naujienos/socialinio-darbo-prof-k-tyson-mccrea-jav-paskaita.

 

International Experience:

Consultant, Appointed to Project to Internationalize Graduate Social Work Curriculum, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania, 2011-2012, funded by European Union.

Dissertation Defense “Opponent,” University of Lapland (Finland) Department of Social Sciences.  Appointed as external reviewer and to lead the public discussion and defense of doctoral dissertation by Valdas Rimkus entitled, “Bridging the Islands of Society: Modeling Delinquency Prevention through Optimization of Social Support.” May 23-27, 2011.

Invited Lecturer, International Summer School, co-sponsored by University of Vermont and University of Lapland (Finland) Department of Social Sciences, entitled, ‘“The Flow that Pushes You’:
Compassion (myötätunto) as Defined by Courageous, Disadvantaged Youth.” May 25, 2011.

Member, Planning Committee for ongoing International Conference, “Transforming Social Work Practice and Research.” University of Vermont at Burlington, annually each Fall, from September 2000 – October 2008.  Forty faculty from around the world are invited to participate in this conference with the purpose of reconceptualizing social work practice and research; international conferences are planned as well.
Invitational Lecture for International Social Work Conference, “Developing Self-Determination from the Child’s Perspective: Effective Social Services for Traumatized Children.” University of Lapland Department of Social Sciences, Rovaniemi, Finland. June, 2005.

Lecture, “Designing Truly Emancipatory, Participatory Research is Complex:  Discussing the More Difficult Decisions.” International Interdisciplinary Conference on the Social Sciences.  University of the Aegean, Rhodes, Greece. July, 2006.

Social Work Consultant, “Strengthening Child Protection and Juvenile Justice in Thailand,” UNICEF-funded partnership between UNICEF – Thailand, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Child and Family Law Center of Loyola University Chicago, and Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work (2007-2008). 

Developing educational programming in child welfare services for human services professionals in Thailand Consulting to strengthen child protection and juvenile justice services in Thailand.

Awards

Editor-in-Chief, Illinois Child Welfare

Dr. Tyson obtained her B.A. and a Masters of Divinity from Yale University, and her Masters and Ph.D. in social work from the University of Chicago, School of Social Service Administration. She has had over two decades of experience as a clinical social worker, in settings ranging from forensic to medical and psychiatric social work. Recently, she is focusing on community development through supporting parents in non-violent caregiving methods, both in this country and abroad. Her research focuses on practice-relevant approaches to research for the social and behavioral sciences, psychotherapy with children, therapeutic residential care for severely mentally ill and homeless clients, and international social work. She is currently the Editor-in-Chief (and founding editor) of Illinois Child Welfare, a multidisciplinary, international journal co-sponsored by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and Loyola University Chicago, School of Social Work.

Awards and Recognitions:

Editor-in-Chief and Founding Editor of Illinois Child Welfare (2002-present), an international, multidisciplinary journal co-sponsored by Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and Loyola University School of Social Work.

Loyola University Faculty Development Research Leave Awarded for 2009, for project entitled, “Understanding and Developing Compassion:  Perspectives from Valiant, Severely Disadvantaged Youth.”

Contributions recognized by Partnership Award, Chicago Housing Authority Community Partnerships Division, March, 2007.

Social Work Consultant, “Strengthening Child Protection and Juvenile Justice in Thailand,” UNICEF-funded partnership between UNICEF – Thailand, Thammasat University, Bangkok, Child and Family Law Center of Loyola University Chicago, and Virginia Commonwealth University School of Social Work (2007-2008). 

• Developing educational programming in child welfare services for human services professionals in Thailand.
• Consulting to strengthen child protection and juvenile justice services in Thailand.

Fulbright Senior Specialists Program Award for Summer, 2005.  Peer-reviewed award by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, establishes eligibility to fulfill educational needs in the Specialist’s area of expertise at universities in countries around the world.  Initial grant for collaborative teaching and research with faculty at Vytautus Magnus University in Kaunas, Lithuania and Klaipeda University School of Social Work, Klaipeda, Lithuania.

Invitational Lecture for International Social Work Conference, “Developing Self-Determination from the Child’s Perspective: Effective Social Services for Traumatized Children.” University of Lapland Department of Social Sciences, Rovaniemi, Finland. June, 2005.

Keynote Address (concluding).  “Social Work Practice Diversities: Clients, Social Workers, And Theories About Their Partnerships For Constructive Change.  Keynote Address for Festschrift for Pastora San Juan Cafferty, Sponsored by School of Social Service Administration, University of Chicago, April 2005.

Loyola University Summer Stipend Research Award, 2005, for project entitled, “Conceptual Foundations for International Social Work Education to Promote Compassionate, Sustainable Democracies in Transitional Societies.”

Loyola University Faculty Development Research Leave Awarded for 2004, for project entitled, “Research about Effective Services for Severely Mentally Ill Clients.”

Selected Publications

Bulanda, J.J., Tellis, D., and McCrea, K.T. (in press). “Co-creating a Social Work Apprenticeship with Disadvantaged African-American Youth: A Best Practices After School Curriculum.” Smith College Studies in Social Work.

McCrea, K. Tyson, Guthrie, Deanna, and Bulanda, J. (in press). “When traumas are not past, but now: Psychosocial treatment to develop resilience with children and youth enduring complex, concurrent trauma.” Journal of Child and Adolescent Trauma entitled, Resilience-based Interventions for Children & Adolescents Exposed to Trauma. Maryse Richards, Ph.D., Becky Sanderson, Ph.D., Greg Lewis, Ph.D. (Eds.)

McCrea, K. Tyson. (2014).  “’I’m a leader of all of them to tell the truth’: Participatory action principles for uplifting research partners’ identities.” In Anita Gulczyńska and Mariusz Granosik (Eds.).  Empowerment: Diagnosis - Reflection – Activity Orientations in Social Work. University of Lodz, Poland. WYG International Publications.

Guthrie, D., Ellison, V., Sami, K., and McCrea, K. Tyson.  (2014). “Clients’ hope arises from social workers’ compassion:  Young clients’ perspectives on surmounting the obstacles of disadvantage.” Families in Society 95 (2). Doi: 10.1606/1044-3894.2014.95.14.

McCrea, K. Tyson.  (2014). “‘How does that itsy bitsy spider do it?’: Severely traumatized children’s development of resilience in psychotherapy.” Journal of Infant, Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy, 13 (2).  89-109. ID: 905319 DOI:10.1080/15289168.2014.905319.

 McCrea, Katherine Tyson (2014). “’Where’s beebee?’  The orphan crisis in global child welfare from an autoethnographic perspective.”  In S. Witkin (Ed.). Narrating Social Work Through Autoethnography. New York: Columbia University Press.

 Bulanda, J., Szarzynski, K., Silar, D., and McCrea, K. Tyson. (2013). “’Keeping it Real’: An evaluation audit of five years of youth-led program evaluation.”  Smith College Studies in Social Work, 83: 2-3: 279-302.  Doi: 10.1080/00377317.2013.802936.

 Bulanda, J. and McCrea, K. Tyson. (2012 online, in print, 2013).  “The promise of an accumulation of care: Disadvantaged African-American youths’ perspectives about what makes an after school program meaningful.” Child and Adolescent Social Work Journal, 30, 95-118.  Doi: 10.1007/s10560-012-0281-1.

 Maynard, Brandy R., McCrea, K. T., Pigott, Terri D., and Kelly, Michael S. (2012).  “Indicated truancy interventions for chronic truant students: A Campbell Systematic Review.” Research on Social Work Practice.  Doi: 10.1177/1049731512457207.

 McCrea, Katherine Tyson. (2012). “’Patterns of Discovery’ in participatory action research from the insider’s perspective.”  In J. Ruskus (Ed.). Social Work: Experience and Methods, 1:9, 13-42. (Leading book chapter from Keynote Address for the Centre Européen de Ressources pour la Recherche en Travail Social).  Available at: http://vddb.library.lt/fedora/get/LT-eLABa-0001:J.04~2012~ISSN_2029-0470.N_9_1.PG_13-42/DS.002.1.01.ARTIC.

 Maynard, Brandy R., McCrea, Katherine T., Pigott, Terri D., and Kelly, Michael S. (2012).  “Indicated truancy interventions:  Effects on school attendance among chronic truant students.” Campbell Systematic Reviews, 8 (10).See:  http://www.campbellcollaboration.org/library.php.

 McCrea, Katherine Tyson, Guthrie, Deanna, Kibblesmith, Rachel, and Pehanich, Gabriella (Spring, 2011).  “Creating therapeutic relationships with disadvantaged children and youth.” Bulletin of the Illinois Society for Clinical Social Work, pp. 3 – 9.    

McCrea, Katherine Tyson and Bulanda, Jeffrey J. (2010). “Caregiving Heuristics: Valuable Practitioner Knowledge in the Context of Managing Residential Care.” Qualitative Social Work, 9 (3). 343-363. Doi: 10.1177/1473325010367818.

 Maynard, Brandy R., Michael Kelly, Katherine Tyson McCrea, Terri Pigott. (2009). Interventions intended to increase school attendance in students attending primary or secondary schools, Metanalysis protocol published on Campbell Collaboration.

 McCrea, Katherine Tyson and Bulanda, Jeffrey J. (2008). “The Practice of Compassion in Supervision in Residential Treatment Programs for Clients with Severe Mental Illness.” The Clinical Supervisor. 27 (2): 238-267. doi:10.1080/07325220802487907.

 McCrea, Katherine Tyson & Spravka, Lesa. (2008). “’I’m Glad you Asked’:  Homeless Persons Diagnosed With Severe Mental Illness Evaluate Their Residential Care.” Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 35 (4):133-160.

 

Editor-in-Chief and Founding Editor of Illinois Child Welfare (2002-present), an international, multi-disciplinary journal co-sponsored by Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and Loyola University School of Social Work (Volumes 1-3 published; Volume 4, 2008, in press). As Founding Editor-in-Chief, responsibilities have included conceptualizing mission and format of journal, appointing Editorial Board members, conceptualizing journal policies, marketing and strategic planning, editing articles and encouraging authors, supervising staff, and authoring editorials. Indexed by Social Work Abstracts, available on the world-wide web at www.illinoischildwelfare.org.

Recent Faculty Grants:

Principal Investigator, Empowering Counseling Program (2006-present): provides school-based clinical social work services for severely disadvantaged youth suffering from complex trauma in Chicago’s Madden-Wells community

Principal Investigator for (sequentially funded) After School Matters Projects entitled: “Stand Up, Help Out ! 1 & 2,” Summer, 2006 – Fall-Spring 2012.  Directing youth leadership development programs for severely impoverished youth in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, supervising doctoral and masters’ level students in proposal development, service provision, and participatory action program evaluation research process. Summer, 2008 programs expanded to a second site in partnership with University of Chicago Charter Schools.  Budgets of $58,800 (Summer Programs) and $51,000 (Fall-Spring programs).  Research focuses on 1) the use of self-determination theory, 2) an action research approach to program evaluation with severely disadvantaged youth, and 3) the development of compassion in severely disadvantaged youth as an alternative to violence. See http://www.standuphelpout.org.

• Principal Investigator, Illinois Youth Violence Prevention Authority grant for three youth-led violence prevention efforts, 2009-2011 (see crimeteens.com).

• Principal Investigator, Empowering Counseling child therapy program development, awarded seed funding by Gabe W. Miller Memorial Foundation;

• Coordinating partnership activities with social service agencies, Chicago Housing Authority Partnerships Division, and Loyola University faculty; received CHA Partnership Award, 2007.

• McCormick Tribune Foundation, C-JAM Award. $1200 to fund purchase of audiovisual materials for filming youths’ documentaries.

Illinois Child Welfare: Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief. Ongoing grant awarded annually since 2002 by Illinois Department of Children and Family Services for editorial work and production of multidisciplinary, international journal.  Volumes 1-5 published, Vol. 6 in press.  Budget $42,000 annually. See www.illinoischildwelfare.org.

Fulbright Senior Specialist Award to provide educational and research consultation for social workers in partnership with Institute for Social Economy, Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania.  Summer, 2005.

 Principal Investigator, “Factors Influencing Caregivers’ Learning of Effective, Non-Violent Child Care Principles: A Cross-Cultural Comparison.” COBASE Project Development and Initiation Grant for cooperative research with the Institute for Social Economy, Kaunas, Lithuania, funded by the National Academies, National Research Council.