Areas of Expertise
Child Welfare and Child Protection
Trauma-informed Clinical Practice
Applying an intersectional and fat justice perspective, this course will utilize the ecological “person in environment” framework to explore fatness as identity from...
The family lays the foundation in a micro-system for the future emergence of abuses in families and societal macro-systems. This course explores intersectionality and...
This core course teaches biological and social science concepts concerning human development in a social context that are fundamental to social work practice: social and...
- Gronen, Melinda, and Sarah Power. Pediatric Healthcare Social Work Practice. Social Work Practice in Healthcare: Advanced Approaches and Emerging Trends. Thousand Oaks: Sage, 2016. 315-356. Print.
Courses
- 32700 Human Behavior in the Social Environment
- 41712 Clinical Assessment in Abusive Family Systems
- 45822 A Systems Approach to Prevention, Assessment, and Advocacy Work with At Risk Children and Families
Job experience
- Owner - Melinda Gronen Counseling and Caped Crusader Consulting, LLC
- Adjunct Lecturer - Jane Addams College of Social Work/UIC
- Child Therapist – Chicago Psychoanalytic Institute (Barr Harris Children’s Grief Center & Englewood Project)
- Law Enforcement Instructor – North East Multi-Regional Training and Law and Justice Commission
- Social Work Clinical Coordinator (Protective Services Team) - Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
- Program Coordinator/Therapist, The Youth Campus Residential Treatment Facility
- Residential Case Manager, Jewish Children’s Bureau
Fields of Special Interest
- Trauma informed practice with children and families
- School based clinical interventions
- Multi-disciplinary collaboration
- Child maltreatment assessment and intervention
- Sexual trauma
- Pediatric Medical Social Work
o Protective Services
o Emergency Department
o Chronic Illness
o Intensive Care - Forensic Social Work Assessments
Presentations
- Child Abuse Investigations: Accident or Abuse? Law and Justice Commission (MTU 8) Normal, Illinois (May 10-11, 2018)
- Understanding and Supporting Childhood Grief: A Developmental Perspective. Jewish Child and Family Community Services Professional Training Institute, Wilmette, Illinois (May 8, 2018)
- Every Kid Needs a Champion: Understanding the Impact of Trauma on Student Behaviors. Monee Education Center staff training, Monee, Illinois (May 2, 2018)
- Every Kid Needs a Champion: Understanding Implicit Bias & Creating Inclusive Classrooms. Evergreen Park Community High School, Evergreen Park, Illinois (April 24, 2018)
- The Missing Piece: Understanding the Impact of Trauma on Families. National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI), Oak Park, Illinois (April 22, 2018)
- Interpreting Medical Information in Child Abuse Investigations. North East Multi Regional Training, Schaumburg, IL (March 29-30, 2018)
- Creating an Inclusive Community: Understanding Implicit Bias and Its Impact. Evergreen Park Community High School all school assembly, Evergreen Park, Illinois (March 26, 2018)
- Trauma Informed and Culturally Attuned Student Interventions. South Suburban School Social Workers Association, Oak Lawn High School, Oak Lawn, Illinois (January 26, 2018)
- Police and At-Risk Communities: Building Bridges in Unexpected Ways. Illinois National Association of Social Workers Conference, Wheeling, IL (October 25, 2017)
- Conversations in Black, White, and Blue: Getting Real About Implicit Bias. Illinois National Association of Social Workers Conference, Wheeling, IL (October 25, 2017)
- Examining Child Sexuality: Normative Development, Problematic Behaviors, and Assessment of Child Abuse. Modern Sex Therapy Institute, Chicago, IL (February 18, 2017)