Close Up
Green grows community involvement
Susan Green has focused her recent research on the influence of trauma on people’s live, in particular on the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder. Photo: NANCY J. PARISI
The community reach of Susan Green extends from her research work on the impact of emotional trauma on children and adults, to the creation of the neighborhood DREAM program, to the basketball court, where she has served as an official for area high school and college games for the past 27 years.
Originally a special education teacher, Green, a clinical associate professor in the School of Social Work, decided to enter the social work field and pursue her MSW at UB. She worked in various settings, among them programs in addictions, employee assistance, foster care and child welfare, before she became a member of the school’s clinical faculty in 2001.
“I love teaching. It’s been even more rewarding over the last few years when I’ve been able to be out in the community and interface with folks who were students at one point and see them in positions doing the work,” she says. “Actually, I do some counseling at a local agency for three to four hours a week and my supervisor is someone I had in the classroom.”
Over the past five years Green has dedicated her research to the influence of trauma on people’s lives—the effects of post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition with still emerging study. Trained by Ricky Greenwald, an internationally recognized figure in the treatment of trauma, Green has helped lead the school’s new curriculum with a trauma informed, human rights perspective infused throughout the course work.
She is involved in a research project through the Center for Development of Human Services, integrating solution-focused strategies into a trauma-informed system of care. “It’s helping individuals within certain organizations to gain some skills in how to implement trauma-informed practice,” Green explains. “We have contracts with two local agencies through the Office of Child and Family Services to train their staff on trauma-informed solution focus, and we are in discussion to infuse the curriculum in the Court Improvement Project, a federal project to improve effectiveness in the court system in terms of interfacing with families that are served.”
Green was interim chair in 2004 of the school’s community concentration, in which students chose a certain field of study that they took part in during their second year of school. The students wanted to get more involved in the community and thus the inception of Developing Relationships through Empowerment, Advocacy and Motivation, or the DREAM program. Initially, the program was centered at Gerard Place on Buffalo’s East Side, which primarily serves women and children who are in transition from homelessness to securing housing. After a successful presence there, DREAM now has expanded to three other programs in Buffalo—the Lutheran Church Home, the Girls Sports Foundation and the newest, Vive La Casa, which serves immigrants and refugees.
“The key emphasis of DREAM is about building, establishing and sustaining relationships,” she notes. “Each of the programs are set up in a way so that we’re visible and in contact with folks regularly at those organizations.”
Green’s interest in officiating women’s basketball stems from a love of the game since college. After her undergraduate days, she took a course and clinic to become certified as a basketball official and has since refereed local high school and college games, and been involved in Division II or III women’s basketball.
This year, she worked four tournaments, including the bronze medal game for the open women’s division in the Empire State Games. “I love it. It challenges me in a very different way than anything else that I’m doing,” she relates. “It taps into a different part of me, calling on all parts of self in terms of being mindful to the moment. It taps me physically and psychologically. The collegiality of your fellow officials is a major plus. It sparks that hopeful place for me around the human condition. You know, the part that likes to play and compete.”
It also taps into the athletic and adventurous side of the Tonawanda native, who admits to being a thrill seeker—whether whitewater rafting and kayaking, rock climbing, hiking or motorcycling with fellow faculty members. “I’m drawn to the adventure,” she says, “always interested in what’s out there.”
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