Dr. Llena Chavis

Llena Chavis came to Hope, first as a student in 1996 and again in 2013 as an assistant professor of social work. She is a clinical faculty primarily teaching interviewing, interventions, diversity and field practicum but will teach a variety of courses as needed.

AREAS OF INTEREST

• Mothering and anxiety: Explores the protective factors for mothers utilizing both quantitative and qualitative approaches.
• Mentoring: Developed and implemented a group mentoring model of intervention and assessed the effect of mentoring on self-esteem for middle school girls. This program will be ongoing.
• Sex trafficking: Developed a training module for medical personnel and social workers focused on improving provider competency for best practice intervention.
• Clinical practice: EMDR, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Mindfulness

EDUCATION

• Ph.D., education psychology: counseling education, Southern Illinois University
• MSW, Grand Valley University
• B.S., Social Work-Social work, Psychology, Hope College

PUBLISHED WORKs

• “Promoting Intercultural Communication and Critical Thinking: The Impact of Intergroup Dialogue (IGD) in Three Examples at Hope College,” with D. Swanson, Doing Liberal Arts Education: Global Case Studies, (forthcoming)
• “Is it becoming easier or harder for women to balance a career & family?” with D. Swanson, “2016’s Best & Worst States for Working Moms,” May, 2, 2016
• “Mothering and Anxiety: Social Support and Competence as Mitigating Factors for First-Time Mothers,” Social Work in Health Care, 55(6), 2016
• “Sex Trafficking Intervention: A therapeutic approach to helping victims,” with A. Krause, April 2014
• “Mothering and anxiety: An evaluation of the anxiety levels of first-time mothers in rural Kentucky and rural Michigan,” - dissertation, ProQuest, SIUC, 3640735, 2014
• “Developing a Pedagogy of ITV teaching Experience through a Teaching Circle,” with K. Chakradhar, Advances in Social Work, 11(2), 2010