From Classroom to Conference: Social Work Students Share Their Research

Students across Adelphi's social work programs explain what they studied, what it meant to share their work and how research is shaping their careers.

In the field of social work, classroom learning can only get you so far. Student scholarship gives future social workers the opportunity to do research on topics they're passionate about, strengthening their critical thinking skills and deepening their understanding of the social issues their clients face.

This is why students in the Adelphi University School of Social Work participate in research projects, whether they're enrolled in undergraduate or graduate programs. Students then present their projects at conferences, including Adelphi's Scholarship and Creative Works Conference, an annual event that celebrates their innovative work across all disciplines.

Here are a few of the projects School of Social Work students have shared on campus and beyond.

Kabian Brown, MSW '11: Breaking the Silence Around Black Men's Mental Health

Kabian Brown, MSW '11, a DSW candidate at Adelphi, strives to understand how Black men make sense of racism-related trauma, and how cultural expectations of strength and masculinity shape whether they seek mental health treatment. "I always say that men suffer silently," Brown says.

To paint a clearer picture of mental health care in BIPOC communities, Brown and a colleague reviewed studies on access to in-person and virtual mental health services, and explored how community spaces like barbershops serve as informal therapy. The goal: to give clinicians a guide for facilitating men's groups in Black and Brown communities.

"A lot of BIPOC people might not trust the system. They think that if they talk to someone about mental health, they're going to be seen as crazy, or that the therapist won't be equipped to help them," Brown says.

They presented their work at the inaugural Continuing Education Conference hosted by the National Association of Social Workers (NASW).

The experience changed Brown's mind about what research could be. "At one time, I said, 'I'll never go back to school because I hate research,'" he recalls. "But when you're doing research that's intentional, it's more satisfying."

Fritza Gue: Removing Invisible Barriers to Care for Immigrant Communities

As a Haitian immigrant, MSW student Fritza Gue has seen mental health stigma in her community firsthand. "When we see someone with mental health issues, we automatically think voodoo," she says. "We don't believe this person went through an amount of stress that their brain and body cannot take anymore."

Gue fell in love with mental health when she started working at a psychiatric center on Long Island. There, she met people with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxiety. "I noticed there are a lot of Haitians who experience these issues," Gue says.

For a course at Adelphi, she researched the invisible barriers that keep immigrant communities in Baldwin from accessing mental health care, and identified solutions to bridge the gap. She found that the barriers are systemic, not individual: limited access, transportation and language support, plus cultural barriers.

Part of the solution to these barriers, which she presented at Adelphi's Scholarship and Creative Works Conference: Raise awareness in immigrant communities, in multiple languages, so services don't remain hidden.

The experience left Gue with a key realization: "Research is not just for people who love statistics-it's for anyone who wants to understand the world better and make a real impact."

Shirley Braithwaite-Crawford: Rethinking Child Welfare Through a Trauma-Informed Lens

Shirley Braithwaite-Crawford, an MSW student completing an IDEATE fellowship in behavioral healthcare, is using her Adelphi education to strengthen her work in child welfare. "One of my concerns is how to help families from returning to the system over and over," she says.

She notes that the child welfare system tends to be punitive instead of considering the role of past trauma. Some families face financial hardship that repeats across generations, and that stress can affect how parents raise their children. "When we're able to support parents, we're able to keep children safe," Braithwaite-Crawford says.

That insight led her to propose an approach to supporting families from marginalized communities, presented at Adelphi's Scholarship and Creative Works Conference. Her research drew on her child welfare experience, past studies and human rights protections that often go unenforced. She's especially excited to use cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which helps people identify and change unhelpful thoughts and behaviors, in her practice.

"One of the things that I take away from the experience is being able to connect theories with practice," Braithwaite-Crawford says. "When you go into the classroom, you learn a lot about theories, but then what about when you come out into the real world?"

Christina Grant '26: Shining a Light on Poverty Among Minority Single Mothers

After completing her BSW at Adelphi, Christina Grant '26 moved on to the MSW program, where she's currently honing her research skills.

Inspired by her own mother, who worked multiple jobs to support her family as a single parent, Grant explored the systemic inequities that contribute to higher rates of poverty among minority single mothers. "I looked into intersectionality and how racial discrimination interacts with gender and socioeconomic status, and how it's often overlooked in discussions of poverty," she says.

The experience sharpened her critical thinking and research skills, empathy, and ability to view an issue from multiple angles. It also reinforced the need to view these social issues from a strength-based perspective: "Despite structural hardships, it was great to look at how minority single mothers demonstrate resilience, resourcefulness and reliance on their strong support systems to help them nurture their children and support their family," Grant says.

Sharing her research at the Scholarship and Creative Works Conference gave her the opportunity to highlight an important issue for a room full of future social workers and faculty members who can create solutions. "Not everyone has a voice to speak into this," Grant says. "If I'm given the opportunity to share this research, then I'm hoping we can come together and make a difference."