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Janice Berry Edwards

Janice Berry-Edwards

Assistant Professor, NoVA Campus
Phone: (703) 823-4134
Email: jberryed@vcu.edu

Linking clinical practice with policy issues

“I worked in the Office of the Secretary [U.S. Department of Health and Human Services] and got the chance to see a broad view of policy. I got to see how people implemented and formulated policies without knowing what was happening on the practice level. There really wasn’t an integration with the voices of people who are really in the trenches — the practice people — and the policy makers.

“From then on, I decided I wanted to move forward and pursue my Ph.D. in practice and focus on clinical social work. It was really then that I developed a keen insight on how clinical practice complements policy issues and how practice can influence policy if you know how to articulate it so students begin to have an understanding of the dance between the two.

“I now have an opportunity to blend — and really bring to life — practice theory and policy. I believe firmly that we have to clearly link practice and policy-related issues that impact the people we work with. In practice, we have to teach from a perspective of linking these theories and bringing them to life.”

Education

  • Ph.D. – Catholic University, Washington, D.C.
  • M.S.W. – Howard University, Washington, D.C.
  • B.S.W. – University of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA

Courses taught

  • Advanced Clinical Social Work Practice
  • Social Work and Social Justice
  • Social Work Practice and Psychopharmacology

Selected publications

  • Berry-Edwards, J., Bryant, S., Clark, T., African American professional women in predominantly white schools in social work. Journal of African American Studies. January, 2008.

  • Salerian, A.J., Tuglaci, P. Salerian, G., Edwards, J., Baum, A., Mendelsohn, B. (2007). Review of Mass Homicides of Intelligentsia as a Marker for Genocide. The Forensic Examiner, accepted for publication for Vol. 16(3) Fall 2007.

  • Edwards, J. (2006). Law enforcement officers involved in domestic violence as batters: As integrative treatment model. Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy. 36-50.

  • Matto, H., Edwards, J., Hutchison, E. Bryant, S. & Waldbillig, A. (2006). Multiple Intelligences and the Teaching of Social Work. Journal of Social Work Education, 42(2) 406-416.

  • Edwards, J., & Richards, A., (2002) Relational teaching: A view of relational teaching in social work education. Journal of Teaching in Social Work Education 22 #1/2, 33-48.

  • Corcoran, J., Hart, D., Garell, K., Edwards, J., (2005). Working with the Non-Offending Parents of Sexual Abuse Victims. In J. Corcoran, Building Strengths and Skills: A Collaborative Approach to Working with Clients, (pp. 327-356). New York: Oxford University Press.

Professional affiliations

  • National Association for Social Workers
  • Clinical Social Work Association
  • Council of Social Work Education