Farriña Coulam

farrina.coulam@socwk.utah.edu

Specialties: Diversity/social justice, administration, clinical direct practice with adolescents/families/blended families/transitional adult women.

Classes Taught: Diversity and Social Justice; Advanced Mental Health Policy, Communities and Organizations; Couples and Families

Favorite Quote:
"It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a (person) stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he\she sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance." - Robert F. Kennedy, South Africa, 1966.

Farriña Coulam, LCSW, received her master's degree from the University of Utah College of Social Work in 1990, with the dual track emphases of clinical/direct practice and administration/community planning. She is a member of Phi Kappa Phi. She has been recognized for her work by receiving the Outstanding Young Alumni Award from the College of Social Work in 1995, being nominated for the Outstanding Manager Award, Valley Mental Health in 1999, and receiving the Clinical Faculty of the Year Award from the College of Social Work Practicum Program in 2000.

After almost 10 years of working as a therapist and assistant unit manager/day treatment supervisor for Valley Mental Health ARTEC, she joins Academic Outreach and Continuing as the Manager for the Social Work Program. Farriña has specialized in the treatment and behavior management of seriously mentally, emotionally and behaviorally disordered youth and has presented on these issues to various groups of service providers and families of consumers. In 1999, the local magazine Family Matters carried her article "Stop the Power Struggling: A behavioral approach for teaching self-responsibility to children and adolescents." Farriña has also specialized in the area of cultural competence development, for both individuals and organizations. She is a certified trainer in three nationally recognized training programs, has written cultural competency plans for organizational use and has taught the policy diversity course for the College of Social Work since 1999. She is a member of the State Division of Mental Health's Minority Advisory Committee.