Continuing Education Hybrid Event: Ethical Practice in Divisive Times

Maryam Abdallah

Maryam’s passion rests in helping, encouraging and empowering individuals. Her life’s mantra comes from the words of Oprah Winfrey, “When we know better, we do better.” As a therapist and adjunct professor, her goal is to share the tools and resources needed to change individuals for the better. Her core therapy practice includes a focus on individuals, couples and families utilizing Dialectical Behavior, Empowerment, and Trauma Informed Therapies. Maryam also specializes in the empowerment of Women and the LGBTQ Community through narrative therapy. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Criminal Justice and Master of Social Work from Tennessee State University.

Maryam is a licensed master clinician with 20+ years of experience, advocacy and leadership in the field of social work. Her knowledge of the legal system and social work together create a forensic lens into the human perspective, which combined are ideal in working to empower individuals. Maryam has a wealth of expertise in program development and implementation ranging from child and family perspectives, trauma-informed, restorative justice, and anti-oppressive practices, child abuse and neglect, interviewing and interrogation, and mental health. She has specialized experience in working with children and families at Juvenile Court and young adult offenders at General Sessions Court both in Metro Davidson County.

Maryam is also the Founder and CEO of I Am Well Consulting, LLC which provides emotional well-being support to professionals in the workplace through Clinical Training, Strategic Planning and Crisis Debriefing. She also shares about the importance of mental health wellness through educational awareness and resources to the community.

Kate La Grange

Kate La Grange, LCSW is a Regional Director of Behavioral Health Services at Cherokee Health Systems, oversees the social work education program and works as a Behavioral Health Consultant.  She completed her graduate training at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, and an internship at Louisiana State University Medical Center Department of Child Psychiatry. She has a strong interest in providing clinical supervision to social work students and supporting the training of multidisciplinary learners in integrated care. She primarily provides consultation for pediatric patients and their parents from infancy through adolescence, but also works with adult patients in primary care, OBGYN and addiction medicine clinics. She is engaged in initiatives to improve early identification of Autism Spectrum Disorder in primary care and pediatric obesity prevention and management. Other clinical interests include co-management of children with chronic health conditions and early identification and intervention for peripartum depression. She routinely presents at Cherokee Health Systems’ Integrated Care Training Academies and provides consultation to other organizations seeking to improve the integration of behavioral health and primary care.  

Christina Perkins

Dr. Christina Perkins, DSW, LCSW is the Assistant Director of the UT Psychological Clinic and runs a small private practice, The Unburdened Self in Knoxville since 2018. She obtained her BA in Psychology from Brown University in 2008; her MSSW and DSW at UTK in 2013 and 2021 respectively. She grew up in Mountain City, TN (you’ll have to look that one up) where she was an avid band and theatre kid and is quite proud of it. Christina practices from a liberation psychology and feminist lens and is trained in IFS, EMDR, and reflective supervision practice. For the last few years, she has mentored a number of LMSW licensees through their LCSW process and continues to be a licensure supervisor for the state of TN. Her clinical experiences range from treating substance use disorders to forensic work and now she primarily treats the LGBTQIA community who experience a wide range of mental health issues related to systemic oppression and increased risk for trauma both individually and collectively. Christina is openly neurodiverse and works primarily with ND clients. She’s training at present to be an end-of-life death doula and to help folks transition with dignity at the end of life. She is descendent of many generations of Appalachian mountain folks. She is married 10 years this year and has an almost two-year-old son. She has two cats, a dog that was supposed to be but is decidedly NOT a dachshund, and is an avid fan of rewatching the same series over and over again. You can generally find her in an existential spiral, weeding her garden, or blowing bubbles in the backyard.

Ragan Schriver

Ragan Schriver is an Associate Professor of Practice at the University of Tennessee College of Social Work as well as the Director of the MSSW Program, Knoxville Campus. He teaches clinical and leadership courses in the MSSW program. He previously served as Executive Director of Catholic Charities of East Tennessee for fifteen years. He earned his MSW from Washington University in St. Louis, MO and became a licensed social worker in 2001. He earned his Doctor of Psychology degree in 2016, his capstone project was on Trauma Informed Care.

Wright Surgenor

Wright Surgenor joined the Public Defender’s Community Law Office staff as a Forensic Social Worker in 2012, and she was promoted to Director of Social Services in 2019. She holds a B.A. from The College of William and Mary in Psychology and Art History and a Master’s in Social Work from the University of Tennessee – Knoxville. During her MSSW program, she completed internships with Helen Ross McNabb Jail-Based Services and the VA Knoxville Outpatient Clinic. Prior to coming to the CLO, Wright worked in a variety of settings, including a residential facility for adolescents, an alternative middle school, community-based therapeutic case management, and a shelter for unhoused persons.  After completing her clinical training under Dr. Roger Nooe, Professor Emeritus from UT Knoxville and former CLO Director of Social Services, Wright became a Licensed Clinical Social Worker in 2015.  She provides clinical supervision to CLO social workers seeking licensure, and she has served as a field instructor for social work students from UT Knoxville since 2014.  Wright has presented on the CLO model and related topics at several national conferences, including the Council on Social Work Education, National Organization of Forensic Social Workers, and the National Organization of Public Defenders, and she was honored to receive the Stewardship Award from the Tennessee District Public Defender’s Conference in 2024.