Speakers

Holly K. Oxhandler, PhD, LMSW, is a professor and the associate dean for research at Baylor University’s Diana R. Garland School of Social Work. For the last 15 years, Dr. Oxhandler has studied and developed tools to assess mental health care providers’ integration of clients’ spirituality in treatment as well as clients’ views toward discussing their spirituality in mental health care. She has written for numerous academic journals, and her research has been featured in the Washington Post, Religion News Service, and more. She also co-hosts CXMH: A Podcast on Faith & Mental Health, and is the author of The Soul of the Helper: Seven Stages to Seeing the Sacred Within Yourself So You Can See It in Others. Holly lives in Waco, TX with her husband and their two children.

David R. Hodge, PhD, is the Distinguished Professor of Spirituality, Religion and Culture in the School of Social Work at Arizona State University. He also holds appointments at the University of Pennsylvania in the Program for Research on Religion and Urban Civil Society, at Baylor University in the Institute for Studies of Religion, and at Duke University in the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at the Center for Aging, Duke University Medical Center. An award-winning scholar, Dr. Hodge has been recognized as one of the leading scientists in the world. His latest book by Columbia University Press is titled Spiritual assessment in social work and mental health practice.

Altaf Husain, PhD, serves as an Associate Professor and Chair of the Community, Administration and Policy Practice concentration in the Howard University School of Social Work, in Washington DC. He teaches both MSW and PhD students, with primary teaching responsibilities in the Displaced Populations field of practice specialization, which includes social work practice with individuals experiencing homelessness and natural and human-caused disasters, as well as with immigrants and refugees. He serves on the editorial board and has served as a guest editor of a double issue on “Islam in the 21st century,” for the Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work. He is also a founding member of the CSWE Religion and Spirituality Working Group. He serves as a faculty scholar at the CSWE Center for Diversity and Social and Economic Justice.