Social Work Meetup: Addressing Scarcity as a Mitigation Theme

This week’s meetup will focus on scarcity (poverty) as a mitigation theme. This topic can include so many approaches from how scarcity relates to social determinants of health, to lack of access and opportunity, to intergenerational lack of assets (and why), and more. Come share how you approach the topic of scarcity as a mitigation theme and make it meaningful and compelling to the finders of fact.

Stephanne Cline Thornton is a West Virginia native who has worked in and around criminal defense and mitigation for more than 20 years in Georgia, Colorado, and West Virginia. She is currently the Social Work Training and Resource Coordinator for NAPD, Clinical Director for the West Virginia Judicial and Lawyer Assistance Program, and owner of Transform Legal, a consultancy focused on mitigation, training, and sustainability. As a Licensed Independent Clinical Social Worker and Master Addiction Counselor, Stephanne focuses on proper assessment for and access to trauma and substance use disorder treatment to ensure the health and well-being of affected individuals. Stephanne is on the Trauma-Informed Care Network Speakers Bureau and uses that platform to call attention to the intersection of secondary traumatic stress and legal practice. She approaches her work with clients, lawyers, social workers, and mitigation specialists through a contextualized mitigation lens.