Episode 66 Guest: Amanda Wallace, BSW Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Amanda Wallace, Founder and Executive Director of Operation Stop CPS, discusses the surveillance and regulation of families—particularly Black families—within the child protection system. Having worked in child protective services for a decade, Amanda realized the harm being inflicted on children and families, leading her to advocate for change and ultimately lose her job in retaliation. She discusses how Operation Stop CPS intervenes to assist families affected by the system, the connection between family policing and anti-Black racism, and the movement to end family policing through education, advocacy, and support.

In this episode:

• How the family policing system surveils and regulates families, especially Black families
• Amanda's decade in child protective services and why she left
• How Operation Stop CPS intervenes for families facing family separation
• The historical and present-day roots of anti-Black racism in the child protection system
• Building a movement to end family policing

www.operationstopcps.com Invest in the work www.operationstopcps.com/donate Instagram operationstopcps Facebook OperationStopCPS

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Music credit "District Four" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Episode 65 Guest: Dawn Belkin Martinez, PhD, LICSW Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Dr. Dawn Belkin Martinez, Associate Dean for Equity and Inclusion at Boston University School of Social Work, discusses the Liberation Health Model, which she co-created as a transformative, sociopolitical approach to assessment and intervention. Rooted in radical traditions including Black feminism, Brazilian mental health movements, and Marxist theory, the model originated in a hospital psych unit through collaboration with patients and families. Dr. Martinez explains how to use the Liberation Health Triangle for assessment and shares tools like deconstructing dominant messages and recovering historical memory. This powerful model offers a flexible, collective liberation framework that encourages authentic, action-oriented practice.

In this episode:

• The origin story of the Liberation Health Model
• Using the Liberation Health Triangle for sociopolitical assessment
• Deconstructing dominant worldview messages with clients
• Activism as a therapeutic intervention
• How the model works alongside other approaches like ACT and CBT

www.bostonliberationhealth.org Email dawnbm@bu.edu

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Music credit "District Four" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Episode 64 Guests: Ashleigh Washington, JD & Ruth Cusick, JD Host: Shimon Cohen, LCSW

Ashleigh Washington and Ruth Cusick, co-founders of The Collective for Liberatory Lawyering (C4LL), discuss their work as movement lawyers fighting to end the school-to-prison pipeline. They explain how legal strategies must be rooted in community organizing to create lasting change, especially for Black, Brown, Indigenous, disabled, and other marginalized students and families. Drawing on their shift from direct legal services to movement lawyering, they highlight the need for shared power and collective governance beyond traditional civil rights frameworks. The episode also explores their Barefoot Lawyering model and efforts like LA Police Free Schools.

In this episode:

• How legal strategies must be rooted in community organizing to create lasting change
• The shift from direct legal services to movement lawyering
• Education as a human right versus a civil rights framework
• The Barefoot Lawyering interdisciplinary practice model
• LA Police Free Schools and the fight to end school policing

www.c4ll-ca.org Instagram liberatorylawyersca LinkedIn The Collective for Liberatory Lawyering Police Free LAUSD Coalition Report https://www.safeschoolslausd.com/

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Explore Continuing Education Courses https://dointhework.com/courses

Podcast Episode Pages + Transcripts https://dointhework.com/podcast

Music credit "District Four" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/